The Testimony Podcast

Hello and welcome to Episode 38 of the Testimony Podcast. This is going to be the last podcast that I release in this series for a while, the podcast is going to be going on hiatus, but these episodes will still be available. My guest for this episode is Gloria Knight. Gloria came to know Jesus through being taken to church by neighbours, but her rebellious teenage years led to drugs and single parenthood on welfare benefits in the worst neighbourhood in San Francisco. The shock of seeing a friend killed by an overdose made Gloria decide to come off the drugs and join the Jesus Movement. She ran away from one bad marriage and ended up in Minnesota at a wonderful church, before eventually settling in Louisiana. Fear and bereavement have driven her to seek God, to be close to Him, and to shelter in him. Gloria had three sons, Dennis, Dustin, and John, but has known the heartbreak of losing a child, her middle son Dustin.  Gloria shares the lessons it has taken her a lifetime to learn, lessons that we all need to take to heart.

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.