DEVOUT BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN DAN WALKER TO BE THE NEW FACE OF BBC'S "BREAKFAST" PROGRAMME LATER THIS MONTH!!

I don’t mind 3am starts... just don’t ask me to work on a Sunday! New face of BBC Breakfast is a devout Christian who always keeps the Sabbath 

• Football Focus presenter Dan Walker is the new face of BBC Breakfast 
• He will take over from the departing Bill Turnbull at the end of the month 
• Walker struck a deal with BBC chiefs that he would never work on Sundays
• The 38-year-old Christian will continue presenting Football Focus but will give up his four-days-a-week Afternoon Edition show on Radio 5 Live 

By KATHERINE RUSHTON MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL

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For most of us, the sticking point would be having to get up for work at 3am – even if it was for a plum job on television.

But new BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker was more worried about ensuring that he did not have to work on Sundays.

The 38-year-old, who will take over from Bill Turnbull at the end of this month, has plotted his career around his Christian faith. 

THE SMILING AND VERY LIKEABLE DAN WALKER OF THE BBC

As a youngster, he dreamed of being a professional footballer, but turned down invitations from the youth teams of major clubs because they played their matches on Sundays. 

And when he became a TV presenter, fronting various sporting events and hosting BBC1’s Football Focus, he struck a deal with bosses that he would never have to work on the Sabbath.

‘I was convinced that it was the right thing to honour God and follow his commandments,’ he said in 2010. ‘Observing the Lord’s Day is a great privilege and brings with it loads of blessings.’

Walker also takes care not to swear, blasphemy or laugh at risque jokes – something that can make life difficult as a broadcaster on live TV.

The son of a Baptist preacher, Walker – who grew up in Crawley, West Sussex – has been a regular churchgoer all his life.

But he did not become devout until he was 12, when a preacher told him about ‘the reality of hell for the unbeliever’. 

Walker said: ‘I remember sitting there feeling a deep conviction of sin and terror at the prospect of hell. I knew that I was offending God with the way I was acting and the life I was living, and the prospect of going to hell terrified me.’

At first, Walker’s refusal to work on Sundays made it tough to find a job as a football presenter.

Some interviewers thought he was stupid, and others felt sorry for him, he admits.

FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3439554/New-face-BBC-Breakfast-devout-Christian-keeps-Sabbath.html