Positive Media
Towards Understanding
Towards Understanding is a full-length feature interview radio program hosted by Clayton Bjelan. The show contains a mix of interviews based around the understanding and living out of Christian faith and those just doing remarkable things in our world. It focuses on three key groups of people - The Known, The Overcomer and The Unknown.89.9 | TheLight | PositiveMedia | LightFM | Melbourne
Author
Positive Media
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Jun 21, 2026
Where to listen?
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Episodes
Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles 02.07.2025 17:56
Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles As Victoria’s most experienced homicide detective, Ron Iddles investigated around 300 murders spanning 25 years. He became known for his tough but fair approach to solving serious crimes, even coming under fire when he used a crime scene photo of Jill Meagher while talking about community safety. Here he reflects on his involvement in a numb...
Katherine Kirkwood - Stable One CEO 29.06.2025 29:13
Katherine Kirkwood - Stable One CEO Katherine Kirwood is the CEO of Stable One. Hear how this creative concept might just be a key to helping solve homelessness and connecting Churches together like never before. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nicky Gumbel – Alpha Program 25.06.2025 17:35
Nicky Gumbel – Alpha Program Nicky Gumbel chatted with Clayton about everything to do with the Alpha program (the program that allows you to ask those ‘big’ questions about life). Nicky talked about the amount of countries and languages that the Alpha program is in, the strangest place that the Alpha program has run (doubt you will guess it!) and why Bear Grylls is involved in th...
Helen Thorne–Allenson - Purity in a Porn–Saturated Culture 25.06.2025 29:56
Helen Thorne–Allenson - Purity in a Porn–Saturated Culture Helen Thorne-Allenson is the Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. She is an experienced speaker and writer whose recent books include Mental Health and Your Church , Hope in an Anxious World and 5 Things to Pray for a Suffering Friend . Clayton and Helen talked about Helen's new book ‘ Purity in...
Andrew Marin - Bridging the Social Divide 11.06.2025 25:50
Andrew Marin - Bridging the Social Divide Andrew, author of Love is an Orientation , is advocates bridge building opposing world views, from the LGBTI community to the Middle East conflicts “Building a bridge is about bringing opposing world views together to figure out what it means to facilitate a new medium of engagement.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael Emmett - Author of Sins of the Father 08.06.2025 39:24
Michael Emmett - Author of Sins of the Father Michael Emmett found his name in the headlines when he was caught for a drug bust in 1993. It was one of the UK's biggest at the time. While in prison, with his father in the same cell, he happened to find God, hope and, with those, a new lease of life. A transformed and loving family man, Michael is sowing seeds of hope and charity around the world. H...
John Boyers - Manchester United Chaplain 05.06.2025 34:14
What’s it like being chaplain to the most famous sporting club in the world, Manchester United? John Boyers chats to Clayton about this. “David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, I knew them when they were nobody’s.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Todd Burpo – Author of Heaven is for Real 04.06.2025 13:20
Todd tells the story of his son who was in emergency surgery at four years of age and travelled to heaven! Listen as Todd shares about his scepticism at first and tells us some of the stories that his son Colton revealed from his trip (meeting family members who past long before he was born and even a sister he had never been told about who was lost in the womb!)." See omnystudio.com...
Kate Fisher, Founder of Milkshakes for Marleigh 01.06.2025 22:12
Inspired by her daughter, Marleigh, Kate is the host and producer of The Milkshakes for Marleigh Podcast where she tells the survival stories of blood product recipients. This is her creative solution to the social problem that not enough people donate blood. Marleigh became unwell at the age of three and was eventually diagnosed with Seronegative Paediatric Autoimmune Encephalitis, which i...
Damien May from Destiny Rescue 28.05.2025 22:57
Damien May from Destiny Rescue Clayton chatted with Damien May from Destiny Rescue… he literally saves children, who have been sold into slavery around our world. Hear his story of dramatic adventure and how his faith drives him! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dr Andrew Browning - A Doctor in Africa 25.05.2025 30:55
Dr Andrew Browning is an Australian trained obstetrician who has spent his entire professional career volunteering in Africa as a medical missionary specialising in obstetric fistula surgery. Andrew is now the Medical Director for the Barbara May Foundation and joined Clayton to talk about his book, A Doctor in Africa. Andrew shares with Clayton, the obstacles he has overcome working in remote, ha...
Michael Franzese - From Mobster to Minister 21.05.2025 30:43
Clayton chatted with Michael Franzese, former mob boss for the Colombo crime family in New York, before an encounter with Jesus changed his life. “I don’t know of anybody that reached the level that I reached in that life, and publicly walked away…” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Rebecca St James and Cubbie Fink - Lasting Ever 18.05.2025 35:36
The 2024 Dove-award winning film “Unsung Hero” depicted the early years of Rebecca St James family life and music career. Lasting Ever brings fans up to date on Rebecca’s current life and introduces readers to her husband Cubbie Fink’s personal story. Now in their second decade of marriage, the couple join Clayton to unpack the highs and lows of their shared and individual...
Ian McCormack 14.05.2025 16:34
Ian McCormack Ian was night diving off the island of Mauritius when he was stung by 5 Box Jellyfish, which are among the most venomous creatures in the world. Ian shares with Clayton how he made it to the hospital but then died. He came back to life more than 15 minutes later and had a dramatic encounter with both Hell and Heaven and an encounter with God that transformed his life forever. &...
Jodi Rodgers of Birds and Bees 11.05.2025 26:04
You might recognise Jodi as the relationship specialist on the Emmy award winning TV show Love on the Spectrum (featured on ABC & Netflix). She has 30 years working within the education, disability and sexuality fields. Jodi has recently published a book internationally sharing stories from her experience working with the autistic community, called Unique - What Autism Can Teach Us about Diffe...
Jeffrey Archer - Prison, Politics & World-famous Author 08.05.2025 12:23
Jeffrey spoke to Clayton about his life, writing style, tips for budding authors and where he always writes the first draft of a book. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Valerie Browning - Author - Maalika 07.05.2025 20:54
Valerie Browning AM is an Australian nurse and Ethiopiaid's long-time project partner, She shares her extraordinary life in her gripping biography, "Maalika: My Life among the Afar Nomads of Africa". After volunteering to help the victims of Ethiopia's famine in 1973, little did she know that her life - and the lives of countless people in Afar - were about to change forever. She co-founded the Af...
Dr James Tour 06.05.2025 33:24
One of the world’s top scientist, James M. Tour is a synthetic organic chemist at Rice University. Professor Tour has over 800 research publications and joined Clayton. Dr Tour explained to Clayton how he challenged ten of the world’s leading origin of life researchers to produce evidence for their theories – and all failed to produce any. He shares his journey to faith an...
Sam Childers - The Machine Gun Preacher 30.04.2025 9:46
Whether you saw the Hollywood film about Sam’s story or not, make sure you listen as Sam talks about his life story: from being a drug dealer and incredibly violent man, his life-changes as he became a Christian and then his decision to fight against the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) to free children in South Sudan, who had been kidnapped to be part of the army. See omnystudio.co...
Andy Bannister - Author of How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot 27.04.2025 32:52
Andy is the Director of Solas and author of the book 'How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot'. Andy chatted with Clayton about asking good questions as a basis of any conversations about faith... and he suggests ways to answer tricky questions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Renée Bondi – Quadriplegic 20.04.2025 31:42
Renée Bondi was engaged to be married and had a beautiful singing voice, a thriving career as a music teacher, and a loving family. But then one night a bizarre accident shattered her spine and left her quadriplegic - waking up and suddenly diving off her bed. Her life changed forever. Unwilling to accept that her life was over, Renée searched her heart and asked God for help. Ren&ea...
Ben Fielding - 'First Hymn' Single Release 13.04.2025 29:44
Along with Chris Tomlin, Ben Fielding has released a new single, 'First Hymn' which is a reworking of the world’s oldest Christian hymn discovered with lyrics and musical notation. The song launch comes ahead of the release of a documentary, ‘The First Hymn’, produced by Undeceptions, which tracks the discovery of the old hymn on papyrus in the sands of an ancient Egyptian city,...
Dr Beryl D’Souza 09.04.2025 27:08
Dr Beryl D’Souza is the key Indian leader for Dignity Freedom Network (DFN) and she chatted with Clayton about their work in India with those in abject poverty (specific focus on anti-trafficking). Dr Beryl is an Indian national and explained how the work of DFN seeing lives transformed as women and girls discover their value and worth and are set on a path to freedom and hope. See omnystudi...
Peter Goldsworthy - The Cancer Finishing School 06.04.2025 23:08
Dr Peter Goldsworthy chatted to Clayton about his book, The Cancer Finishing School and explains that he uses a heavy dose of gallows humour to come to terms with his new reality of an incurable cancer. He has a fascinating story of looking at cancer from a doctor's perspective and then as the individual involved. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
J. Warner Wallace 01.04.2025 42:58
J. Warner Wallace is a Cold-Case Detective, Author, Speaker, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Gateway Seminary, and Southern Evangelical Seminary. Clayton chatted with Jim about his recently updated book, Cold-Case Christianity, in which he shares his story of being a devout atheist who couldn't imagine b...
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