SALT - Conversations with Jenny: Recent Episodes
Jenny Salt
Jenny Salt is a Christian academic, a graduate and former lecturer at Sydney Missionary and Bible College (SMBC), and sweet-heart with a microphone. Join her on a forty-minute journey into someone’s amazing and often unexpected spiritual travels.
Missionaries and media makers, scientists and sportspeople, new agers and new migrants – Salt is a chance to enter into the lives of people and discover heart-warming, sometimes challenging and always extraordinary gospel stories.
What does it look like to literally live thinking that today might be your last day?
This episode, Amy Townsend introduces us to Michael Fattal.
Michael was born with a severe medical condition that gave him a life expectancy of just a few years.
He is the first person in Australia to survive the 'lungs in a box' surgery.
And his up-beat attitude will totally inspire you.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find The Watchlist here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Amy introduces us to not one but two faithful servants of Jesus.
Howard and Trish Spencer have been married for over forty years.
In that time they've faced the mission field together, along with infertility, violent crime and long seasons of depression.
You think that would be enough, but now they question whether you ever really need to retire from a life of service.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find She Wasn't Born Yesterday here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Amy introduces us to a man whose Christian journey has involved vast amounts of soil and salt - with a few goats thrown in.
Steve Campbell didn't know where God was going to take him. He just preferred that it would be outdoors.
God honoured that and took him into the line-up of a local beach, and on to surfing as a ministry.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Amy Townsend's guest this episode is one half of the perfect marriage.
In some respects, Carolyn Woods and her husband Steven were the odd couple - never meant to be together!
Yet God used hardship on hardship to hammer out a beautiful union.
But what happens when half of your reason for living goes away?
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Time With God here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Demon possession ... spiritual powers ... the overcoming presence of evil.
In our Western world these are elements of Hollywood fantasies.
But this episode Amy introduces us to Yakim (not his real name), who has lived in a place where these are real experiences.
Join us on a journey that has taken one man and his family from Western enlightenment to Eastern mysticism.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find The Watchlist here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode, Amy Townsend introduces us to Miriam Braithwaite, a woman whose idea of her best life was never leaving home.
For Miriam, family and the quiet life were everything.
But God's introduction to a fluffy, blue friend opened the door to an exciting new world.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find She Wasn't Born Yesterday here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What if there is more to the prosperity gospel than we think?
Amy's guest this episode is Tamie Davis. Tamie had a heart for mission from an early age, but after years of training and preparation what she found on the mission field was not what she expected.
Tamie shares with Amy how God used her time in Africa to change her heart and mind, just as much as she changed the hearts of others.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mission kid or missionary?
Amy Townsend's guest this episode is Lachlan Field, and he had a foot in either world.
At age 9, Lachlan moved overseas with his family to share the gospel.
But was that his calling, or something he was called upon to do?
And how has he come to see mission work now?
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Time With God here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Have you ever felt like you're fighting against yourself?
This episode Amy Townsend speaks to a woman whose struggle falls well outside society's expectations.
Today we meet Danica Vega and discuss pornography - a woman's story.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find The Watchlist here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What were your childhood dreams growing up?
For Lachie Massey it was singing, music and composition - and those dreams started coming true, age six.
20 years on, the next step in Lachie's musical career is finding the harmony between faith, music, and the gospel.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find She Wasn't Born Yesterday here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It's the return of Salt for it's epic tenth season, and host Amy Townsend begins by introducing us to Desmond Chin.
Desmond had the ideal life, and starting a family was the ideal next step.
The birth of his son Jordan should have been one of the happiest moments of his life.
But instead, it led him to the brink of suicide.
Listen in as Amy explores the world of post-natal depression for men.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Host Amy Townsend is ready to deliver months of carefully collected stories from next week as Season 10 of Salt gets underway.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Two more weeks and Amy Townsend will be back with another collection of always-inspiring stories of lives transformed by the Gospel.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Amy Townsend welcomes you to tune in for Season Ten of the ever-popular podcast series, Salt.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For the final episode of season 9, Amy Townsend interviews Salt's most familiar talent.
Over the past six years she has gathered and shared over one hundred stories of how God has been at work in and through His people.
She's brought salt and light to our everyday lives as listeners, and we are delighted that we can finally persuade her to sit on the other side of the microphone, ready to share her story.
It's with great pleasure that we introduce our listeners to Jenny Salt.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Morning Devotions here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt welcomes on board Karl Deenick.
At the tender age of 16, Karl made a decision not to marry but to dedicate his life to serving the Lord Jesus, whatever that looked like.
Closing that door opened another that led to a PhD on the strangest subject you'll ever encounter.
LINKS
You can click on these link to find Karl Deenick's books, Righteous By Promise and Washed by God: The Story of Baptism.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Money, Faith and Finance here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Amy Townsend welcomes a woman whose fantasies highlight the facts about Jesus.
Kristen Young is a successful fiction author.
Kristen's tale is one of childhood dreams coming true for a little girl who loved stories.
But along the way, Kristen had to learn that what we read, watch and listen to shapes our lives for good and bad.
Ultimately, Kristen learned that a story is a pathway to God, not just for our heads but for our hearts.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find The Watch List here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt talks to a woman who took the good news to a country where the gospel has grown old and stale.
Kelly Landrigan grew up in a fibro house in working-class Sydney.
Her family went to church regularly, learning about rules to please God that she could never keep.
But hearing the gospel, and understanding grace, took her on a journey to deepest, darkest France.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Amy Townsend speaks to a man whose heart for the gospel sent him west.
Alick Arkapaw has a deep love of sport and a 'tell it like it is' attitude.
He grew up in an Australia that is fast fading away.
But his love for this great brown land and the people who populate it led him to take his young family to the bush.
There, he discovered the real spiritual needs of today's man on the land.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Australia's Invisible History here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny's guest this episode is Tamar Pollard.
You won't have necessarily heard her name before, but if you were living in the UK in 1997 you would have seen photos of her family on the front page of every newspaper.
And the headlines would have included words like 'murder' and 'tragedy'.
Tamar's story is one that does include details of horrific circumstances.
But it's also a story of incredible faith and a journey of forgiveness that will take your breath away.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Morning Devotions here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Amy Townsend talks to Jenny, someone who has left her Australian life behind to be a stranger in a foreign land.
We can't tell you her last name because Jenny is currently doing gospel work in an unreached part of the world where being a Christian is not a safe thing to be.
But there's a lot more to Jenny's story than her time on the mission field.
Today, we'll be talking about the challenges she faces every time she comes home.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find The Hope Book Club here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt speaks to Jackie Gibson, a woman with a heart for mothers going through the hardest times.
Jackie has lived in the US and the UK both as a child and as an adult, and currently lives in Philadelphia with her husband and kids.
Jackie's journey as a mum has been a great joy, but also marked by deep sadness.
Her book, You Are Still A Mother, was written in the light of her experience and the hope that remains.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find Money, Faith and Finance here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today Amy Townsend brings us a first for the Salt podcast, interviewing not one but two guests - Amy and Mikey Nhieu.
Amy and Mikey grew up with very different backgrounds, but ten years ago they met and became a wonderful ministry couple.
They have a great story of what it looks like to serve God together.
But no-one really wants to think about what happens when our best efforts fail, or when a church plant doesn't go according to plan.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find The Watch List here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt talks to one of Australia's most experienced media workers, Leigh Hatcher.
His name and voice may sound very familiar to many because he's had a career in television and radio that spans 50 years.
Leigh has interviewed a myriad of famous people and stood on the edge of nation-changing events.
But the event that changed him most took place one afternoon on a quiet beach.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Amy's podcast recommendation, you can find The Lord's Prayer here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Amy Townsend talks to Bill Farrand, a man who has filled key corporate chairs for secular and Christian companies.
Bill grew up in a small town going to a small school. He didn't love hard work and wouldn't have described himself as particularly mature or ambitious.
And yet somehow he found himself appointed to major positions of leadership and influence - and developing a corporate conscience along the way.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to the start of Season 9 of Salt, and our 100th episode!
This time around Jenny Salt is speaking with Amy Townsend, a person whose path to God was literally a dramatic one.
Amy grew up loving to perform, dance and being involved in drama.
She loved musical theatre and everything involving a microphone and an audience.
But it was off-stage, seeing flatmates live for Jesus in very ordinary ways that took Amy in a very different direction.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt talks to Mal York.
Mal seems like your typical minister, preaching and serving in the local church.
But what isn't so typical is what he's done on the side.
That is, being a chaplain to ambulance services - standing beside paramedics serving the injured and the dying, and offering the hope of Christ in the most hopeless times.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny's guest today is David.
For security reasons, we're not going to share his last name, but we can say that David grew up in a ministry family living on military bases.
He also found himself donning a khaki uniform and having the unique responsibility of helping soldiers, sailors, airmen and women learn what it means to have faith under fire.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Sport 3-16 here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tambourines, cows and the urban poor - interested?
This episode Jenny's guest is Dave Adams.
For as long as Dave can remember, he had a heart for mission and a plan to go out into the world with the gospel.
He did do that, but not exactly as he had thought.
And along the way he came to understand the words, "God works in all things for the good of His people."
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny welcomes Simone Hargreaves.
Simone had dedicated her career to seeking justice, and as a managing partner in a law practise, she helps people prepare for the end of their lives.
That means navigating the complicated process of estate planning and guardianship.
In short, her normal day is dealing with what could be someone's hardest day.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny's guest in this episode is Ben Powell, a man whose life you could say is like a jigsaw puzzle that God has put together.
Ben has been a secular youth worker, a youth minister in a church, and has lived and served in a place where people haven't even heard the name Jesus.
And he's now combining those experiences to equip young people to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
You can find out all about The Bridge gap year program here.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny chats with a woman who has watched scores of little ones take their first breaths.
Jodie McIver is a wife, a mum, a midwife and more recently the author of a new book called Bringing Forth Lifewhich celebrates pregnancy and birth.
As a Christian, she not only highlights the beauty of childbearing, but the way it parallels God's life-giving work in our own lives.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
You can find out all about Jodie's book Bringing Forth Life here.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Sport 3:16 here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny Salt's guest this week is Don Carson - some would say a living legend, although he would be unlikely to go there.
But Don is a renowned speaker, scholar, academic and author who has had a profound influence on generations of Christians.
He’s had a hand in more than 60 books on various parts of the Bible and preached on any Gospel passage you'd care to name.
We’re thrilled to have him on the show from his home in Chicago, USA.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
You can discover more about Marcus Cheong's latest musical, The Angel Star, here.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt speaks to media mastermind, Greg Clarke.
Greg has spent thirty years exploring the connections between Christianity and culture.
Greg has led university centres, ground-breaking media companies and top-tier charities. And what he’s striven to do is his desire to see Christianity communicated in every public context.
LINKS
Some of the organisations Greg has filled leading roles for include Matthias Media, The Centre for Christian Apologetics, The Centre for Public Christianity, The Bible Society of Australia and The Australian Institute of Music.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt sits down with paediatrician and child advocate, Dr Kim Oates, the former CEO of the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Kim is a doctor, academic, writer, husband, father, grandfather and a Christian.
It's hard to summarise all that Kim has done over the years but what shines brightest is that God has used a heart well-designed for working with children so that, in all types of pain, these little ones had someone who was ready to listen.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tune in as Jenny Salt introduces you to missionary psychologist Steph Schwarz.
From a young age, Steph had her eyes and heart set on the mission field.
She and her family did end up going to Africa but not as she expected.
As a psychologist, she helped others stay on the mission field, and in the process learned how to face trials with resilience.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Sport 3-16 here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Get ready for a journey of wonder and spiritual encouragement as Jenny Salt introduces you to musical producer Marcus Cheong.
Have you ever wondered what a Broadway producer does? Or how you even become one?
Marcus Cheong has written and produced musicals that have been performed in one of the most iconic cities in the world.
How did he get there? And what did God teach him through resounding choruses, and the saddest of songs?
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
You can discover more about Marcus Cheong's latest musical, The Angel Star, here.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny Salt introduces us to Sashi Grayndler.
Sashi grew up in a Hindu household, knowing what it was like to have life ordered by many gods.
But through a process of abandonment that stretched over many years she came to find the one God who would never leave.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kicking off Salt Season 8, Jenny introduces us to singer-songwriter Liv Chapman.
You may have seen Liv's name at the end of the song PowerPoint for many of the congregational songs you sing in church.
She's a song writer, musician, church leader and also one who has experienced the devastating loss of a close family member.
But that loss has informed her music, drawing her and those who listen closer to a God who grieves with us.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
You can find out all about Liv's work by visiting Emu Music.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny Salt is back with another season of Salt!
Prepare yourself for more insights into the Gospel-shaped lives of everyday Christians.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Jenny as she speaks to psychologist Lyn Worsley for the final episode of Season 7.
Lyn is a senior clinical psychologist whose life has been filled with teachable moments.
A little nurse for her father; a comforter for grieving families; a psychologist committed to building resilience.
Lyn can give an insight into all of them, and especially where we need to build ourselves up today.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny Salt's guest this episode is fashionista, Jules Cole.
Jules has been a fashion designer for more than forty years - teaching, working and writing about fashion.
But what does that mean from the perspective of the Christian faith?
What do faith and fashion have to do with each other? Join Jenny to find out.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny's guest today is Australian Defence Force chaplain Pete Ritchie.
Pete has a long association with the military and rescue services.
Years spent in the navy and as a spiritual mentor to the men and women of the armed forces have brought him into close contact with many people facing the reality of death.
But he shares there's hope in Jesus for even the messiest of times.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny introduces us to missionary and author, Naomi Reed.
Naomi has penned ten books, but never saw herself as a writer.
First and foremost she was a physiotherapist, and that trade took her to the heights of the world and hundreds of faith stories.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode Jenny crosses to the wrong side of the tracks to meet Wayne Pickford.
Wayne is the minister of what many might call 'the church of hard knocks', with unemployment, poverty, domestic violence and lots of colourful characters all part of its community.
But overriding all these social issues is the beauty of lives transformed by the gospel of grace.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny Salt has the pleasure of introducing her listeners to a very creative young man, Jerrah Patston.
If you were to imagine a ray of sunshine embodied as a person, Jerrah is your man.
Jerrah lives with autism and intellectual impairment. He's also a composer, community musician, a valued member of his local church and, all up, a fun guy to be with.
LINKS
You can find Jerrah's fantastic music here on Spotify.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Sport 3-16 here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Meet Leonie Menzies, a woman whose childhood stretched across multiple cultures and continents, who uses her hard-won lessons to help a whole new generation of children.
Leonie's early childhood was spent in the beauty of the French Alps, and the noisy hustle and bustle of Niger and Nigeria.
It was also marked by a series of hellos and goodbyes, and a grief and loss that actually resulted in her becoming a person of hope - hope which she now offers to those whose lives seem hopeless.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny does a deep dive into the life of David Whalley, a Christian man who knows what it feels like to hold a beating heart in his hands.
David began his life as a hyperactive child when medicine barely understood what that was.
Who would have thought that, as an adult, he would embark on a medical career that would lead him to navigate the pathways of the human heart?
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tune in to hear Jenny Salt chat with Derek Brotherson, the Principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College.
The pieces that make up his life are a strange fit – music, law, theology – sounds a bit like a medieval monk.
But rather than being sequestered away, Derek's desire to serve took him to South East Asia and a difficult-to-reach majority religion.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Jenny invites onto the show passionate Christian environmentalist and overseas mission worker, Tony Rinaudo.
Tony is a man overflowing with excitement and enthusiasm for the path God has led him down - including the journey that led him to discover an underground forest.
Some who've crossed paths with Tony have called him crazy. But if he is, he’s crazy about Africa, the environment and God.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Sport 3-16 here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny's guest in this episode is James Lane, a man charged with bringing the Gospel to sceptical teens.
James has made a mission out of talking to our high school kids about Jesus – something that would scare the life out of most of us.
But his greatest struggle was an unexpected unravelling of his life that left him gasping for grace.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Undistracted here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Jenny introduces us to Elizabeth Spencer, an everyday woman whose family life is a tribute to God’s amazing grace.
Elizabeth has found deep and abiding love – not once, not twice, but three times in her life.
Two husbands, both with significant challenges. But above and beyond them, a Lord who will not let her go.
LINKS
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Real Hope here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kicking off Salt Season 7, Jenny introduces us to the CEO of Anglican Aid, Tim Swan.
From his earliest years, Tim had a sense that God had a plan for him.
It began with music, moved into mission, and has brought him to a place where he now gets to meet tens of thousands of new Christians every year.
LINKS
You can see all of the projects Tim is involved in by visiting the Anglican Aid website.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
If you're interested in following Jenny's podcast recommendation, you can find Raising Teens here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jenny Salt returns for a seventh season of the Salt podcast - a wonderful way to discover how God’s good news has shaped the lives of celebrated individuals and everyday Christians.
Press play to hear about the highlights waiting for you in the coming weeks.
Salt is part of Hope Podcasts, hope-filled productions made possible by Hope 103.2 FM.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For the finale of Salt Season 6, Jenny introduces us to Anthony Brammall.
Anthony's experience of God's grace at a young age took him and his family to an unpredictable and sometimes dangerous country. There, he spent years in cross-cultural ministry learning how to introduce the gospel to people dedicated to an array of alternate religions.
But his continuing scholarship would later lead him to tell another story entirely.
Anthony's reality of going to a risky and unpredictable place is wonderfully mirrored in his latest book about Mabel Green, a young Sydney woman who declared her desire to go where God would have her - and never went home.
You can pick up a copy of Anthony Brammall's book, Never Going Home, through the Sydney Missionary and Bible College website.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny Salt speaks to Emily Maurits about her sister's life-threatening condition that first left her helpless, then led her - despite all her questions - to a greater trust in the goodness of God.
Emily grew up in a Christian home, loving to read and with a passion to write. What she ended up writing about, though, was something she would never have wished on anyone.
Her first book became an endearing story about two sisters and a brain tumour.
If you are interested in reading more about Emily and Jasmine's story, you can purchase a copy of Two Sisters And A Brain Tumour here.
You can also read Emily's chronic illness caring blog, Called To Watch.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny's guest in this episode is Kathy Notley, who shares what it is like to go searching for the family you've lost and find a stronger connection than you ever thought possible.
Kathy's childhood was idyllic - a close family with loving parents and so many memories of family holidays, playing with neighbours, and a home that everyone wanted to visit.
Then, at 17 years of age, her world fell apart. Her family, once close, was shattered and scattered.
And so the search began for Kathy to somehow fill the void and recreate what she had lost.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
In this episode, Jenny Salt takes us into the life of Sharon Hall, a self-effacing woman whose life is a testimony to what God can do with a willing pair of hands.
Sharon grew up with an open-air preacher for a dad and a piano-accordion-playing mum, and God was always a big part of her childhood.
She dreamt of going to Africa as a missionary teacher, but God had other plans and took her to green hills on the other side of the world.
And when she finally came home, it was to receive the family she never expected.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny Salt introduces us to Geoff Harper, a self-effacing Irishman with a love for the last book of the Bible most Christians get around to reading.
Geoff grew up an evangelical in a country steeped in Roman Catholicism. One thing he was certain of, his life would not be one spent in ministry.
But God had other ideas, and when Geoff found his true path it was a journey into the heart of the Old Testament.
There, Geoff would discover a life-long love for the book of Leviticus - a passion that would literally save his life.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny Salt is joined by Alison Chambers, a mother to three adult children, a wife to a cardiac specialist, and a trained physiotherapist. But just those details wouldn't be enough to know her. Alison is an actor with a capital 'A'.
As a child, Alison dreamed of acting and it became a driving motivation for most of her life. It's taken her on to the stage on countless occasions and into the storylines of many well-known Australian television dramas.
But the acting profession is a challenging one and Alison has had to constantly ask herself, “What does God want from my performance?”
LINKS
You can find out more about Alison's theatre company, Joining The Dots, here.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny Salt meets Linda Chan, whose parents grew up under the turbulent and cruel regime of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.
They came to Australia hoping for a better life, but for Linda, turbulent and cruel is how she describes the childhood that followed.
A troubled home life, school bullying, and third-degree burns to 90% of her body combined to make her life a complete misery.
But when Linda discovered the love of Jesus as a teenager, she found an answer for her brokenness.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny meets Michael Duckett, an indigenous man who has given his word to follow God and sees no reason to take it back.
Michael’s life could be summed up in a word: reconciliation.
Moving in and out of a foster home as a baby and toddler he was adopted by his white foster family who raised him and cared for him as their own.
But it took hearing a “boring” sermon at the age of 17 for Michael to truly understand his identity and what it means to be reconciled to God.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Jenny Salt talks to Dr. Justine Toh, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, where she speaks and writes about deciphering contemporary culture.
Justine shares how she grew up in an immigrant culture that made an idol out of education and measured success in terms of career benchmarks.
Her book, Achievement Addiction, examines our need to succeed, and her own struggles in setting this mindset aside. As a Christian, she now draws her identity from what God has done, rather than anything she can add to the ledger.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Ed Grudier tells Jenny Salt he did not expect God to lead him to more than a decade of ministry in Turkey, testing the tempers of the police as he sought to plant a church.
Ed started his life in the middle-class suburbs of Cleveland, the so-called Bible-belt of the US. But despite growing up in a culturally catholic household, he still managed to hold on to a secular outlook.
Yet, a single sermon at the age of 18 set him on a path that has taken him all around the world, powered by the conviction that all people need to hear the gospel.
Salt is proudly brought to you by Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Click here for more information on the wide range of courses available.
Tune in to hear Jenny Salt interview Janet Riley - a city girl with a country heart.
As a vet, Janet loved the big animals, and as a Christian, she knew the love of an even bigger God.
And it was this love that took her from regional NSW to Africa and on as she journeyed through cancer.
Andrew Miller is the international operations coordinator for Deaf Ministries International.
He tells Jenny Salt how an interest in Japanese culture led to 25 years of lay leadership in an international church in Osaka.
Since then he has transitioned into ministry to the silent world of the deaf community. Traveling all over the world to support DMI's ministries, he has discovered that the Gospel can still be heard powerfully by those who can hear nothing at all.
Click here to learn about Deaf Ministries International's work.
Click here to read Andrew's blog and the many more fascinating stories his work has brought him in touch with.
Jenny Salt welcomes Ruth France on to the show and talks to her about what brought a suburban girl to choose a life of ministry in the country.
As a young adult Ruth experienced a number of life-changing moments, including a literal bolt from the blue. But the biggest lightning strike to connect with her life was the call to mission.
What began as an interest in overseas work, though, transformed into a call to the country where she has ministered alongside her husband through fire, drought, and the scourge of COVID.
Join Jenny Salt as she ascends the heights and plumbs the depths of church planting with veteran Adam Ramsey.
Adam has been involved in church planting for 15 years, including working in Seattle in the Mars Hill church alongside Mark Driscoll.
He is also a pastor of a church that was planted on the Gold Coast in QLD, and he is the Network Director of Acts 29 for Asia Pacific - and he hasn’t hit 40 yet!
In his 'spare time', he's also written a book titled Truth on Fire: Gazing At God Until Your Heart Sings.
Jenny discovers, though, that some of Adam's deepest lessons have come from processing failure rather than celebrating success.
Jenny Salt is keen to share Season 6 of Salt with her listeners, and hints at what's in store.
In the meantime, there are TWO competitions to take part in:
NUMBER ONE
Just write a review of Salt and send us a snapshot and mail it to salt@smbc.edu.au – it’s that simple.
And the best three reviews will receive a free copy of Anthony Brammall’s new book, Never Going Home, the life story of missionary woman Mabel Green.
NUMBER TWO
We’ve put a little poll together of our most-listened-to shows and you could win a book just by telling us why you like the one you chose.
Follow the link I want a free book and get voting.
And thanks to our generous sponsors, Sydney Missionary Bible College, we’ll give a copy of a free book from their fabulous list of authors to the person who tells us what they liked the most about their favourite episode.
The Salt team is getting ready to bring you a fresh season of Salt, which will drop into your podcast app in just over a month.
While you’re waiting, tell us about your favourite Salt episode.
We’ve put a little poll together of our most-listened-to shows and you could win a book just by telling us why you like the one you chose.
Follow the link I want a free book and get voting.
And thanks to our generous sponsors, Sydney Missionary Bible College, we’ll give a copy of a free book from their fabulous list of authors to the person who tells us what they liked the most about their favourite episode.
All of the team over at the Salt Mines are hard at work producing season 6 of Salt, which will drop into your podcast app in just over a month.
In the meantime, Jenny's running a competition to help get the word out about the show, and you can help.
Just write a review of Salt and send us a snapshot and mail it to salt@smbc.edu.au – it’s that simple.
And the best three reviews will receive a free copy of Anthony Brammall’s new book, Never Going Home, the life story of missionary woman Mabel Green.
Graham Cole, together with his wife Jules, has been involved in Christian ministry for more than 40 years.
Jenny Salt hears how it has taken them to many places around the world, and for 20 of those years, to the Midwest of the United States.
There, they discovered a perspective on life and the love of God that reveals the future for both America and Australia.
They’re back at home now, but still feel very connected to the country, the culture, and the Christians they left behind.
Like most of us, Scott Lavender and his family will have reflections on 2020 and 2021 – some good, some hard. Covid has changed so much in our world.
But for Scott, the last two years have contained the most excruciating pain he could imagine, alongside a host of other struggles.
But as doctors struggled to understand what was happening to him, Scott discovered that God was carrying out his own surgery.
Jenny Salt's guest today is David Luxford.
To meet David is to meet a man who in many ways just quietly gets on with things. No fanfare. No profile, megachurch, or fame.
But to know David is to know someone who has faithfully got on with serving the Lord for more than 50 years - through long, difficult tasks and the tragedy of death in the family - because he was challenged as a young Christian to be an ambassador for Christ.
In this episode Jenny Salt speaks to Kay Yasugi, a talented performer letting her light shine in the international world of puppetry.
Kay was born in Japan to a Japanese dad and a Korean mum. Along with her older brother they came and settled in Sydney when Kay was little.
Kay was brought up in a very multicultural home – girl’s school during the week, Japanese school on Saturdays, and a home life filled with fusion food - but becoming a Christian and doing summer missions in Bathurst changed the direction of Kay’s life.
It all started with a mascot for the mission week – a monkey called “Chee Chee”. This unassuming creature was the beginning of Kay’s life-long love of puppetry, and the development of a talent that's taken her all over the world.
SPECIAL LINKS
Here are some links for you to check Kay and all her characters at work:
Pupperoos: This is Kay's main business, focusing on puppetry for children and education. You can see a photo of Chee Chee the Monkey on the ‘About Us’ page. Otherwise here is a video of Chee Chee in action - Kay made this last Christmas for her church’s online Gingerbread house event (St Barnabas East Roseville) - it’s the nativity told with gingerbread and puppets.
Christmas Nativity Song 2020 Style (Colin Buchanan video): Here is a 2020-inspired stop motion puppet video of the Nativity that Kay created for her church’s online Christmas service last year (complete with toilet rolls, hand sanitizer, cleaning products and pasta!). With Colin Buchanan’s permission, Kay made this video using his song “On That Very First Christmas".
Digital Seagull: This link has info about the ABC iView campaign and other projects Kay has done for adults and corporate clients.
Wiggles video: To celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Korea, the Korean Cultural Centre collaborated with The Wiggles to create 3 fun videos for young children. They asked Kay to adapt some Korean Folktales which were turned into gorgeous picture books. Check out their Youtube channel to see Emma Watkins and Simon Pryce read ‘The Tiger and the Toad’ and ’The Honest Woodcutter’.
Kay's Instagram page
Ben Hunter tells Jenny Salt he didn't set out to be a plumber - that was God's plan.
Because of difficulties on the home front and at school, straight out of High School he decided to take up the offer of an apprenticeship.
Consequently, he worked as a plumber for many years - a blue-collar industry in which he laboured to show friends another way of life.
But for Ben, it wasn’t really what made his heart sing. Rather, it’s always been wanting to tell young people about Jesus – something he had to wait many years to do.
Jenny Salt speaks to Tamara Flinders, a minister’s wife, a mum to 3 daughters, and an Emergency Physician – working on the frontline of Covid in a busy Sydney hospital emergency department.
Every shift brings very sick patients into her orbit – many with Covid.
But through it all, what keeps her grounded is her relationship with God, her daily walk with the Lord, and the desire to be an ambassador for Christ whatever the context.
Roy grew up in a poor town in a Southeast Asian country. On one level, his family identified as Christians.
But Jenny Salt discovers his childhood was far more impacted by a father with a criminal history and an addiction to gambling.
And it wasn’t until Roy left to live and study in another part of the country, that he came to really understand what it meant to follow Jesus.
Join Jenny Salt as she interviews Pete Stacey, a Christian since a young boy, who has known the joy of telling others about Jesus for most of his life.
Pete has done that through music, and through teaching and preaching in the local church.
He has also known the sorrow of losing his beloved wife to cancer and preaching Jesus through his grief and loss.
Join Jenny Salt as she speaks with Kathy Rossiter, a medical professional and a member of the Mercy Ships ministry.
Kathy tested blood samples for a living, but rather than retire she and her husband decided to put their years of leisure to a Kingdom use.
Instead of heading for some sunny island, she took up a position in the labs onboard a floating hospital, showing Gospel love in action to some of the neediest people in Africa.
Mike Baird is one of those high-profile Christians, having been a politician for some years. His relationship with power culminated in him taking on the top job as premier in New South Wales from 2014 to 2017.
Jenny Salt asks Mike what it means to be a public Christian. How do you live out your life as a follower of Christ in front of a watching, often critical, world?
Trigger alert: This episode contains some distressing details of assault.
Jenny Salt introduces us to Helen, a woman who has suffered much in her journey towards God.
Like most of us, Helen has a busy work life, a loving family, a close church community, and a lot of people who know and love her as a friend and sister in Christ.
Helen’s story also includes heartache and pain in the context of domestic violence and living with a major depressive disorder for most of her life.
But ultimately, hers is a story of hope in God.
Sarah Raiter is a wife, mum, grandmother, author, artist… and grew up in a country considered extremely dangerous from a western perspective - especially for Christians.
But for Sarah, life in Pakistan meant a childhood filled with stories of adventure, beautiful sunsets, villages, compounds, and high walls. As an adult, though, it was also the place where she both lost and found her faith.
In the end, she loved Pakistan so much that she went back and lived there with her husband and children.
Colin Buchanan is one of Australia's most beloved country music and kid's worship composers - a perfect choice for the final pre-season episode in the lead-up to next week's season 5.
Colin's family journey spans the globe, his musical journey the breadth of this country, and his spiritual journey from darkness to light.
Join Jenny Salt as she presents a bonus-length, musical special that peers into the corners of Colin's life and comes out with a smile on its face!
When huge challenge is followed by huge challenge, how do you manage to hold on to God? As the trials mounted, Helen Thomas had to ask herself again and again, "Can we trust God with this?"
Helen Thomas is a wife and mother of four with a wonderful Greek heritage and a faith that has been with her since her teenage years.
But when God placed his hand first on her husband, then on her children, her life entered a valley that few have to enter.
What she found at its bottom though, was a way to hold on to her joy even in the midst of her sadness.
In the run-up to season 5, Jenny Salt shares her favourite four episodes.
In this episode, Jenny chats with Richard Hibbert about life and ministry in Turkey and Bulgaria (among other places).
Richard impressed Jenny as someone with an ever-present taste for adventure, with wisdom to share as he contemplated life in the shadow of his own death.
Jenny Salt shares her four favourite episodes of all time as we count down the weeks to the beginning of Salt's fifth season. First off the rank...
In 1960 Ruth Myors left Australia to work as a midwife with the Somali people. For over two decades she served in a hospital in Somalia, a village in Ethiopia and a radio ministry in Kenya.
Bureaucratic decisions, coups, communist takeovers, natural disasters, sudden deaths - all disrupted plans and brought about unexpected changes in her life.
Ruth wrote about these experiences in her memoir When The Lights Go Out, and she shares them with Jenny Salt.
The new lockdown in New South Wales has hampered our ability to get all of the great stories we have lined up recorded.
But Jenny still has some great stories to share.
Join her over the coming weeks as she delves into the Salt archives to re-share her favourite four stories from the past four seasons.
Jenny Salt is hard at work preparing season 5 of Salt, and she's wondering if you have stories to share?
Is there someone in your life whose Gospel-centred life is inspiring to you? You should let us know!
Just email your story ideas to Jenny at salt@smbc.edu.au and we'll see if we can include them in the show.
Jenny Salt is offering ten free books to the first ten listeners to send a picture of a Salt review to salt@smbc.edu.au.
It's that simple!
Jenny Salt introduces us to Tim Costello, the former CEO of World Vision and one of Australian Christianity's most prominent advocates for the suffering, the poor, and the disadvantaged.
You might think there's nothing more to know than that, but Jenny takes us on a journey into Tim's back story - the town in which he grew up, the parents who so powerfully influenced his faith, and the legal career that led him to serve Australia's most vulnerable citizens.
Then, when we arrive at Tim's service to the world's struggling masses, we come to understand how the image of God in every single person has powered everything he's done.
Jenny Salt introduces us to Barrie Hadley, a man who has spent more than 80 years in the same town, and more than 40 years in the same job.
'Bloomin' Barrie' is the definition of the blue-collar worker, growing up in the smallest of towns, becoming the local butcher, and then working for half a lifetime unloading ships.
His Christian journey is an understated one but undergirded by a simple truth: if you want people to listen to what you have to say about Jesus, you have to begin by being a man of your word.
Red Fulton grew up in the heart of Sydney but God gave her a heart to see the Gospel proclaimed wherever it would take her - even to the ends of the earth.
And that is exactly what it felt like when Red and her husband answered the call to work in Arnhem Land.
But in Australia's far north she discovered a people with hearts as big as this great brown land.
Not only did Red meet sisters thoroughly transformed by the Gospel, but she's been able to see Christian love take on the worst expressions of domestic violence.
Jenny Salt introduces us to Tim Dyer, a much sought-after man in the context of mentoring Christian leaders and getting alongside churches in conflict.
From an early age, Tim was gripped by the Gospel and this spurred him on to a ministry that aims to encourage and equip others to lead and teach Christian workers all over the world.
Tim Sims talks to Jenny Salt about a life that has spanned the globe, taking in elite educations and millions of dollars under management along the way.
Tim's early life included more countries that most will visit in a lifetime matched against long months in a lonely boarding school. However, an education from both Oxford and Harvard Universities put him on the fast track to business success.
But in the end, Tim tells Jenny that all the millions in the world couldn't answer the question: why are we here?
Cat Tuckwell is a Canberra girl who dreamed of becoming a country vet ever since she opened her first puppy book - a dream that was fulfilled in time.
However, Cat's dream was first rocked by cancer, then complicated further by chronic fatigue.
But she tells Jenny Salt how her conditions have actually worked to remind her she is immortal, and God still has much more for her to do.
Jenny Salt talks to Pip Russell, a woman whom God has used to be a spiritual 'mum' to many people, in many different stages in life.
From her early school years, through teaching and on into the former Soviet country of Kyrgyzstan, Pip learned that God had a special ministry for her that centred around caring for those He put close to her.
What she liked best was sharing the Gospel, and both her gift and desire have culminated in life as a chaplain to the oldest members of our community.
From suburban Sydney to South America, and now a mission field that encompasses the world.
Karine Woldhuis chats with Jenny Salt about how her life began with a normal childhood in a fairly 'standard' family in Sydney's suburbs. She thought she would always keep in touch with her Dutch heritage, but she never dreamed of what was ahead.
Karine and her husband John followed their convictions as Christians to the mission field in South America. However, a tragic event involving a young girl opened her eyes to a dark world that desperately needed the light of the gospel.
Karine now works for a SIM ministry that equips people to recognize the evils of modern-day slavery and address international people-trafficking at a local level.
Harry Brice is a third-generation farmer who counts himself blessed to be living on the land in the Bega region, in southern New South Wales. What he didn't count as a blessing, though, was a worrying ignorance of what life was for.
He tells Jenny Salt the unique story of how he and his wife took years to come to Christ, and how that faith was tested during the wildfires that swept over Cobargo and surrounding towns on New Years Eve, 2019.
When everyone's hopes were going up in smoke, Harry found he had a peace that passed all understanding.
Cate Arenstein is a South African with no fear of telling things how they are.
She grew up during the Apartheid era when a nation was in the throes of working out who it was. Finding her own identity was a similar struggle.
Cate shares that she was abused as a child and that contributed to a struggle with her own sexual identity that led her into a range of unhelpful relationships.
But she tells Jenny that God has pieced this all together to create a straight-talking woman who's not afraid to tell her countrymen and women they need the Gospel.
Jenny Salt kicks off Season 4 of Salt with Rob Smith, creative Christian musician and respected theologian.
With Jenny, we delve into Rob's early life growing up next to his father's giant intellect and discovering his first love for music. But as his talent grew, so did his desire to 'come home' to a Father who knew him even better than his own dad. Now his theological work has taken him to examine the challenge of people struggling to find their own way home in a sea of sexual dysphoria.
Join Jenny as she uncovers Rob's extraordinary story, and experiences his music along the way.
Colin Buchanan is one of Australia's most beloved country music and kid's worship composers.
His family journey spans the globe, his musical journey the breadth of this country, and his spiritual journey from darkness to light.
Join Jenny Salt as she presents a bonus-length, musical special that peers into the corners of Colin's life and comes out with a smile on its face!
In 1960 Ruth Myors left Australia to work as a midwife with the Somali people. For over two decades she served in a hospital in Somalia, a village in Ethiopia and a radio ministry in Kenya.
Bureaucratic decisions, coups, communist takeovers, natural disasters, sudden deaths - all disrupted plans and brought about unexpected changes in her life.
Ruth wrote about these experiences in her memoir When The Lights Go Out, and she shares them with Jenny Salt.
Michael Jensen is the son of former Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, and nephew to evangelical heavyweight Philip Jensen - two lives that have often cast long shadows over his own.
Jenny Salt asks him to share what it was like to grow up with a family name that was both loved and vilified by the people around him.
What Michael reveals is how he quietly fashioned a name for himself that still challenges people to come to terms with the Gospel, but in a way that is uniquely his own.
Grief and loss are inevitable parts of life in this world. As Job puts it, "Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward."
The experience of both can be a lonely, painful and confusing time, especially for children.
Jill McGilvray has not only faced her own loss and grief, but has been involved in bereavement counselling with children for many years.
Join Jenny Salt as she shares the lessons she has learned from decades of helping others grieve.
Megan lived in the midst of a whirlwind of relationships created by her mother's own need to find love. But despite the people flowing in and out of her life, Megan knew from an early age she was no-one's 'special someone'.
Life in Australia, followed by a sojourn in Israel, a Jewish upbringing and a Christian education - all combined to increase her sense of a jumbled identity.
However when Megan decided to strike out and become a person of consequence, the greatest consequence of all was her meeting with God.
As a country town lad, David Burge was enamoured with the freedom of the open sky. It was only exceeded by his first love for Jesus.
When he contemplated a future in ministry, he thought that God would naturally combine his desire to be in the cockpit with an opportunity to transport the Gospel to unknown places.
But the flight-path God had in mind would take him from soaring highs to crashing lows, and a ministry in Mongolia that would take him closer to God than he ever thought possible.
Helen lived a privileged life in a privileged suburb of Sydney. She grew up in an expansive home, holidayed by the sea and attended an exclusive private school. Her early life looked very much like an episode of Downton Abbey.
Her intensely academic parents planned a successful scientific career for their third child. However Helen shocked them to the core when she opted to train as a missionary.
In the middle of her lonely upper-class life, God had reached out to reveal to Helen what real life looked like. And though Helen's path has taken her through many dark valleys, she has never had to confront them alone.
Trevor Hodge has played in everything from school concerts to cover bands, even as God brought together a musical career that has supported the faith of thousands.
Yet his biggest achievement is arguably breaking ground for a new sort of ministry position in Australian churches.
Trevor tells Jenny the story that led to him to become one of Australia's first 'magnification pastors', a term that has become synonymous with ministering the word of God to the soul through music.
Naomi Deck grew up a promising girl in a happy family on New South Wales' south coast. However bullying by a group of Wicca devotees left her in fear for her life, and all but crushed her personality.
The anxiety that followed would drastically alter her life until one day she discovered that God was equal to all her fears.
But Naomi found her faith would have to rise to a whole new level the day she prayed, "Dear God make me humble," followed by, "Help me to never deny you."
Shion spent her earliest years split between Japan and Australia, absorbing the traditions of the first and the laid-back lifestyle of the second.
However, wherever she lived, she found her footsteps dogged by continuing interactions with the Christian faith - beginning with her very unlikely name, the Japanese word for 'Zion'.
But as she struggled to come to terms with her distant Japanese father, and her faithful Japanese father-in-law, Shion learned the qualities of still one more Father who longed for her to enter the Kingdom of God.
Lakgva grew up in post-Communist Mongolia, a place of desperate poverty and spiritual malaise. A once-proud nomadic people were coping with the collapse of a rigid state system and a flood of western ideas.
Personally, Lakgva's family was devastated, with his university trained parents no longer able to find work. At 12 he was sent out to earn a living and came to view life through bitter eyes.
When his mother began going to church, Lakgva perceived it as a further reason to be ashamed in a life pock-marked with constant embarrassment. However, he had little idea how profound her quiet faith would become in one of the hardest ministry places on earth, and particularly in his own life.
A self-confessed alcoholic, James struggled to find his way through addiction and in the process discovered the God who was able to set him free. Not just from his dependency on the bottle, but the sin that so weighed him down.
Join Jenny Salt as she delves into James's life and his road to recovery, discovering truths that are enough to make any of us more sober-minded.
Meagan Skinner had to grow up very fast in a family situation that was laced with uncertainty and trauma.
But God used those experiences to drive a Biblical desire to see the world 'just that little better' for those around her.
When she was given the chance to staff for a Sydney politician, it seemed like a good way to see through great changes.
Yet she soon found that being a Christian in the halls of power could be as crushing as it could be useful.
Anna tells Jenny Salt a wonderful tale of how God uses great disappointment to grow our appreciation of His power and His goodness.
She tells how she worked for decades to declare the Gospel overseas, only to have her dream fall apart at every point. But in those deepest and darkest points she discovered the truly beautiful presence of God.
Simon Flinders is the pastor of a Sydney suburban Anglican church, which seems simple enough.
Yet his life has been profoundly shaped by the family he grew up in, and ultimately by the fatherhood of God.
Jenny Salt speaks to Neeraj, the grandchild of Nepal's first Christian converts.
During their time together she uncovers the 16-year prayer vigil that resulted in the Gospel crossing the borders of that mountain-locked country.
And Neeraj reveals his heart to 'preach to the heights' as he plans to return to his spiritually dark homeland.
Andrew Browning's medical career has taken him from the searing deserts of Tanzania to the struggling townships of Ethiopia, where he has put his special talents at Christ's service.
Widely regarded as the finest fistula surgeon in the world, Andrew has laboured alongside Dr. Catherine Hamlin and others to relieve the suffering of women made outcasts in their societies through no fault of their own.
And in doing so, he seen God at work both in his life and the lives of his patients.
Jenny Salt interviews John Dickson, the world-famous apologist, speaker and writer who has used every conceivable medium to challenge people to think about the claims of Jesus.
Jenny digs back into John's past, uncovering the pains that led him to think about the brevity of life, and the people who made Jesus personal to him. The career that followed makes for incredible listening.
Maia tell Jenny she desperately wanted to be the 'good girl', but couldn't find a path that satisfied her conscience. For years she delved into the New Age movement, looking for the spiritual guide she was hoping for. She found what she was looking for, though, on a highway to western Sydney. Since then Maia has been helping collect stories of faith from all over the world.
Andre was a youth leader, a ministry apprentice and a committed Christian - but before all of that, he was a scientist. Could his love for the world around him actually be the path God was calling him down? He tells Jenny Salt it was the hardest, best decision he's ever made.
Kirsty is a country girl from Bega with a deep love for her family, beginning with her identical twin sister. Together they've shared everything from schoolyard pranks to careers in physiotherapy, and a path that led to Bible college. There they also met the very different men God had set aside for them. And when Kirsty's husband suffered a tragic accident, she tells Jenny Salt it was their mutual faith that would deliver fresh hope in the midst of painful struggles.
Helen Thomas is a wife and mother of four with a wonderful Greek heritage and a faith that has been with her since her teenage years. But when God placed his hand first on her husband, then on her children, her life entered a valley that few have to enter. What she found at its bottom though, was a way to hold on to her joy even in the midst of her sadness.
In this episode, Jenny chats with Stephen Liggins: author, pastor, lecturer and even a medal winner in the world masters athletics! Hear how God has used all of this in His purposes.
In this episode, Jenny chats with Darlene Evans about growing up in a Christian home, but it wasn’t a typical Christian home nor a typical childhood. Married by the age of 17 and a mother of 4 by the age of 26, Darlene’s life has taken many turns, including later in her life, communicating the gospel to those who would otherwise never hear it.
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In this episode, Jenny chats with Richard Hibbert about life and ministry in Turkey and Bulgaria (among other places), someone with an ever-present taste for adventure, and his reflections on life in the shadow of death.
In this episode, Jenny chats with Sam Robinson about what it's like to be a Sydney breakfast radio announcer, and reflecting on a life with lots of surprising turns.
Join Jenny as she chats with Amy Vink who reflects on her life as a wife, mum and missionary... unexpected journeys with the God who is always faithful.
In this episode, Jenny catches up with Kirk Patston, SMBC Old Testament lecturer to chat about life with disability - a focus of disability that says it's neither strategic or efficient, but can even bring joy.
Jenny has a conversation with Rachel Ciano, who wears many hats - including wife, mother and church history lecturer with a keen interest in the Reformation.
Jenny chats with a professional violin player, Rebecca Irwin, about performing and coming to faith.
In this episode, Jenny chats with Nicole who runs her own gardening business – a business that’s been growing and thriving throughout the northwest of Sydney over the 20 years.