Sign up for our free newsletter:

Rather than try to land a spot on a reality television show, twentysomething Christians Tim Scott and Will Decker decided to create their own. Five continents, 25 countries, and 40,000 miles later, their adventures as missionaries play out for television audiences to see on a reality series that's actually more real than most.

Travel the Road, which premiered last spring on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), records Scott and Decker's journey from the deserts of Ethiopia to the island villages of Papua New Guinea. With only one backpack, a change of clothes, and a message of hope, these twentysomethings preached the gospel to anyone who would listen.

Tim Scott says the trip wasn't too different from those of other missionaries. "We packed our Bibles and very little else and went into the world with the willingness to preach the gospel to those that have never heard of Jesus," he says. "The big difference is the fact that we documented on a mini-recorder all that the Lord was doing in our lives and all that he is doing overseas. We documented our journey from start to finish."

Over a period of 18 months, Scott and Decker shot more than 300 hours of footage. "It is such a great way to open the eyes of those that have never seen the Third World and the mission field," Scott continues. "All it requires is a willingness to follow the Lord."

During the first thirteen 30-minute episodes of Travel the Road, viewers get to witness life as a missionary, from the mundane to the adventurous. It's Survivor meets Fear Factor meets The Amazing Race, but without the rescue team standing by or a million-dollar prize at the finish line.

One of the most dangerous points of the journey, which is captured in the latter part of the series, shows Scott and Decker inside a tent with lions nearby. "You could hear them sniffing, right outside," Scott recalls. "And we knew it was common for them to maul people. It's not like it's a dog outside your tent. It's a lion! And afterward we were reading stories of safaris gone bad—anything can happen from people being stomped by elephants to being attacked by hyenas."

Twist of faith
The irony of this whole thing is that Tim Scott, 24, and Will Decker, 28, aren't what you would consider prime candidates for missions work. A Christian since the age of 5, Scott dreamed of becoming a Wall Street stockbroker. A bright kid, at 16 Scott went through two years of business college and an internship at Paine Webber. He received degrees in business administration from Vision Christian Bible College in Denver, where his father served as the school's president, and he planned on taking the business world by storm.

But a weeklong mission trip to the Czech Republic with his parents interrupted his dream. While abroad, Scott says he received a very specific call to the mission field. He returned to the States with a fresh resolve to preach the gospel and began to formulate a strategy through prayer.

In 1998, he headed off on his first journey and felt led to do something rather unconventional: he approached Decker, a non-Christian friend of his brother's and a professional photographer, to go with him. Scott figured Decker's photography skills could prove useful.

Ready for a change, Decker agreed to go. The twosome sold their possessions and took out loans to cover the cost of the trip. Over the next year, they visited 20 countries, and within three months of watching God move in people's lives, Decker committed his life to Christ and began preaching alongside Scott.

In 2000, the twentysomethings, whose missionary adventures have been compared to Paul and Barnabas, headed off for a second trip, which spanned two years. But this time, they took a video camera—a Sony P100, which they knew could "take a beating"—and a third person, Scott's brother Michael, who joined them for parts of the trip.

When they returned and began viewing the footage, they knew they had something special. They approached mainstream broadcast networks, including the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, about airing the series, but none were interested. Finally, the guys found a home for the show at TBN, the Christian TV network that reaches millions of viewers worldwide.

Paul Crouch, Jr., TBN's vice-president of administration, says the network was "thrilled" to land the series. It arrived at a time when TBN was looking for more compelling ways to reach the lost than just a guy standing behind a pulpit. "We want more movies and reality series, and we're really trying to push the envelope technologically," Crouch says.

Looking at the project, Crouch admits that the series probably couldn't have happened any other way than Tim and Will going out on their own the first time around. "Quite honestly, I don't know that if we would have tried to create a show like this that it ever would have happened," Crouch says. "But because they went and did it on their own, it has really worked. I think these guys have been called by God to do this, and this project was orchestrated by the Lord to get young people to go out and be a witness."

Dangerous but fun
Lost in the spectacle of the reality series is the fact that Will Decker is still a fairly new Christian. His eyes light up when he talks about his recent travels. The trips, he says, place him in a position where his faith is constantly growing. "It's not like you're in the States where you have a job and a regular life," he says. "Whether you're riding on a truck across a Tibetan plateau at 18,000 feet or you're blessing a meal—you're blessing it because it really needs to be blessed, you're really out there. There are no real distractions overseas, and you're growing every day with the Lord."

In September 2003, Decker and Scott left for their third missionary trip. This one is officially backed by TBN and is estimated to last two to three years. The journey began in exotic Thailand, and will continue into Cambodia and Vietnam. But the bulk of their missionary work will take place in China, Mongolia, and Siberia.

Both Decker and Scott believe this second season will be better than the first. "It helps us having edited the first trip," Decker says. "We know what we need to say and what things people find interesting."

The new season of Travel the Road is scheduled to premiere this spring or summer, which means even more viewers will get to witness Scott and Decker survive thrilling moments like crossing pirated waters, getting lost in the jungles of Laos, having stones pitched at them in Northern Ethiopia, or being covered in leeches. Scott shrugs off the hardships of their journeys as "no big deal" and just part of the fun of spreading the gospel. "There's such excitement," he says. "It's adventure with a purpose."

For more information, visit the Travel the Road website at www.traveltheroad.com.

A Christian Reader original article. Margaret Feinberg is a writer living in Sitka, Alaska.

	What did you think of this story?
	Please to give us your feedback.

Home  |  People of Faith  |  Stories of Hope  |  Today's Culture
Build Your Faith  |  Laughing Matters  |  Archives  |  Contact Us

				Try an Issue of Today's Christian Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Today's Christian as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Subscribe to the Today's Christian Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help