Down to Earth Conversations

Staci Mclean comes on the podcast to discuss the way churches engage, or perhaps don't engage, with neurodivergent people and their families. Staci is an author who has written on a number of topics, but her latest book, "A Place where I belong: Neurodiversity and the church" is the subject of this episode. In her book, Staci explores how churches can better embrace neurodivergent pe...

Kathy Baldock is a writer, speaker, and LGBTQ+ advocate. She is a core part of the film 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture (see episode 106 with the film's director, Sharon "Rocky" Roggio). Kathy had a shift in her life in her fifties, leading to a shift in her faith and found a new vocation over the past twenty years. In this conversation we discuss some of that journey,...

Andy shares an update on why the pod hasn't kicked off for the year yet, and shares about The Open Table - a new national gathering in June this year in Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland). Check out theopentable.nz for details or to register.

In this final episode of 2025 I share some thoughts on the year from a personal perspective before diving in to a recap of the journey we've been on together this year as a podcast. We've had some really wonderful humans on the pod this year and here are just a few highlights. Check out the links below to connect with this year's guests or keep up with their work. Jaimee Van Gemerden S...

Dale Campbell has a diverse background in justice related jobs and has done a lot of good thinking about how not to do more damage while trying to be helpful. He also challenges us in this kōrero to think well about what it actually looks like to love our enemies - how to resist evil while still seeing the humanity of others. A content warning, issues of sexual and physical violence are mentioned...

Jess Hall, current Master of Theology student, joins me to talk about both her post graduate research project and her art, both of which explore the intersections of living as an embodied human and faith. While talking about things like menstrual bleeding on a podcast might be a bit jarring for some, it is important to normalise things that are actually very normal for many people, and help to red...

Petra Zaleski is a chaplain at Auckland University, which we talk about a little in the kōrero. However, the main focus is on her own story of finding transformational love in the midst of pain. Complex PTSD leading to substance abuse threatened to ruin Petra's life but, instead, she found how powerful love is and began a journey towards wholeness. Her journey has filled her with compassion an...

Having grown up in the Exclusive Brethren, Lindy Jacomb came to a crisis point where she no longer believed everything she was being asked to believe. Years later, having made a life outside the Exclusive Brethren, Lindy is now heading up efforts to offer support to anyone else who is looking to leave high demand religious groups. We talk about her own experience in the Exclusive Brethren Church a...

Benjamin Cremer is a pastor who spends his time these days in the online space in the intersection of Christianity and politics. Having grown up in white Christian nationalism in the U.S.A. Ben now gracefully explores how faith in Jesus offers a critique to policies and ideologies that many Christians actively support. We talk about his upbringing, the changes in his faith, the costs of those chan...

Kate and Alex are the co-founders and co-directors of Common Grace Aotearoa. Common Grace is an organisation doing advocacy work and organising the church around key justice issues. While the Church is involved in much justice work at the coal face, there is also a need to work towards changing systems that oppress and marginalise, systems that cause some of the problems we then see. Common Grace...

Phillipa Hunt is a wife, mum, engineer, and the founder and chairperson of Satisfy Food Rescue. We talk about the environment, food poverty, Satisfy, working to our strengths, partnering with others, and where faith fits into all that for her. Check out Satisfy Food Rescue on their website , on Facebook , Instagram , or LinkedIn . ___ Connect with me at  ⁠⁠⁠downtoearthconversations.com⁠⁠⁠  or at:...

Cathy Marston and Steven Goulstone, the hosts of the Changes Ahead Podcast, a Baptist New Zealand podcast hosting conversations that discuss the changes the church needs to think about if it is to have a meaningful presence in the future. We talk about the unheard voices of our church communities, the desire to be faithful by keeping things the same, when perhaps faithfulness demands change, heari...

Sharon 'Rocky' Roggio has spent years in the film and television industry, working in a variety of roles on many well known shows (e.g. House of Cards, Parks and Recreation) and films. In this conversation we discuss her directorial debut film, '1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture'. The film has won over 25 awards at film festivals around the world. The film documents the...

Jaimee van Gemerden holds a PhD in theology but, unlike some academics, is great at connecting deep thought about God with real issues in and around the Christian faith in a way that the average person can connect with.  With her friend Andrew, she is the founder of Metanoia, a platform for hosting conversations about faith in public spaces that might otherwise be held behind closed doors, if they...

Dallas Harema is a social worker, counsellor, coach, husband, father, and so much more. My observation, having known Dallas for a while now, is that he has a really good grasp on what it means to love people well, in a way that gets through the clutter to make real connections.  We talk about how being Māori influences how he sees relationships, we talk about breaking down barriers for men to be v...

Earlier this year I was a guest on Stephen Garton's podcast, Fresh Aesthetic. This episode is a rerelease of that episode in full. If you enjoy it, make sure you check out Stephen's other episodes of Fresh Aesthetic. Check out Fresh Aesthetic on Instagram, linktree, or wherever you get your podcasts.  ___ Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at: Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.con...

Kylee Black is a social entrepreneur committed to cultivating strong connected community. Through her own experiences with disability and complex health challenges, Kylee has been able to create spaces for others and that help empower them in their own journey. Kylee is the CEO and founder of Kylee & Co, an online platform with accessible products by the disability community for everyone.  On...

As I release this, today marks one full year since the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel, and the beginning of a horrendous campaign of genocide that Israel began in Gaza as a result. Violence that has, in the past week or so, spread into surrounding territories as the western world sits back and watches.  Today's guest, Cole, is a visual journalist, capturing stories through photos and...

Episode 100 is here! As I was thinking about what to do for this episode, I thought, why not interview someone who has featured more on the podcast than anyone else, yet who hasn't actually been a guest on the podcast? Every episode since episode 21, Strahan Coleman's music has been there.  And in this kōrero with Strahan we go deep, talking about the journey that led to him being an award winning...

Asif Mall works out of the UK in places like his homeland of Pakistan, helping to support persecuted Christians, but even more than that, using influence and strategy to help create change that prevents some of the persecution from happening to begin with. We talk about growing up in Pakistan as a Christian in a Muslim country, how he got involved in the work he is doing, and what he has learnt ab...

Charlotte Cummings works in a number of ways to outwork an inner desire to help others, especially people who are finding life tough through mental health, parenting, or because they've been hurt in faith-based spaces.  We talk about her work as an investigator, counsellor, consultant and more. We hear about her experience of supporting those who have been hurt in Christian faith communities, and...

Scott Gilmour is the chair and founder of the I Have A Dream Trust.  I Have a Dream is an organisation working to support children through building relationships that span years. It is a programme that, as you will hear, was a long time in the making for Scott, but he followed his intuition, used the resources he had, and now supports over 20 workers, or navigators as they call them, who are suppo...

Back on episode 11 of Down to Earth Conversations I talked to Aaron about work he was doing with young people experiencing homelessness. Aaron is still fighting with and for our rangatahi (youth) but has left the larger, more generic services he worked for and, with his wife Summer, started Kick Back - an organisation dedicated to supporting some of our most vulnerable young people - particularly...

I have released this episode out of my usual rhythm because the day of release is a significant day in Aotearoa New Zealand. On this day, July 24, 2024, the Royal Commission of inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care released their final report. This report, which took six years to compile, details the abuse of thousands of New Zealand children and other vulnerable people while in the car...

Daughter-father combo, Jemma and Shane Clifton, have both gone through large life transitions, Jemma's around gender, and Shane's around disability. Both have been long processes of change, and they have been a support for one another in their transitional journeys.  Jemma and Shane run a podcast called the Change podcast, which follows Jemma's gender affirmation transition, as she embraces who sh...