Johanna Exbrayat, also known as Pasteure Jo, is a pastor, worship leader, and TikTok influencer who started out as an English teacher and currently has 724.6K followers. By being herself and staying obedient to the Holy Spirit, she uses her platform for the sake of God’s glory.
We met Jo, pastor at Eglise ACBM, at a Leadership Summit of Europe Shall Be Saved. In an interview with her, she told us that she had not seen her TikTok success coming at all. ‘’In the beginning,’’ she explained, ‘’I just had a Facebook page with my family and friends, but I preached, I loved Jesus and always talked about Him.’’
Kickstarting a passion
One day three years ago, one of Jo’s friends told her to go on TikTok, saying: ‘’Jo you should go on TikTok because it’s social media that’s almost made for you.’’ She declined because the context mainly comprised teenagers dancing. But her friend was persistent, saying, ‘’It is one-minute videos, it goes straight to the point, that’s how you are. You should try it!’’
At the time, Jo was still an English teacher so she was afraid of her students seeing it. Thus, she prayed and God told her to go do it. God said: ‘’Just be yourself, you have nothing to change. Preach like you do and go!’’ That’s the good thing about social media, Jo explains: ‘’That’s the good thing about it, you just have to be yourself.’’
God asked Jo for three things: to never ask for likes, to never share her videos, and to never ask for comments or follows. ‘’I told God that this is complicated, because it’s like writing a book and telling people to not buy it.’’ He simply replied: ‘’I know, but it will show that it’s Me behind it.’’
‘’At that time’’, Jo says with a laugh, ‘’I did not even know what an influencer was because I had no Instagram or TikTok, so I had no clue.’’ But she knew that God wanted her to go against the stream of the influential type of culture.
So she made up her mind. She went on TikTok and started to talk about Jesus. She made straightforward videos, not trying to mix the message. She simply said: ‘’Jesus heals and delivers and that is what you need.’’
‘’Just be yourself’’
When asking Jo about how she can be her authentic self, and stay raw amidst so many followers, she replied: ‘’Live and imagine that there was a camera following you around without you knowing it. That’s what I do.’’
Whether she is preaching, reading her bible, or laughing with the youth, Jo sees social media as ‘’the possibility of people going to church without going to church, so they see church’’. She posts whatever she feels the Holy Spirit is telling her to post. ‘’I’m just myself and doing what I love. So if I’m with the youth singing, preaching, whatever I do–I film that, and after, I just post it. That’s all.’’
She even posted a video that she recorded at 2am without makeup, in which she cried after hearing what happened to the persecuted church. The French news found it and reposted it. For Jo, it’s not about the views but about sharing the gospel well.
#RespectMyFaith✝️
Not only does Jo connect with her followers through messages, connecting them to churches, she also does lives in which she invites people to give their lives to Jesus, following up with telling them to download the Bible app.
On top of that, she also shapes culture in the French TikTok world through her hashtag #RespectMyFaith✝️. In France and Europe in general, there is a trend going on that states that there should be respect for everything that people believe. Jo had a smart idea: ‘’I’m gonna use this thing about respect and use it for the gospel.’’
‘’All those people that would mock or block or signal my channel because of shaming, I told them: what about you respect my faith? This hashtag is being used by millions now. I tell people to use it wherever they see a video mocking Christianity.’’
‘’It’s moving!’’
Jo is very hopeful for the future of France. She explains that, although it is among the top five most atheist countries in the world, people seem to begin to understand that the dead church is not working. She thinks it’s fair that the youth think this way. ‘’If I wasn’t in a church that was alive, I would not even go to church either.’’
But praise God! Because the young generation is coming back to Jesus more now that they see churches filled with life: ‘’Now they are seeing churches that are alive, that have the Holy Spirit, and people are being set free. There are amazing testimonies on social media, and they are a great way of evangelism.’’
She continues to talk passionately about seeing God doing something new in France: ‘’It’s moving! We have more than 2000 evangelical churches, and from 1950 to now, we have seen huge growth in Christians. It’s 50 times more. We now have almost a million Christians, which is a lot on a total population of 68 million people.’’
