The Profile

Strahan Coleman is an award-winning musician, poet, writer, teacher and spiritual director from Aotearoa in New Zealand. He is the founder of Commoners Communion, which explores deep communion with God through spiritual retreats. He also has a podcast and an online prayer schools. Coleman has authored three volumes of poetic prayer books offering contemplations, and reflections. His poem Never Alone was performed by Amanda Cook. His music has been described as "Psalmic" and has featured collaborations with artists like Josh Garrels. His debut album, Posters won New Zealand’s Gospel Album of the Year Award. He is also an author and his book Thirsting: Quenching Our Soul’s Deepest Desire, was released in 2024. Coleman grew up in suburban New Zealand and describes his mother as initially new age although after listening to a Christian radio station his father prayed for deliverance and became a Christian and the family began attending Baptist Church. However, it wasn't until a period of chronic illness as a young man, that Coleman says he really discovered who he felt God was. In this episode of The Profile he speaks to Deputy Editor of Christianity Magazine Emma Fowle to discuss his journey in relationship with God, what chronic illness taught him about faith and what being a contemplative Christian means to him. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe

Andy Peck talks to the founder of the charities ‘City Women’ and ‘City Free from Porn’ about her work serving women in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. How did she get women out of the church reaching women locally, and how might we be doing the same in women’s groups where we are? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

Austin grew up in a Christian home but had a period of doubt in his youth. After wrestling with some of the fundamentals of faith he went on to become a theology graduate from Moody Bible Institute. He created the YouTube channel "Gospel Simplicity," which has now garnered over 40,000 subscribers and three million views. His channel features interviews with Christian authors and explores various theological topics. In this episode of The Profile he speaks to Premier Christianity writer Tony Wilson to discuss his upbringing, how conversations help you understand faith and gives advice on how to create a successful YouTube Channel. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck talks to the author of a new book entitled Seismos: Christian Citizenship in a Post-Christian West about his alarming analysis of how secularism ideology has pushed Christianity to the margins of society in the West. How are we to understand it and what might be the response of the church? How could Christian citizenship point people to a way of life and a future with surer foundations? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

John Bergsma grew up with a military chaplain as a father and his family were Dutch Calvinists. As an adult he went on to become a Protestant pastor but later felt the call to join the Catholic church which he joined in 2001. He's now Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio in his academic life has specialised in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In his latest book Jesus and the Jubilee, he explores the roots of the idea of the year of jubilee, showing how historically it was established to preserve freedom, family, and the fullness of God’s blessing for the ancient Israelites. In this episode of The Profile Premier Christianity's Tony Wilson talks to him about his move from Protestantism to Catholicism, what the 2025 year of Jubilee really meant in Jewish law and the importance of the Church fathers. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck talks to the author of ‘Artificial Intelligence: a guide for the perplexed’ about his work understanding the ethical implications of AI as part of the Church of England’s Faith and Public Life Team. What do we need to be concerned about? How should we use it ourselves? How do we find material that can inform our thinking? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

As a writer, broadcaster and consultant Elizabeth Oldfield is passionate about helping people and organisations grow to align with their values, particularly in the third sector. She was Director of the religion and society think-tank Theos for ten years and now hosts the Sacred Podcast - a show exploring people's lives and the values that shape them. In her new book Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent times she takes on the seven deadly sins as a backdrop to exploring topics she felt were off limits and doesn't hold back in doing so. In this episode of The Profile she talks to Emma Fowle about the wisdom she's garnered from living in an intentional Christian community with her husband and children and what she learned from writing her book. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck talks to the founding pastor of Trinity Church Everton, north Liverpool, about how a small team planted a Gospel minded church in one of the poorest areas of the UK. How did they decide on Everton and what lessons has he learned over the last 12 years? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

Alister McGrath is many things, an academic, a historian, a writer, a theologian but above all he is an apologist. McGrath was born in Belfast and went to study chemistry at Oxford University describing himself at the time as an 'aggressive atheist'. Whilst there he met Christians who were scientists but who were able to talk to him and debate his questions. In his own words he says he realised that atheism was a belief system in itself as they couldn't prove God didn't exist. Since then he has written about faith and science and his work has been translated into 27 different languages and for many years taught theology at Oxford as a Professor. In this far-ranging interview with Premier Christianity's Sam Hailes he talks about his own conversion story, the changing practices of Christianity, why atheism offers no sound intellectual arguments and his latest book Why We Believe- Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times. You can also catch Alister in another Premier Podcast - The C.S. Lewis Podcast where he explores the thought and teaching of the writer and theologian with co-host Ruth Jackson. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck talks to the CEO of Christians Against Poverty (CAP) about the need to be aware of finances as we lead. How well do we need to know our way around a balance sheet? What is wise practice with fundraising? How might your church support those in financial need? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

As Director of the Vatican Observatory Brother Guy Consolmagno has had his fair share of stargazing. He's a Jesuit priest who has a keen interest in considering space in God's creation and how it can feed us has humans. He grew up in Detroit in the 1950s into a Catholic family where faith was not "oppressive" but part of the fabric of daily life. From an early age he was interested in science which he says came from his father and some long dark nights together where: "Space was everything." When a choice came to pursue a religious life or something more scientific he found it difficult to decide. A love of meteorites caught his imagination and he's been studying them in relationship to God every since. In this episode of The Profile Br. Consolmagno talks to Tony Wilson, a writer for Premier Christianity Magazine about rationality and faith - and asks if you ever have to choose one and whether there is life on other planets. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck talks with the editor of Operation World, a tool that helps Christian pray intelligently and act strategically as they seek to make worldwide. As Operation World celebrates 60 years of publication, they look at where the church is growing, where it seems to be struggling and the vital role of prayer as we look to serve God’s work. Where should we be sending mission partners today? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

With his Aussie accent you'd be forgiven for thinking Glyn Barrett was homegrown in Australia but he was in fact born to Welsh parents and spent the first two years of his life in Manchester before going down under. Glyn grew up in a Christian home and his parents were pastors. Decades later he felt the call to come back to the UK and plant a church in the city he'd been a toddler in. Now, with his wife Sophie, Glyn leads !Audacious Church in Manchester. The journey began in 2007 and since then they've taken a congregation of 50 and grown it to thousands. !Audacious is now in four locations. In this episode of The Profile Glyn speaks to Premier Christianity Magazine Editor Sam Hailes who asks when it comes to church is bigger always better and how you grow a congregation while still making it feel personal to those who are part of it. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck chats with a man who has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years. Having pastored a church in the US which grew and then shrank, he founded a ministry supporting pastors of small churches. They talk about why some churches remain small, how you can be ‘heathy’ and small and what to do if you have tried to change things and failed. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

Shell Perris - once a singer in a Christian girl band - now leads Alive Ministries which helps families worship. She works with Gary Spicer at The Lions which guides Christians in setting up and running successful businesses, not just to make money, but to create social change. Through their work they hope to help, mentor, train and bring ideas into fruition. In this episode of The Profile they spoke to Premier Christianity Magazine's Deputy Editor Emma Fowle about entrepreneurship, having gumption and why you can't wait around for God to do the hard work if you have an idea. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.

Andy Peck chats with the national director of Development Associates International (DAI UK) about their leadership training and support of Diaspora Christians including overseas students. They talk about her background in community health and development in rural Nepal and urban India and what led her into leadership in the first place. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

Podcaster Carey Nieuwhof has said being a pastor 'nearly killed' him. Not that he felt a particular call to church leadership initially. Nieuwhof grew up in a Christian home to immigrant parents who lived in Canada but it wasn't until he was 13 and his parents had moved to an Evangelical Presbyterian church that he felt he gave his life to Christ. Ministry did not initially attract him and instead he became a lawyer for a short while but felt the pull later and founded Connexus Church in Ontario helping it to grow their congregation. Growth and success have always been important to him. Now he speaks on leadership, and faith. He hosts the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast, where he interviews influential leaders from different industries on how to grow their own influence. In this edition of The Profile he talks to Assistant Editor of Christianity Magazine Emma Fowle about the challenges all pastors feel whatever the size of their church and the successes and failures on how to really reach people emotionally.

Andy Peck chats with the authors of Healing Leadership Trauma: Finding emotional health and helping others flourish (IVP). They discuss how past trauma can impact a leader’s style and approach, what signs we should look for, and what we might do to get support. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out the latest offers at premierchristianity.com

After a tough year Wycombe Wanderer's Jason McCarthy was looking to assess his priorities. He was having a successful career as a defender but after a close relative died and during a nasty spell when he got held up at knifepoint he began to question what success was. One day he overheard teammates talking about Jesus and became intrigued. He asked more, prayed and gave his life to Christ but initially his family - including his fiancé - were not supportive. In this episode of The Profile he speaks to Christianity's Emma Fowle about how he felt after becoming a Christian and how he got his now wife onboard with The Gospel. To listen to the whole interview just head to premier.plus/theprofile or stream it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also catch it right here on Premier Christian Radio every Saturday from 8 pm.

Singer and songwriter Victory Boyd grew up in a big musical family. She's one of nine children and credits her parents for her musical success and the investment they put into her and her siblings. As a family they moved to New York with little money but a lot of faith and sold CDs around the city which helped support their family. Now she's a successful musician signed to Roc Nation, a music label owned by Jay-Z. Victory's music fuses soul, folk and gospel and draws on her own faith. In this interview with Premier Gospel's Cassandra Maria she talks about how reading and then playing the Psalms helps ease her soul. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity Magazine, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Through our publication, you’ll access thought-provoking Christian content, including the latest news, inspiring interviews, and exclusive commentary. Take advantage of our special offer - just £6 for 3 issues plus full digital access to our website and back issues. Enrich your faith journey and subscribe today at premierchristianity.com/subscribe.