Salt Podcast

7 November 2022    Episode 78 - Musician to missionary - Derek

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.

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31 October 2022    Episode 77 - The forest underground - Tony

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.

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24 October 2022    Episode 76 - Jesus for teens - James

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.

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17 October 2022    Episode 75 - In sickness and in health - Elizabeth

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.

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10 October 2022    Episode 74 - Around the world in 80 ways - Tim

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.

You can see all of the projects Tim is involved in by visiting the Anglican Aid website.

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13 June 2022    Episode 73 - Never Going Home - Anthony

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 purchase a copy of Anthony Brammall's book, Never Going Home, at the SMBC online bookstore.

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6 June 2022    Episode 72 - Two Sisters And A Tumour - Emily

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.

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30 May 2022    Episode 71 - A Family Shattered – Kathy

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.

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23 May 2022    Episode 70 - God on the Green Isle - Sharon

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.

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16 May 2022    Episode 69 - Leviticus Saved My Life - Geoff

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 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.

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9 May 2022    Episode 68 - Glorious Acting - Alison

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.

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2 May 2022    Episode 67 - Cruelty to Christianity - Linda

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.

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25 April 2022    Episode 66 - Black and White Christianity - Michael

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 one 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.
 

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18 April 2022    Episode 65 - Achievement Addiction - Justine

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.

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11 April 2022    Episode 64 - The Cross-Cultural Challenge - Ed

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.

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4 April 2022    Episode 63 - Big Animals, A Bigger God - Janet

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.

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28 March 2022    Episode 62 - The Deaf Hear - Andrew

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. Travelling 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.
Learn about Deaf Ministries International's work.
Read Andrew's blog and the many more fascinating stories his work has brought him in touch with.

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21 March 2022    Episode 61 - The Country Life - Ruth

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.

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15 March 2022    Episode 60 - Onward We Stumble - Adam

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.

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23 November 2021    Episode 59 - America’s Jesus - Graham

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.

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