George Calleja is a Maltese Christian content creator, author, podcaster, lyricist, evangelist, and Christian music songwriter dedicated to spreading the Gospel through both traditional and digital media. From 1990 to 1996, he served full-time with The International Catholic Programme for Evangelization (ICPE), proclaiming the Good News in countries including Russia, Ghana, Poland, Germany, and Malta. Since 1997, he has been an active member of the Focolare Movement in Malta, continuing his lifelong mission of promoting Christian unity, peace, and faith in Jesus Christ.
Since 2012, George has embraced digital evangelisation through books, podcasts, videos, online courses, and music. He has published 19 Christian books, written hundreds of inspirational articles, and created four online courses on Udemy, all aimed at helping people deepen their relationship with God.
In recent years, Christian music has become a central part of George's ministry. As a lyricist, he writes original songs that proclaim the Gospel and encourage listeners to place their trust in Jesus Christ. His music covers different genres and themes such as God's love, hope, forgiveness, discipleship, peace, prayer, salvation, and everyday Christian living. His songs are available on major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, TikTok, and many others, making his ministry accessible to a global audience. Through every lyric, George seeks to inspire, evangelise, and bring people closer to Christ, using music as a powerful instrument of faith and encouragement for believers and seekers alike.
So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.
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God chose for us to have a conversation with us, his creation.
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Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.
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Praise God for you, George.
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It's a great pleasure to connect with you.
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What part of the world are you in today?
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Thank you.
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Thanks a lot.
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I am George from Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea and part of Europe.
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And just to remind you that Paul was in Malta, which you can find in the Acts 27-28.
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So there's a lovely passage about the island of Malta.
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How did you come to meet Jesus?
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I was brought up in a Catholic family, so a traditional Catholic family in Malta.
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You know, at times, being a teenager, religion, you just take it as maybe another way, part of your life, you know.
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But I was born in 1964 and basically my teenage years were mostly in the 1980s.
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I was influenced a lot by the music of the 1980s.
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And so through the music which I listened to, my faith wasn't that strong much.
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Then it became to get weaker and weaker because I was following certain type of music.
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But then, I mean, I got to know a group of young people within the charismatic group, Renewal in Malta.
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And that's really when I started to know more about Jesus in a personal way.
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And that was, I was around 24 years.
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And that started my, that started really my following Jesus, getting to know him and the desire amongst others to share him with other people all over the world as much as I could.
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What did you do in the group?
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Did you sing or play an instrument?
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No, I never played any, I never played any music, just radio.
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I was able to write and use the radio or play a CD.
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I used to go to this charismatic group and I was always curious why those people have a special smile on their faces.
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And I remember in the first meeting when I went, I was on the back of this prayer group and I was playing it as if I was a cool person, you know.
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And I was in the back and the speaker asked for those people who came for the first time to come in front.
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And he pointed at me because he saw me laughing.
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So it was my first experience speaking in the public.
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I am a very introvert person, a very shy person.
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And he called me up and he told me, what do you want from this prayer group?
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And immediately my reply was, give me something better than a disco.
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And that was my biggest testimony because even the youths who listened to that prayer from you, which I didn't know at the time it was a prayer, they still remember it to that time.
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And he told me, okay, you can go back to your place, you know.
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And since then I kept attending the prayer group and getting to know Jesus.
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But after time I realized that those particular words which I said, give me something better than a disco.
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Did you ever get married?
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Yeah, I got married.
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I was 33.
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I have two kids now.
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One is 26 and one is 24.
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And I got married after an experience of six years in the missions as I went.
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Tell me more.
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Tell me more.
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Tell me more.
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I like to say this experience because I like to encourage young people to do mission life in their life, even if it's for a short period of for one month.
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Basically, I kept on going to this prayer group.
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And at that time I was working as well, a very normal job in Malta, office work.
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And so I had a good pay for that time.
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And they had this evangelization charismatic group and that you can go for a school of evangelization in Germany for three months and then you go for an outreach.
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And I went to Poland the first time.
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So I went for the school of evangelization and I felt the Lord wanted me to continue to stay for further years.
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So I stayed on for another six years doing evangelization work, going to different countries to share the good news and preaching in the streets and sharing my testimony and learning how to do mimes.
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Now, I never did any mimes in my life, no, but I learned how to do mimes together with the group.
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So we used our own talents and we used to go to different countries.
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And I like to mention as well that I had the opportunity to visit the USSR just a couple of months before it was dismantled.
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A couple of months before we entered the USSR smuggling 500 bibles medicines for children in need.
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Do you think that introversion was something that evolved into extroversion after you met Christ?
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Would you say that's accurate?
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I am still an introvert person, but when I come to share the good news, I'm different.
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That's good.
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I love that.
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I won't do it if it's something, something else.
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I am a shy person.
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But somehow when I come to share the good news, it's a different story.
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Even if I can be in a group of people, for example, in a wedding, you know, a family wedding, and I can stay with my family members.
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No, I don't say a word.
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I just speak very a bit.
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But if we're going to talk about the love of Christ, then that's a different story.
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I would take the central stage, just sharing my experience, basically.
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You're doing missions, and then you meet your wife after USSR, after the smuggling of the bibles.
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It happened that I was, I felt God saying to me, like, it's time to stop now from your mission life, after I spent six years.
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And when I said the yes to him, because I said the yes when I joined the missions, which was very difficult, because I was working, so I had to stop working and do not have any money.
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And, you know, it was I had to pay my own, bring up my own donations to survive.
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And I said yes.
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And when I said yes, I'm going to stop.
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Then I met my wife.
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And I met my wife through another Christian group.
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It's called the Folklore Movement.
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And there was a band in Malta playing Christian music.
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And we happened to be in the same concert.
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And that's how we met.
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Wow.
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So from the disco to the Christian club, right?
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Yeah.
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And then there's abundance, there's multiplication.
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Yes.
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And I can say that my experience is that, you know, when you're young, when you're 18 years old, 20, you have a lot of desires what to do.
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Like, I remember being young and I always wanted to maybe be a footballer, you know, and I never made it.
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But I remember then when I used to be abroad doing evangelization work, I used to play football with these kids on the streets in different countries.
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And I used to say, you know, this is what God wants me to do, playing football with kids on the streets.
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So I saw that my desire, God still gave it to me, but in his own way.
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Something I think we, Christians, especially young people, they need to recognize this, that we do the will of God in our life and not my own will in one's life.
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And all things will be added.
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Yes, yes, everything.
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All right.
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Five years from today listening to this conversation, you would be 67 years old, right?
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Yeah.
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What's a message you'd leave for future you?
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Always trust in God, always hope in him and trust the future also in him.
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Because a lot of people worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, what is going to happen tomorrow.
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Trust your life to him and get to know him more in a personal way and especially a life of prayer.
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And it's good as Christians to enjoy life, but in a good way.
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And there are a lot of good ways how we can enjoy life to the full.
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Being in Christ is being a joyful person as well.
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So again, links will be in the show notes.
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George, this is an honor, a pleasure, I treasure.
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Thank you for being on What is Inspired by 12 when it comes.
