MARTIN Pearson speaks of being “amazed” to have the opportunity to talk about his faith to 40,000 pupils a year.

And he does not just talk about it. An accomplished guitarist, Martin, 26, leads a band which spends all year visiting secondary schools.

He leads nine band members who go into a school and take RE and personal, social and health education lessons.

They put on a concert for pupils. The band, TvB (it stands for Truth versus Belief), plays anything from rock to garage music.

After the group leaves, a youth worker will visit the school offering pupils the chance to sign up to a local church group.

Martin, a Christian since he was 16, gave up a career as an accountant to work full-time for Youth for Christ 18 months ago. It denies its school work is aimed at recruiting new members, but Martin says he is keen to get into schools to spread the word.

“We will talk about a single moral issue, and then bring a Christian viewpoint in at the end. We are not allowed to say ‘you need Jesus’ for example. But as long as you say this is just what I believe, you can pretty much say anything.

“There are a lot of Christian teachers out there, and they are quite open for you to put more of a Christian slant on what you are saying,” he said.