The Profile

Andy Flannagan has an irrepressible energy. The Northern Irishman, who is now based in Luton, began his adult life as a medical doctor before quickly deciding that singing and song writing was a passion he had to explore. His albums include Advertising the Invisible, Son, Drowning in the Shallow, with his music often addressing social injustice, global poverty, environmental concerns, and human su...

Andy Peck talks with the founder of Christians for Impact about their ministry helping Christians to invest their time in work that best serves God’s kingdom. They look at their selection of the key evidence-based areas of impact and look ahead to their conference in the UK on November 22nd and 23rd. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check...

Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers has achieved a lot in her life already. Aged just 28 she is the newly crowned World Champion, winning the gold at the recent World Athletics Championships in Japan. She has won silver medals at the Paris 2024 & Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She is the Australian and Oceania high jump record holder (2.04m). She is also the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion and will be...

Andy Pecks talks with the pastor and director of The Steps course, which is based on 12 steps use with AA, but within an overtly Christian framework. They discuss why he felt the need to develop the course, the similarities and contrasts between his homeland of Denmark and the UK and how his training as a psychotherapist informs his ministry. The Steps Course is available at https://stepscourse.or...

Academic Beth Allison Barr grew up in a Christian home a never really questioning the reality of God and was formally baptised aged 11. Not that there weren't a few theological question marks along the way. She became an academic historian specialising in medieval history while her husband became a Baptist minister. And it was only when they began to challenge their own church concerning the role...

Andy Peck chats with the CEO of UCCF: the Christian Unions, about his leadership as a junior doctor, as a pastor and now of a student charity. They look at why limits may actually be a blessing for the Christian leader and why students reaching students remains the best model for campus ministry. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Check out...

24-year-old Harry Clark shot to fame on BBC One's hit reality show The Traitors. He won the second series last year bagging £95,000 which he says he used to pay off family debt and make a small investment - nothing too flash. Despite the high profile treachery and deceit it took to win, what many people might not know is that Clark's Christian faith is the thing that keeps him grounded. Clark was...

Andy Peck chats with the founders of Altitude Mission, which develops teams of ‘Ski Angels’ to serve skiers and residents of Méribel in the Fresh Alps. They discuss God’s clear hand in the development of the Mission, what they have learned about leadership along the way and what the local population make of their work. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christi...

Dr Selina Stone is a theologian who has written on topics as diverse as class, race within Pentecostal theology as well as racial inequality in the church and black spirituality. Stone grew up in a working class family in Birmingham attending a Pentecostal church with her family. Her parents were teachers 'always reading' and from an early age she says she was steeped in church 'through and throug...

Andy Peck chats with the author of ‘Life in the Last Lane’ about his clarion call for older people not to be written off, nor write themselves off when they reach retirement years. They discuss why the elderly are so often undervalued, how to value every day and why you really shouldn’t get your dead dog stuffed. The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian mag...

Artist Kirk Franklin is known to millions and has amassed a staggering 20 grammys since he first started making music in the early nineties. He was born in Texas and from very early on, aged just four, Franklin began playing the piano; by 11 he was directing his church choir. Despite a sold grounding in Gospel music his own musical influences came from Hip Hop which meant when he came to make musi...

As The Jesus Film is translated into its 2,200th spoken language, Andy Peck chats with the executive director about the success of a film first released in 1979 and now believed to have been seen by 11 billion people. What are the leadership challenges of finding actors and translators and how might UK leaders use it for outreach to ethnic communities in their neighbourhood? The Profile is brought...

Investment banker and philanthropist John Studzinski began his charitable life at the tender age of six when he opened a soup kitchen with his Catholic mother. She had been a nurse during WW2 and as he says in this interview it is sometimes easier to meet Christ 'in service', especially as a child. He went on to work in banking, becoming one of the first practising Catholics to enter Morgan Stanle...

Andy Peck chats with the programme leader of London School of Theology’s, Music and Worship Studies about contemporary worship leading. What might a worship leader aim to do? How helpful are repeated lyrics? How do we embrace ethnic groups styles? How gifted do vocalists and musicians need to be? And what about when ‘worship wars’ break out in a local church? The Profile is brought to you by Premi...

When Jeremy Stalnecker fulfilled his childhood dream of joining the Marines he thought he had it made. He had grown up in southern California into a Christian family and his father was a pastor. Despite an early biblical grounding he did not see ministry as part of his future. After he joined the Marines Corps he served in the first invasion of Iraq - Operation Iraqi Freedom - first as a rifle pla...

Andy Peck speaks to the founder of Join the Dots Solutions about her work helping churches and Christian organisations become better informed about trauma With studies suggesting over half of us will experience trauma at some point in our lives, how might we better serve those we lead and ensure our past experiences don’t adversely impact our leadership of others? The Profile is brought to you by...

85-year-old Alexander 'Sandy' Millar is best known as co-founder of the worldwide introduction course to Christianity known as 'Alpha'. Though thoughts of being a clergyman were far from his mind when he was child. GHe grew up in Scotland during the second world war with a father who was a Major General. He went to boarding school and onto Cambridge eventually fulfilling his dream of becoming a cr...

Andy Peck talks to Transform Work’s CEO and the leader of Thrive 25, a conference series in Scotland aimed at inspiring and connecting Christians to live out their faith in the workplace. Why is Ros still committed to serving Christians in the workplace and how did Martyn get involved in serving Christians in Scotland? What kind of fruit do they see from this work? The Profile is brought to you by...

Don’t believe the hype. That’s what God told Pat Barrett just before his songs became global sensations. Ahead of his appearance at Big Church Festival, the worship artists tells Sam Hailes why he loves coming to England. 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, i...

Andy Peck talks to UCCF staff worker Fearghal Kelly and graduating student Dan Roberts about the leadership journey of the CU student. How did Fearghal facilitate the process and what has Dan learned? What would help the current newbies as they attend university for the first time in the next few months? The Profile is brought to you by Premier Christianity, the UK’s leading Christian magazine. Ch...

When John Bostock gave his life to Jesus, aged 15, he thought God would give him sporting glory, just like his footballing hero, Kaka. A year later, at 16, he became the youngest ever first team player for Crystal Palace FC, then Tottenham Hotspur. He captained his country and was tipped as the next big thing. But by 21, he was without a club or a contract and considered quitting football altogeth...

Andy Peck speaks to the authors of ‘Mid Faith Crisis’ about the challenges they have faced that nearly knocked them off course. They look at stages in the faith journey and ask whether pain has been sanitised out of the rhetoric of church life. What do you do when a leader who was influential for you is not who you thought they were? What do we do with the pain and struggle we face? The Profile is...

Musician and singer-songwriter Cory Asbury grew up in church and always loved music. But by the time he was a teenager, his lifestyle was spiralling out of control. Out partying on a Saturday night before leading worship on a Sunday morning, his parents staged an intervention. Telling him it was a ‘music school’, he arrived at the International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) unprepared for a...

Andy Peck speaks to Rev Canon Jo McKee Head of Leadership Development and the Director of the Arrow Programme at CPAS. They talk about good practice when it comes to developing and running teams in churches. Can psychometric tests help and what are the key dysfunctions in lay leadership?

Surgeon Gary Parker and his wife Susan have spent over 40 years living and working aboard Mercy Ships, bringing life-changing surgery to the world's poorest and most forgotten people. In this remarkable episode, they share jaw-dropping stories of medical miracles, from tumours that vanished overnight to operations saved by last-minute prayer. But their journey is about more than medicine — it's a...