Healthy Gospel Church

We are delighted to welcome Canon J. John to the Health Gospel Church podcast this week. J.John is an Evangelist, minister, speaker, broadcaster and writer. He has been in ministry for four decades. He has spoken in towns, cities and universities in 69 countries. J.John lives near London in England. He is married to Killy and is a father and grandfather. Contact the show: communications@freechurch.org Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org #healthygospelchurch

Our guest this week is Rev. Dr Paul Blackham. Leading since the summer of 2021, Jonathan, and the Blackham family, has been a part of Church plants around the country for the past decade. But at the centre of this life and current ministry is a love of Jesus, throughout all the bible! Ordained in 1997, Paul served at All Souls Langham Place as Associate Minister for theology until 2008, and has since led church plants in both Lancashire and South Wales. Writer of the Book by Book study guides and series co-presenter, Paul was one of the original trustees of Biblical Frameworks, the charity that administers and funds the series. He is also author of ‘The Great Unknown’ by Christian Focus publications. Paul's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@prblackham Contact the show: communications@freechurch.org Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org #healthygospelchurch

Our guest this week is Graeme Shanks. Originally hailing from Glasgow, Graeme is married to Alex and they have 3 girls Chloe, Grace and Eve. Having qualified as a solicitor and worked in Commercial Property for a few years upon graduation he joined Bruntsfield Evangelical Church staff team back in 2012 and has been our Pastor since 2017. He has studied at both the Cornhill Training Course and latterly at Edinburgh Theological Seminary. In his spare time he enjoys most sports and is a long suffering fan of Airdrieonians and West Ham United. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org #healthygospelchurch

Our guest today is Hannah Nation. Hannah Nation is a writer, editor, and content strategist. She currently serves as the Managing Director of the Center for House Church Theology and as the Content Director for China Partnership. She has published in Christianity Today, the Gospel Coalition, Comment, and Plough. ​Her topics of interest are: urban Chinese house church movements; print and digital textual communities; historic global Christianity; and the history of women and the church. China Partnership: https://chinapartnership.org Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Chris Smart joins us this week on the Health Gospel Church Podcast. Chris was born and grew up in the Scottish Highlands. Chris' family didn't grow up in the church, but when he was 18 he went to study Chemistry in the city of Aberdeen and there through the witness of a fellow student, came to faith in Christ. After about a year he began to sense God’s call to ministry finishing his Chemistry degree and worked briefly in an oil laboratory. This was followed with six months teaching English in Peru, before returning to Scotland where he studied for a further three years in Edinburgh at the Free Church of Scotland College. Chris spent his first years of ministry working mainly in a deprived area of Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, where many people with addictions came to faith in Christ. During his time in the north of Scotland Chris was also a chaplain to the local prison and served on the financial, strategic and missions boards of the Free Church of Scotland. Chris is married to Yazmin from Columbia and they have two sons, Joshua and Matthew. In July 2017 Chris and his family moved to Tampa. The opportunities for the Gospel in the north of Tampa is huge with a fast-growing population and along with a really committed group of believers in Hope Church. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Our first guest of the new season is Derek Lamont. Derek has ben a minister for 33 years spending 22 of them in the centre of Edinburgh as minister of St Columba's Free Church. During his time there St Columba's planted four new churches and now Derek has decided to get stuck in himself and plant a new church in Leith. Derek is married to Catriona with four grown-up kids – two of whom live in America, the other two are married and work for churches in Edinburgh. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

This week's guest is Rev. Alex MacDonald. Alex was brought up in the Highlands of Scotland and is a former Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, having served as minister in Bishopbirggs Free Church, Bon Accord Free Church and Buccleuch Free Church. This week's theme is "A Life in Ministry" Topics include: Highland Clearances Tackling Social Issues in Preaching Right to Life Christians in Politics Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

This week's guest is Confex Makhalira. Confex Makhalira is an ordained minister and a missionary of Mission to the World (MTW). Currently, he is serving as a pastor and church planter of Christ Presbyterian Church in Blantyre, Malawi. He is married to Mwai, and together they have two amazing daughters. This week's theme is "The Church in Africa" Topics include: African Presbyterianism David Livingstone Prosperity Gospel African Perspectives on Theology Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

This week's guest is Anne MacDonald. Anne is the Student and Young Adults Worker at Bon Accord Free Church in Aberdeen. This week's theme is "Students and Young People" Topics include: Women in ministry When to employ a youth worker Issues facing young people today How do we make disciples? Finding a balance between church service and family life Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

This week's guest is Thomas Davis. Thomas Davis is a minister in the Free Church of Scotland who has served as an assistant at St Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh and is now minister of Carloway Free Church on the Isle of Lewis. He is also a visiting lecturer in Systematic Theology and Church History at Edinburgh Theological Seminary. He is married to Una, and they have three children: Tom, John and Annie. This week's theme is "Training and Equipping" Topics include: How important is training in the church? Is an apprenticeship model appropriate? Can ministry really be taught? Are ministers professionals? Learning from other professional models Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

This week's guest is Melissa Kruger. Melissa serves as vice president of discipleship programming at The Gospel Coalition. She is the author of The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World, Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood, In All Things: A Nine-Week Devotional Bible Study on Unshakeable Joy, Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know, and His Grace Is Enough. Her husband, Mike, is the president of Reformed Theological Seminary, and they have three children. She writes at Wits End, hosted by The Gospel Coalition. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. This week's theme is "Mentoring" Topics include: Coaching vs Mentoring Mentoring and the local church Mentoring generations and genders Becoming a mentor Developing a church prayer culture Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Join us on this week's episode as we welcome Rev. Callum Macleod. Callum is the minister of Shawbost Free Church in the Isle of Lewis and the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. This week's theme is "Ministry Life" Topics include: Entering ministry later in life Confirming the call to ministry Community ministry Maintaining our identity in Christ Can revival give a false sense of spiritual energy? Commitment to the Confessions Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Join us on this week's episode as we welcome Lewis and Sarah Allen. Lewis pastored Gunnersbury Baptist Church in London for over twelve years, and in 2010 was called to plant what is now Hope Church Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, where he is now Senior Pastor. Sarah read English at Cambridge and now works part-time as an English Teacher as well as being involved in ministry at Hope Church. She has written a children's book about Hannah More and contributes to EN and Solas, as well as speaking at women's conferences. This week's theme is "Couples in Ministry" Topics include: Discerning ministry as a couple Complementarianism and Egalitarianism Women in Ministry Ministry pressures on a minister and his wife Pastoral care Managing expectations as a husband and wife Hope Church, Huddersfield Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Ivor has been minister of Hope Church since July 2012. He trained for the ministry at Aberdeen University and Westminster Theological Seminary and served congregations in Lewis and Skye before coming to Coatbridge. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Steve graduated in History and Politics from the University of Liverpool, where he met his wife Rachel. After this, he completed a Religious Studies & Philosophy PGCE and embarked on a short-lived career as a secondary school teacher. Steve then completed an MA in Theology before becoming a self-employed researcher serving the recruitment sector. He was called to be Pastor at Oldham Bethel Church in 2014. Steve and Rachel have two children, and outside of church, he enjoys discussing philosophy, politics and current affairs over “proper” freshly ground coffee. Steve regularly blogs on issues related to church, theology, politics, society and Oldham at Building Jerusalem. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Robert Cunningham joins us today from Christ for Kentucky to discuss what he saw and experienced at Asbury University's extended worship service. Is it a revival? An awakening? Or something else? Robert is the founder and director of Christ for Kentucky. Robert is the former Senior Pastor of Tates Creek Presbyterian Church, where he served for seventeen years. He is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary and a current Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leicester, researching the role of religion in America's founding era. He has been a regular contributor for the Lexington Herald-Leader and the religion and culture commentator for Kentucky Sports Radio. His writings and work have been featured in Christianity Today, WORLD Magazine, and the New York Times. Robert and his wife Abby have four sons—Holt, Charlie, Owen, and Henry. He is a native Kentuckian, and Christ for Kentucky was born out of an undying love for his home. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Dr. Michael J. Kruger serves as the President and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. Dr. Kruger regularly speaks, lectures, and teaches throughout the United States and the world—including conferences such as The Gospel Coalition, Together for the Gospel, the Ligonier Conference, and the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. In addition to his academic publications, his popular-level articles have appeared in places like Desiring God, Reformation 21, Modern Reformation, Tabletalk Magazine, and The Gospel Coalition. He also blogs regularly on his own website, Canon Fodder (www.michaeljkruger.com). He is married to Melissa Kruger, Director of Women’s Initiatives for The Gospel Coalition and author of numerous books, including most recently, Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests(Crossway, 2020). They have three children, Emma, John, and Kate.

Joe Hall is the minister of Bon Accord Free Church in Aberdeen. Joe was born and raised in Romford, Essex, and came to a personal Christian faith as a teenager. He moved to Edinburgh in 2012 at the age of 18 to study Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. There, he became a member of Grace Church Leith. His growing love for God and desire to serve him and his people led to a ministry apprenticeship at Grace Church Leith after he graduated. Over these 2 years he studied at the Cornhill Training Course in Glasgow, which deepened his knowledge and love of the Bible, and laid a foundation for future study and ministry. After three years of subsequent study at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, Joe was licensed last week by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and Perth. Joe’s wife, Susy, grew up in Derbyshire, where her father was the pastor in a local church. She went on to study medicine at the University of Bristol, before moving to Edinburgh where she eventually worked in paediatric emergency medicine. It was at Grace Church Leith that Susy and Joe met. They are expecting their first child in December this year. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/

Ken Wright is the President of British Youth For Christ and is involved in a group called Biblical Frameworks which produces bible study resources. Ken was also formerly a Managing Director in Royal Mail, responsible for the operation of the UK’s postal service. He and his wife Jan live in London and are active members of All Souls Church, Langham Place. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/ #healthygospelchurch #christianity #faith

Alistair Begg is the senior pastor of Cleveland's Parkside Church, a position he has held since 1983. He is the voice behind the Truth For Life Christian radio preaching and teaching ministry, which broadcasts his sermons daily to stations across North America through over 1,800 radio outlets. Official Site: https://www.freechurch.org/ Healthy Gospel Church Vision: https://freechurch.org/healthy-gospel-church/ #healthygospelchurch #christianity #faith