Leigh’s 40-year career in broadcast journalism stretched over more than a generation of breathtaking change in communication. He started as a radio journalist at 2GB in Sydney and worked in the Canberra press gallery for radio, then television between 1975-1976 and 1981-1983. He was Seven Network’s European correspondent and Chief Olympic correspondent, reporting on the Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games. For 13 years he was one of the senior presenters at Sky news, through the emergence of what became known as the 24-hour news cycle. His conversation with Tim Argall begins on the steps of Parliament House, Canberra.
Lisa has written seven best-selling books – and three duds, as she cheerfully admits - and is an internationally known speaker at schools, conferences and business events. She grew up in a family of tennis professionals, surrounded by high achievers from all over the world. At 26, Lisa set her own goal: to positively affect the lives of one million Australian teenagers. It was a goal that was to change her life. For the next eight years, Lisa travelled the country speaking in schools and to youth groups. Parents of those young people, also inspired by what they heard, invited Lisa to speak in their places of business, establishing her as an inspirational corporate speaker. She’s the only person outside North America to be inducted into the International Speakers Hall of Fame. Lisa was born with her left eye closed, went through many surgical procedures in her early years and, unsurprisingly, was often cruelly teased throughout her schooldays. Her conversation with Tim Argall begins in Year 12.
The Right Reverend Stuart Robinson was born to unmarried musicians in Kings Cross, Sydney. Adopted and brought up by devout Christians, he’s been involved in church planting, growing Christians not churches, heard shattering stories of child abuse while Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, and is now Rector of South Head Anglican Church in Sydney. He met his birth mother when he was 30 and his paternal grandfather not long after. They’ve remained in contact ever since. In this podcast Stuart shares what he's learnt about personal healing, being a leader and faith through the dark times.
Natasha is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. Her conversation with Tim ranges through misunderstanding, entrenched positions and pessimism in public discourse before resolving in the truth that all are made in the image of God – which means we have to learn to speak with people who hold different views. Natasha has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Cambridge, has two published books to her name, and writes regularly on topics that include books, movies, politics, food, domestic violence, Scripture in schools, war, Thanksgiving, and freedom of speech.
Sam is renowned for his energy and passion for evangelism to a sceptical world. A qualified and experienced doctor with a PhD in Theology, he now works with the City Bible Forum, speaking to school and college students, to professionals and academics alike on evangelism, ethics, preaching and story-telling. He also blogs as the Espresso Theologian, which he describes as a short, quick, buzz of theology - taking you from your world to Jesus in 60 seconds. In this podcast Sam reminisces about rugby – especially getting concussed – tells how surgeons manage to operate on the correct leg and why the second question, “And how are you REALLY going?” is the key to a real conversation about Jesus.
When Joseph was a child in Uganda, anyone in his village with a bicycle was considered middle-class, and the one with a car was unimaginably wealthy. Today Joseph works with World Vision in East Africa, where he is responsible for humanitarian and disaster relief across nine countries and millions of dollars in aid funds. In this podcast Joseph describes how he first wanted to work against poverty, how he became a Christian, and how an Anglican bishop gave him his first job despite being told that “you’re a Pentecostal!”
Brooke is a proud Wakka Wakka woman and an Aboriginal Christian Leader, writer and speaker. She holds bachelor’s degrees in commerce and arts, majoring in Japanese and Political Science, from the University of Queensland and is a Chartered Accountant. She’s now the CEO of Common Grace - the first indigenous person to be appointed to lead a national Christian organisation. Brooke has a profoundly hopeful approach to the future of 21st century Australia. Find out about Common Grace here.
David hails originally from South Africa. He’s a trained classical musician and composer, he holds a PhD in learning design and technology, and he’s devoted to helping the poorest of the poor through education. He’s a Messianic Jew, with a revealing perspective on how justice and mercy meet together in the person of Jesus the Messiah. Arrangement of “The Trees of the Field” used by kind permission of Rob and Gilly Bennett: other music arranged or composed by David Isaacson.
Lisa lived the high life working in the travel industry until a trip to South Africa in 2004 changed her perspective for ever. As she wept over the pain and poverty she'd seen, God took her from a work culture of hedonism to a work culture of humility and service, as the founder of Mission Travel, and then into Selah Tours - designed to give Christians time to pause in the lands of the Bible. But 2020 gave Lisa a different kind of pause - time to reorder loves and destroy idols, from which she's emerged with a deeper, stronger faith in a God who loves without measure.
Safina is an Indigenous Christian artist whose Indigenous heritage comes from Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait and Wuthathi Country in Far North Queensland. A storyteller from childhood, Safina tells stories through pictures - stories of wounds healed, creation made beautiful, and encounters with a living, loving creator God. She's experienced rejection, racism and frustration; but what you'll hear is love, laughter and a passion for justice, kindness and humility. Read more about Safina here https://artbysafina.com.au/ The music used is by Safina's brother, Stewart Fergie from Oka Music's new album Sunset Sessions: https://okamusic.com/
Whether in the media or in mission, Joseph Network producer Tim Dehn has always served his community with a humbling passion. In conversation with long-time friend Tim Argall, he shares his battles with doubt while discerning God’s plans, and why perfection isn’t what God’s all about. This conversation was recorded under remote working restrictions.
Tim spent his early years in Papua New Guinea, where his father was a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Thanks to music and his Christian faith he survived the move to Australia at the age of 12, where an old trumpet started him on the road to earning his living as a professional musician. A conversation on a cruise ship led to a change of direction, studying theology in the US before becoming a Baptist pastor, director of an international mission agency and now principal of Melbourne School of Theology.
Starting out as an astrophysicist and then moving on to the World Bank, Stuart Gill has had a globe-spanning career. Passionate about sustainable social development, he is now a senior member of Second Muse, a development company which has ‘a vision of a prosperous future that is just and equitable for all.’ Education, food production, disaster risk, and community building are just some of the areas where Stuart’s faith as a Christian and skills as an economist are applied every day, in developing nations in the Asia Pacific region.
Aussie businessman-turned-missionary Andie Steele-Smith hit the headlines in May, when the world's media caught on to how he was bringing together the notorious gangs of Cape Town's African townships to deliver soap, food and other essential supplies to vulnerable residents, housebound because of the COVID-19 lockdown. He tells a story of conviction, compassion and courage that owes everything to the unique power of God to change hate to love: and how he realised that "... these guys were all the same as me and that was very humbling."
Kate leads Dignity Freedom Network, whose mission is to bring hope to Indian girls facing a life of rejection and abuse - the Jogini. Through quality education, healthcare and vocational training, founded on the power of Christ to transform, miraculous change is taking place. Kate's story holds tears of pain and tears of relief, reveals anger and love, and tells of cruelty and selfless service. Truly a story of hope.
Joel McKerrow is an award-winning writer, speaker, educator, creativity specialist and one of Australia's most successful performance poets. His book "Woven" takes the reader from the moment a moulded, inherited faith crumbles and the questions arrive, to a place of belief woven from answers honestly sought.
Our April conversation with Malawi missionaries Mike and Jacky Hammond was recorded long before the global Covid-19 pandemic. As a way of sharing the needs of those living in poorer countries, Mike and Jacky joined Tim Argall for a follow-up chat - by Skype. The communications were challenging, to say the least, but what Mike and Jacky have to share is illuminating. Pray for our brothers and sisters in Malawi, and for those who minister to and care for them.
Jacky and Michael Hammond have served as missionaries in Malawi for 15 years. In drought, famine and flood they've shared their lives with the local church. In this conversation with Tim Argall they explore what it really means to serve long term - and why it matters.
Tim is joined by two highly accomplished radio hosts, Lucy Holmes from 89.9 The Light, and Mary 'MK' Argall from Praise 106.5 in Seattle. In a wide-ranging discussion Lucy and MK cover everything from what it means to 'love' their audience through the deeper challenges of life to their strangest meals. They also talk justice, and what that means as part of the first world, and how the concept of 'radical equality' has shaped their thinking.
A native of the United Kingdom, now teaching at Calvin University, Grand Rapids, Professor David Smith has an international reputation as a thinker and practitioner at the place where faith and teaching meet. He quotes the 17th century educator Comenius, who believed that education is for all, regardless of age, class, sex, and nationality, as seeming “more 1960s than 1660s,” and has a great answer to the problem of teaching sporting skills in a Christian way “without doing something rather stupid.”