Salt Podcast

16 November 2021    Episode 58 - My best ‘worst year’ - Scott

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. 

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9 November 2021    Episode 57 - Life to death to life - David

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.

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2 November 2021    Episode 56 - Puppets who speak for God - Kay

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 via Melbourne.

Kay was brought up in a very multi-cultural home – private girl’s school during the week, Japanese school on Saturdays, and a home life filled with Korean 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.

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26 October 2021    Episode 55 - God’s plan for a plumber - Ben

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.

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19 October 2021    Episode 54 - Christ on COVID’s front line - Tamara

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.

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12 October 2021    Episode 53 - A Christian in a Muslim world - Roy

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.

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5 October 2021    Episode 52 - Faith that informs grief - Pete

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.

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28 September 2021    Episode 51 - Setting Sail With God - Kathy

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.

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21 September 2021    Episode 50 - God and government - Mike

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?

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13 September 2021    Episode 49 - Domestic violence, depression and hope - Helen

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.

Trigger alert: This episode contains some distressing details of assault.

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7 September 2021    Episode 48 - Loving Pakistan - Sarah

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.

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18 May 2021    Episode 43 - Gospel Power for a Needy World – Tim

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.

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11 May 2021    Episode 42 - With God On The Wharfs - Barrie

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 a 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.

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4 May 2021    Episode 41 - Arnhem’s Grace-Filled God - Red

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.

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27 April 2021    Episode 40 - Mentoring And Ministering To Minds - Tim

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.

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20 April 2021    Episode 39 - The Millions That Led To Humility - Tim

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?

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13 April 2021    Episode 38 - Cancer, Chronic Fatigue and Calm - Cat

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.

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30 March 2021    Episode 36 - Sharing The End Of Their Journey - Pip

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.

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23 March 2021    Episode 35 - Setting Slaves Free - Karine

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 an SIM ministry that equips people to recognise the evils of modern-day slavery and address international people-trafficking at a local level. 

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16 March 2021    Episode 34 - The Slow Burn - Harry

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.

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