Month: September 2025

The Leadership Journey Podcast: Gavin Calver and Phil Knox on ‘Good News People’

Posted on by jsalanwilson in books, Christian leaders, church leadership, podcasts

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bpw8d-197257a

Gavin Calver and Phil Knox from the Evangelical Alliance have both been on the podcast previously but on this episode they are talking about a new book they have written together and which has just been launched. It’s ‘Good News People: Hopeful Evangelicals yesterday, today and tomorrow‘ and it’s a positive manifesto for the 21st Century Evangelical Church in the UK (with application to other parts of the world).

As we mention in the conversation, there is a suite of resources to go with the book – a great idea for small groups to work on together and the Evangelical Alliance website will allow you to find out more about the Alliance and give you the option to join as a personal member if you wish to support the work.

If you are in Northern Ireland, Phil will be at the T3 centre on October 16: he will be with his colleague, Rachel Heffer, and they will be talking about the results of the Talking Jesus research.

For more from Phil, you can check out his book ‘The Best of Friends‘ and ‘Unleashed‘ is the book written by Gavin and his wife, Anne.

The Leadership Journey Podcast with Mark Sayers

Posted on by jsalanwilson in podcasts

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-pc2bp-195456b

Mark Sayers is Lead Pastor of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia and the author of a growing catalogue of books, including, most recently, Platforms to Pillars, published earlier this year. He has become a significant voice in helping the Church in the Western World understand and respond to a rapidly changing context for ministry and mission.

In our conversation Mark talks about growing up in a believing family and some of the key moments and influencers in the development of his own faith. He discusses some of the early challenges he faced in church leadership and his understanding of mission and of how ‘personal renewal leads to corporate change’.

We also discuss his writing, which he summarises under the rubric of missiology. Mark describes his process of writing, driven by his curiosity about how the world works and how God interacts with it – all grounded in his rootedness in local ministry.

Mark believes that the world is in a process of rapid change and that spiritual authority, created in moments of pressure, is what will set Christian leaders apart from other forms of leadership.

As is usual for these podcasts, we finish with some of what Mark would say to his 20-year-old self.

For more from Mark, you can subscribe to his Rebuilders podcast or pick up some of his books – see the list below:

  • A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World Will Create a Remnant of Renewed
  • Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience
  • Reappearing Church: The Hope for Renewal in the Rise of Our Post-Christian Culture
  • Facing Leviathan: Leadership, Influence, and Creating in a Cultural Storm
  • Strange Days: Life in the Spirit in a Time of Upheaval
  • The Road Trip That Changed the World: The Unlikely Theory That Will Change How You View Culture, the Church, and, Most Importantly, Yourself
  • The Vertical Self: How Biblical Faith Can Help Us Discover Who We Are in an Age of Self Obsession
  • The Trouble with Paris: Following Jesus in a World of Plastic Promises
  • Platforms to Pillars: Trading the Burden of Performance for the Freedom of God’s Presence