Inspired... with Simon Guillebaud

Shane Claiborne’s deepest conviction is that we are meant to live ‘as if Jesus meant the things he said’. So for him that has meant living in community in inner-city Philadelphia for a few decades now, having picked up some lessons from a stint working under Mother Teresa in Calcutta. His activism has involved confronting various systemic injustices and speaking up for and standing alongside those...

A life of escalating drugs and crime caused Clyde Thomas to end up in a prison cell, where he started reading a Gideon New Testament. The Jesus he found in those pages totally transformed his life. Now he pastors Victory Church in Cwmbran, and runs Christian rehabilitation houses with his wife Rebekah, helping folks who are just like he was twenty years ago break free of addiction and destructive...

Donna spent 25 years in various countries in Asia, including warzones. Her stories of listening to the ‘inner voice’ of God to guide and draw people into His Kingdom are beautiful, instructive and challenging to us in how we seek to share our faith. “God, what do you want me to know in this situation” is a simple (and profound) prayer, whether being held at gunpoint in the extreme, or whenever fea...

John is a fearless follower of Jesus who gets bombarded daily with death threats from across the world for his outspoken witness for Christ. His back story was that he had misgivings with the faith of his birth when on pilgrimage from Yemen to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. As a disillusioned but spiritually searching agnostic, his convoluted travels led him to meeting a Syrian refugee in Greece with a tatt...

From being bullied at school and feeling a persistent failure to miraculous healing from a brain-dead coma, Rachel’s remarkable life is a story of God’s empowering and equipping to be a prophetic voice with a compassionate heart across the globe. Check out Rachel’s works at heartcryforchange.com  and get her books at Rachel's Amazon author page. YouTube: youtube.com/@HeartcryforChange | Faceb...

Our interview with Patrick was so interesting, I just wanted to continue. So we've uploaded this bonus episode where we tap into some of his knowledge and insight. Make sure you listen to Part 1 first. Watch both of these episodes on Youtube. Patrick Dixon was thrust to the forefront of the worldwide AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, and suddenly found himself becoming a truth-telling and influential wo...

Patrick Dixon was thrust to the forefront of the worldwide AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, and suddenly found himself becoming a truth-telling and influential world authority on the subject. He founded ACET which has impacted millions of lives across the globe. His life then pivoted to working as a futurist, which has involved speaking at Davos, and advising and equipping some of the biggest companies...

Eddie Lyle’s stories of unsung heroes of the faith in the persecuted church throughout the world blew my mind, and will humble, challenge, and stir you in equal measure. For example, he tells of the extremist’s machete falling, but stopping inches from the believer’s neck as light flooded the room and the gang fell to their knees and then ran away. That’s just for starters!  I love Open Doors...

Emma Scrivener shares with raw honesty about her struggles with anorexia. *Content Warning: Contains frank discussion of eating disorders and mental health struggles. Contact Emma at emmascrivener.net If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, do check out Taste Life at tastelifeuk.org Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uARGazdzjoo Check out our episode with Emma's h...

For 35 years, Ash and Anji Barker have made bold, countercultural choices—embedding themselves in some of the world’s most overlooked and underestimated neighbourhoods. From the rough edges of Springvale in Australia, to the vibrant resilience of Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum, to the heart of inner-city Birmingham, their journey is one of hope, grit, and deep-rooted faith. Through it all, they’ve cham...

Pete Wynter leads St Paul’s Hammersmith with his wife Sarah. As statistics are increasingly showing, something significant is going on across the nation. And Pete backs up those stats with story after story of lives beautifully transformed on his patch. Indeed, it’s a great time to be alive! --- 🌽 Check out our amazing farming video: glo.org.uk/farming ❤️ Support our work in Burundi: greatlakesou...

Nadim was a successful entrepreneur, happily married, and with two wonderful children. But the dream life was shattered when he took his daughter Natasha and her best friend on holiday to France. Tragically, Natasha had an anaphylactic reaction shortly after takeoff after ingesting sesame seeds in her sandwich, from which she never recovered.  Subsequently, Nadim and his wife Tanya founded th...

They say barbers are therapists, but Costa Michael is certainly more than a barber and/or a therapist! He’s also the founder of a clothing label, he’s a podcast host, and a bold evangelist using every opportunity to point people to Jesus. Check out norisk-nostory.com Connect with Costa: Instagram: @costantinos.michael Tiktok: @costa.michael_   YouTube:@nrns.podcast --- 🌽 Check out our amazin...

Frankly Virginia’s story is nuts. Standing up to the Romanian dictator Ceaucescu, she used her skills and courage as a lawyer to defend persecuted Christians and fight for religious freedom. She was tortured repeatedly - yet even blessed her abusers as they did so, who on occasion turned away with tears in their eyes. And then one day a hired assassin drew his gun in her office and the game was up...

Justin’s big brain gets put to good use as a writer, speaker and broadcaster. Over the last couple of decades, he’s brought together the world’s most famous atheists for debates and discussions, and has had a front seat in observing a massive shift away from angry atheism towards openness to the gospel, including some very high-profile converts to Christ. It’s deeply encouraging! You can also watc...

Whilst his father was a hard-working bus driver, Brian (with his sister) built the nation’s biggest bus company, Stagecoach. It reached FTSE 100 status, and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1993, valued at £134million. He is Scotland’s most generous man, giving away more than £150 million over the last few decades. His whole message is of surrender to Christ and offering up all he has f...

Heidi Baker is one of the best known missionaries in the world for a reason. We could have filled twenty podcasts with New Testament-type miraculous stories, but the ones she shared here were wild enough. Her Iris team has seen millions impacted, and thousands of communities of faith planted in Muslim areas after dramatic signs and wonders. What a story! Check out www.irisglobal.org --- 🌽 Check o...

Shane’s life was so spectacularly destructive, dark and violent that he was always likely to end up in a maximum security prison, where he was required to be accompanied by seven prison guards in riot gear just to leave his cell. The turnaround in his life beggars belief. His joy in reliving the miraculous transformation was so beautiful (and funny!). There is always hope. What a story! If you wan...

Andy is a superb comedian with two decades of experience on the road; but I think we were both taken by surprise at how ruthlessly honest and raw he was about the painful realities of relational breakdown in his private life. So the irony of this podcast is a funny man being extremely serious. I found it holy ground, and it makes for a beautiful interview. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://yo...

As the boss of the largest of the three Divisions of the UK Field Army, Major General Tim Cross commanded around 30,000 men and women at one stage, having graduated through the ranks and serving in conflicts ranging from Northern Ireland to Kosovo and Iraq. A decade into his military career, he took a flight from Cyprus to Jerusalem and something happened in a garden there that totally shaped his...

Never has there been more persecution, and therefore never more need for what Merv has given the last 46 years of his life towards through Christian Solidarity Worldwide - going to the toughest places, meeting victims of prejudice, making sure they know they’re not forgotten, and lobbying for justice and freedom, with some amazing stories along the way. Check out csw.org.uk Contact mervynthomas[@]...

Born into a devout Muslim family in Ethiopia, Aila was earnest in his pursuit of truth. On his deathbed with cerebral malaria, his school teacher visited him. That conversation was the start of a remarkable journey which has included persecution, adventure, and staggering fruitfulness amongst numerous unreached people groups steeped in witchcraft, animism and Islam. Check out: lifewayglobal.org --...

Whether it’s planting thriving and multiplying churches both in Australia and the UK, pioneering a women’s leadership network, launching a successful magazine, or starting a charity in Africa, Bev remains a turbo-charged grandma still lecturing on leadership and completing her doctorate, having left school at 15! Described by her successor at the last church she co-led with husband Rick as ‘unstop...

Fiercely proud and resolutely anti-Christian, it was always going to take something dramatic to turn army officer Gordon Hickson’s life upside-down. His stories of miracles both in Africa and the Western world, in his own life and those around him, will stir your faith and inspire you to believe that it’s an exciting time to be alive! Gordon’s life story ‘Harnessed for Adventure’ can be bought on...

A drug addict by the age of 13, and in and out of juvenile detention from then on, Corey had a radical encounter that saved him from almost certain early death. From experiencing raw revival with addicts and felons to now reaching into the Alaskan hinterland, the signs and wonders that accompany the gospel are truly beautiful and stunningly powerful. I loved this conversation and it’s a fabulous s...