Meet the Voices Behind ‘Mission 66’

John-Paul Davies (left), Scott Hollinger (center) and Unathi Sithole (right) came together in-person for the first time to record Mission 66 programming from the studio in TWR’s offices in the U.S. 

“We’re about to begin another exciting adventure in the Book of Acts,” Esther Sisulu leads off, and after summarizing what happens in Chapter 16 of that book, introduces Bible teacher John Mathews.

“Esther, thank you so much,” Mathews responds in a rich Welsh brogue. “Great to be with all of you again.”

And so begins another segment of Mission 66, the radio Bible survey created by Brazilian scholar Luiz Sayão and now being heard in English as of Oct. 28, 2024.

Devoted listeners to Mission 66 could reasonably assume Sisulu and Mathews – real names Unathi Sithole and John-Paul Davies – are longtime colleagues, speaking from the same studio.

In fact, although the two have been recording the program since October 2023, they did not meet in person for the first time until 16 months later, at the 2025 National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention in Grapevine, Texas.

Only on that Thursday, Feb. 27, were they together in a studio for the first time, at TWR Americas offices in Cary, North Carolina, along with their producer, Scott Hollinger.

By that time, their listeners had been with them through the Gospels New Testament into Acts, but Sithole, 34, and Davies, 49, had completed recording the New Testament, then the first five books of the Old Testament and were embarking on the Book of Joshua.

Until then, Hollinger had almost always been alone in that studio, starting his day at 4 a.m. to accommodate Eastern Hemisphere schedules. Davies was at home in Wales and Sithole in a studio at TWR Africa headquarters in Kempton Park, South Africa. Although all those programs sound natural to the listener, it wasn’t always easy, they said during an interview in Cary.

“When we’re recording online, we’re very cognizant of the fact that we don’t want to … talk over each other,” Sithole said.

Separate paths

The co-hosts from separate continents came to their roles through different paths. It’s hard to fathom from listening to his calm but passionate presentation of biblical truth, but Mission 66 is Davies’ first experience in Christian broadcasting. The son and grandson of preachers, Davies spent 14 years as an anchor at Sky Sports and Sky News in the United Kingdom and is currently hosting a news and current affairs program for the BBC.

When he left Sky, it was to work at a Christian organization for the homeless, but he found himself convicted, he said, about the 3.2 billion people in the world who are still unreached for Christ. Exploring ways he could be used in missions, he reached out to Lauren Libby, then president of TWR, who connected him with Jon Fugler, TWR’s chief content officer.

Eventually, Davies was asked to audition for the Mission 66 role. He sent Hollinger “probably the world’s worst demo,” he said.

“It was among the bottom five,” Hollinger conceded.

But as listeners know, the Holy Spirit speaks powerfully through Davies, and he was chosen.

Although Sithole is the younger of the pair, she is a relative veteran of Christian broadcasting. She started volunteering at TWR Africa in 2015 at a friend’s invitation. She first helped with a one-hour Christian hip-hop show called the Urban Hour and then co-hosted Equip for Life, another program geared toward youth. After a year, TWR Africa hired her as a full-time presenter. That has led to a number of projects, including Worship ConneXion, a three-hour music show featuring interactions with listeners.

One day, Hollinger sent her a script and asked if she would record it. She did, Sithole said, but didn’t think of it as an audition and didn’t give it much thought. Not long after that, Hollinger informed her that she was on the “short list.”

“Ultimately, they let me know that I got the part as Esther for Mission 66, and at that point, I don’t think I was really aware of the impact that this program would have,” she said.

In Alaskan prisons

The impact still is being discovered, but at the NRB convention they got glimpses.

“One guy was telling us that there are prisoners in Alaska listening to this content,” Davies related. “Wow. There are people from every walk of life that you could imagine, from every cultural background, listening to this.”

At that event, the two also met Sayão for the first time, and both were struck by his humble spirit.

“When he speaks, there’s a life and light that flow out of him in a very humble way,” Davies said. “[He said], ‘I didn’t know who was going to be voicing this in English. So I just prayed to God that it would be people who love Jesus.’ And he was weeping as he said this.”

Sayão is the original source of the programs with English scripts written by TWR veteran Bill Early. But Davies and Sithole always have had freedom to make it their own, something Sayão underscored when they met in Texas. And there is something bigger at work than any script.

“There’s a real sense of the Holy Spirit,” Davies said. “It’s almost sometimes as if time slows down, because the Spirit has some guiding and some leading and informing to do with us.”

Added Sithole: “We make it our priority to start off our recording sessions in prayer, because we need God, we need the Lord, we need his guidance, we need his wisdom. We need his Holy Spirit to help us.”

Halfway point

When they finish, they will have recorded 613 episodes. They typically record for four hours at a session, Sithole said, and can finish five or six episodes in that time, “sometimes seven when we’re really feeling great.”

When they finally met in person, in the United States, they were about halfway through recording Mission 66. Yet it stays fresh for them because of the eternal significance of the message.

“The world is absolutely crying out for the salvation of Jesus Christ,” Davies said. “And if they only knew who he is, what his character is, and what he offers, and had even a microcosm of an experience of his Holy Spirit, which is free to all … I think the world, the world around us, would change beyond recognition.”

As Sithole has the last word in each program, we’ll give her the last word here:

“I want to see Jesus lifted high so that he can draw all men to himself,” she said. “And I believe that he’s used the resources that we’ve offered up to him in surrender and in faith, and I believe people’s lives will most certainly be changed by hearing the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Have a listen as Sithole and Davies present a Mission 66 episode on twr360.org. You might find that one episode isn't enough and that you'll want to tune into another chapter ... and then another!

Images: (top, banner) John-Paul Davies (left), Scott Hollinger (center) and Unathi Sithole (right) came together in-person for the first time to record Mission 66 programming from the studio in TWR’s offices in the U.S., (middle, left) John-Paul Davies records Mission 66 programming from the TWR studio in Cary, North Carolina, (bottom, right) Unathi Sithole smiles while recording the latest Mission 66 episodes in-person.