The Profile

Many Christians are wary of engaging with anything remotely spooky, but Baptist minister Rev Peter Laws takes a different approach. Born with "the spooky gene", Peter is fascinated by the macabre. From his early life before coming to faith, to his time as a youth worker and now ordained minister, Peter has always been interested in Halloween, witches, ghosts and horror films. In his conversation with Premier Youth and Children's Work editor Ruth Jackson, Peter explains he has "a healthy level of scepticism" toward some elements of the paranormal. He also argues that Christians need to take a more measured approach to some of the spooky topics we've typically avoided. 

Follow Peter on Twitter @revpeterlaws

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

Don't assume a generation can only be touched through walking into a Church building. That's Martin Smith's message in this in-depth interview. The former Delirious? frontman is more convinced than ever that God can work miracles through the music that's played in pubs and clubs (and the Almighty isn't reliant on that music carrying a 'Christian' label in order for him to work supernaturally). The writer of worship classics such as 'Did you feel the mountains tremble?', 'Majesty' and 'Lord you have my heart' opens up about a variety of subjects, including how travelling to third world nations changed the direction of his music. He also expresses concern that a consumerism mentality might be skewing how some young people view church services. Smith has sat through hundreds of media interviews over the course of his career, but as well as us asking the questions he's probably heard before ("Will Delirious? ever get back together?"), we also manage to put one question to Martin Smith that he's never been asked before...

Follow Martin Smith on Twitter @MartinSmithTV

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

For more than three decades Rick Warren has been an incredibly influential Christian leader in the USA. Saddleback Church, planted from scratch by a 26-year-old Warren and his wife Kay in 1980, quickly grew in size as the fledgling pastor’s down-to-earth sermons drew increasingly large crowds. Today more than 20,000 people attend weekend services at the multi-site church in Orange County, California. Warren is also the author of the best-selling Christian book. Ever. The Purpose Driven Life has sold more than 30 million copies since its publication in 2002 and is the second most translated book in the world after the Bible. But in 2013 tragedy struck the Warren household as the couple's son Matthew, who had long battled depression, took his own life. In this interview with Premier's Justin Brierley, Warren opens up about how these events have impacted his faith.

Click here to read the written version of this interview in Premier Christianity magazine

Follow Rick Warren on Twitter @RickWarren

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

The writer of one of the bestselling works of Christian fiction of all time drops by the studio this week for a chat with Claire Musters. Redeeming Love has sold millions of copies and been translated into over 28 languages. Francine Rivers has won countless awards for her writing, but many of them are in a cupboard in her garage! "In the Christian world we shouldn't be raising one above the other", she says. In this in depth interview, Francine also opens up about her writing process and explains why she believes Christian works of fiction should always point the reader back to scripture.

Click here to read the written version of this interview in Premier Christianity magazine

Follow Francine Rivers on Twitter @FrancineRivers

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

What would you say if a member of the Trump family asked you to put together an evangelical advisory board for the then presidential candidate? This was position Johnnie Moore found himself in. The long-time religious freedom campaigner decided to fulfil the request, but with certain caveats. In this interview he gives Premier Christianity's Sam Hailes all the details. Moore was visiting the UK partly to address a group of 37,000 Muslims (he believes Christians should care about religious freedom for all). Moore also explains how witnessing Christians in India take a 'Martyr's oath' had a profound effect on him: "I felt like I was standing in the book of Acts. These Christians were willing to die for a faith that I struggled so hard to live".

In the second part of today's show, Andrew Haslam drops in for a chat about church planting in London. Andrew began his ministry working alongside his father Greg Haslam at Westminster Chapel, a church which is famous for its previous leaders, including Martyn Lloyd-Jones and RT Kendall. But sensing a call from God, Andrew left that congregation in 2014 to plant Grace Church London. In this interview he explains why growing up in a pastor's home was a privilege rather than a burden, talks about why he felt drawn to the Waterloo area of London, and describes how the capital needs "thousands more churches". 

Follow Johnnie Moore on Twitter @JohnnieM

Follow Andrew Haslam on Twitter @AAHaslam

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

Meet the man who turned up three hours late to his first date with his now wife, says he "crashed and burned" at university and had to endure 12 failed attempts at church planting. Tim Matthews is remarkably up front about the moments in his life which haven't gone to plan. But behind these tales is a much larger story of God's faithfulness. In 2014, the former accountant moved his family from London to Bournemouth to take on St Swithun's church. What began with a small team of just 11 adults is now a thriving church, regularly gathering 600 people on a Sunday. In this in depth interview, Tim recalls many of the highs and lows of his church planting experience with Premier Christianity's Sam Hailes. For more from Tim, see his new book LOVE CHURCH: Join the adventure of hope (Hodder & Stoughton)  

Follow Tim on Twitter @timjmatthews

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

Christians need to rediscover their heritage of creating, not complaining. That's according to David Stroud, the senior leader of Christ Church London. In this interview with Premier Christianity's Sam Hailes, the pastor, who has been leading churches for over 25 years, explains his vision for the "spiritual, social and cultural renewal" of London and beyond. 

David is married to Baroness Stroud and believes that while there isn't one single "Christian perspective" on Brexit or welfare, Christians should be engaged politically. One of his biggest passions is cultural renewal and he founded the Everything Conference in order to equip Christians to work toward the flourishing of their communities.

Explaining how the Church is growing faster in London than anywhere else in the UK, Stroud says there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future. But he's also aware that culture has changed dramatically in recent years, arguing we shouldn't assume people have much background understanding of Christianity.

In this in depth and wide ranging conversation, David also recalls the formative experience of ministering in Hong Kong alongside Jackie Pullinger and explains the reasons why Christ Church London is no longer affiliated with the Newfrontiers network. Finally, he describes social media as both a "hugely powerful thing we've unleashed", and something we haven't fully comprehended. It's led to a moment of "incredible opportunity" and "incredible danger" for society, he says. 

Follow David on Twitter @MrDavidStroud

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

For more information about the Everything conference visit everythingconference.org

Steve Uppal is the pastor of All Nations, a growing multicultural church in Wolverhampton, and the author of ‘Rousing The Warriors’.

He tells Justin Brierley the story of his parents’ radical conversion from a Sikh background to Christian faith and his passion for seeing revival in the UK and beyond.

When Hillsong first started in the UK, they attracted around 100 people to their Sunday services. Now a whopping 14,000 people turn up every week at the church's campuses across the UK. In this in-depth interview with Premier Christianity's editor Sam Hailes, the leader of the church explains how he's dealt with criticism along the way. He also pushes back against the assumption that Hillsong attracts a large amount of celebrities and young people. For Gary, the growth of Hillsong London might appear impressive, but he's aware the task of sharing the gospel is a monumental one - and it will take churches of various styles and denominations: "I know we’re not the only people on the planet, we’re not the only church in the nation, we’re not the only church in the city. All I know is we’re going to play our part in believing in our heart that this nation is going to turn its heart towards God." 

Click here to read Premier Christianity's cover story on how Hillsong conquered the world

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe

Bishop Joseph D'souza is the leader of the largest growing church movement in India, the Good Shepherd Church. He's also a human rights activist for the poor and marginalised people called Dalits, also referred to as untouchables. Premier Christianity's deputy editor Megan Cornwell met Bishop Joseph on his recent visit to the UK to find out more about his organisation The Dalit Freedom Network. The Bishop also explains why Christians need to be more careful with their use of language when it comes to talking about sharing their faith in Asia. 

For more information about Dalit Freedom Network visit dalitnetwork.org

To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe