Welcome to episode 37 of the Testimony podcast. Before I get into this episode I want to let you all know that the podcast will be on hiatus for a while starting this month July 2022, the existing episodes will continue to be made available. My guest for this episode is the creative entrepreneur, Pete Wilson. Pete was born into a Christian home and over the years he has been involved in youth ministry, worship, corporate banking, and for many years he worked with Hillsong in London and around the world in Europe, America, and Asia. He has worked with Joel and Victoria Osteen for seven years before coming back to England where he is now Creative Director for Glorify, the app that wants to bring the joy of connecting with God to Christian all around the world. In this conversation, we talk about how Pete grew up and matured in a culture of exuberant worship, and still celebrates that tradition, but he has now discovered the benefit and beauty of finding a calm space with God and learning to be peaceful with the Father. He enjoys creating environments and experiences where people can encounter and connect with God.   This is his story.

My guest for this episode is the author, blogger, and writing coach Ruth Leigh. I met Ruth relatively recently through a mutual friend and she has spoken at a conference I organized in Cambridge England in 2021. Ruth is a warm and funny person and that generosity of spirit that she has, that has been gifted to her by God comes out in what she says and what she writes.  In this episode, we talk about trusting that we are assured of God’s precious love for us as His children and that he wants the best for us, the fact that everyone has a story to tell, and how important it is for us to follow those little nudges that God gives us through the prompting of His holy spirit.   For those of you who are based in the UK or can get to the UK in September of this year, 2022, Ruth will be speaking at the Christian writer’s conference in Cambridge on Saturday 3rd September, and there are still some tickets left for that event.   I had a wonderful time talking to Ruth, as I always do, this is her story.

My guest for this episode is the pastor and writer Scott Sauls, Scott is the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville he is the author of six books including the forthcoming ‘Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen' which is out June 14th, 2022, just after this episode is released. In this episode, we talk about the closeness of Christ in times of difficulty and despair, the nearness of Christ even when we can’t see his footsteps, and how we can identify with Christ as the suffering servant. We talk about suffering and forsakenness and Christ’s unique position as the saviour and messiah who knows these things himself, we discuss the wonder of life and our small corner as humanity in the universe, and how God has a purpose for the hard realities that we face, even as he gives us the emotional and spiritual tools to help us process the things we face. This is Scott’s story.

My guest for this episode emigrated to the UK from Zimbabwe, an amazing country with a troubled recent history. He has learnt some tough lessons about trusting God, both in terms of the plans he wanted to make for his life, and then literally whether he was going to live or die. He is a church leader, a teacher, a writer, and a musician with a story to tell about God’s provision.  His name is Matt Mcchlery and this is his story.

My guest for this episode is someone who knows all about shame, addiction, and desperation.  Cat grew up in a stable and loving family in Norfolk, England, but at the age of 16 she started to get into alcohol and drugs, and her life spiraled out of control. What followed was a decade of addiction, pain, and torment which only began to end when, as a person of no faith she wandered into church and met with the infinite compassion of Jesus. Since then, there have still been difficulties and hardships in her life, but even in times of doubt and questioning Cat found herself called by God to a ministry to set others free from the pain she had felt. That calling had led her to the ministry she is involved in today with the Naked Truth Project, a ministry to those struggling with pornography addiction, and their partners. This is her story.

My guest for this episode is the writer, publisher, and literary agent, Tony Collins. Tony has spent nearly fifty years working in the world of Christian publishing in the UK. He has worked for Hodder & Stoughton, Kingsway, Monarch, Lion Hudson, and SPCK. Over the course of his career, he has published at least 1400 books and owned three magazines. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Christian Writers. In this episode, we talk about Tony’s encounters with the spiritual experience of God, and what it is like to encounter God in places where the culture and theology are very different from the one that we are used to. We discuss how these encounters challenge our beliefs and what they say about the longing within us to be in the presence of God. We also talk about Tony’s deep conviction for the care and stewardship of the Earth, and we discuss how we can both long for the spiritual home that is to come and also see the holiness in God’s creation here and now.  This is Tony’s story.

My guest for this episode features a person whose family suffered greatly through the impact of pornography.  Ian Henderson first went into ministry as a response to a calling based on Isaiah 40, to prepare a way for the Lord and he has lived and worked for decades in some of the most difficult environments in Britain, living out the call from Isaiah 58 to “spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed”. But Ian’s world was shaken by an event that happened in 2007 when his father was arrested and charged with having indecent images on his computer. This event unearthed decades of pornography use. Because of this experience, Ian had to work out how to forgive and then felt convicted to start a ministry to help those who are caught up in an addiction to pornography and their families. This is his story.

My guest for this episode is Tim Boniface. Tim is an ordained priest and a chaplain at Girton College here in Cambridge, but he’s also a professional jazz musician, and you’ll hear some of his music in this episode, and as part of our conversation, we talk about the fundamental role that music has played in his life. If you’re a listener to my other podcast for Creative Writers, the Creative Writer’s Toolbelt, it’s Tim’s music you hear at the start of that podcast. Tim is a fascinating character and has some real insights on the challenge of combining a career in music with a vocation to the priesthood, this is his story. You can find out more about Tim and check out his music at www.timboniface.co.uk

How do you escape from a life of crime, prison, drug addiction, and prostitution? How do you break out of a spiral that steals all of your energy and eventually your life? My guest today knows all about these questions.  Trudy Makepeace is an Elim Pastor and in this episode, she shares an astonishing testimony of someone who was damaged by sexual abuse as a child, became addicted to drugs, and lived a life of crime and prostitution. By her 33rd birthday Trudy had tried to break her addictions 33 times, and every time she’d gone back to the drugs and the crime, but something miraculous happened which showed her that she could not fix herself, only Jesus can do that. You can read all about the miraculous transformation that God made in her life in her book “Abused Addicted, Free” and reach her at her website www.trudymakepeace.com but for now, this is her story.

Welcome to episode 28 of the Testimony Podcast, this episode is the second part of a conversation I had with Sara Hall. If you’ve not listened to the first part, which is featured in episode 27, then I suggest you go and listen to that first. Sara is a wife, a mum, a blogger, counselor and author of “Tasting Dirt – When you’re disappointed with God” and in this episode, we talk about gratitude, including Sara’s own twelve thousand reasons for gratitude. We also talk about the helpfulness and honesty of lament, and its importance for healing, and the process of putting all of our faith and hope in the Lord. I think this episode, together with the previous episode, number 27, contains an essential message for Christians today.   I was greatly blessed by talking to Sara, I hope you are blessed by listening to our conversation.