The God Cast with Fr Alex Frost and Guests‪.‬ The God Cast

Gordon Birtwistle (born 6 September 1943) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and former MP. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Burnley, England, from May 2010 to May 2015. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2012.From 2013, he was Government Apprenticeship Ambassador to Business

Martin Saunders leads the Satellites festival alongside his role as Deputy Chief Executive of Youthscape

He joined YS in 2013 because he is passionate about seeing young people connect with faith. For the last few years he has focussed on resourcing youth leaders through innovative resources and events, but now his work has broadened into developing a brand new summer event for teenagers which launched in August 2022. Before moving to Youthscape he was Editor of Youthwork magazine, and he carried on writing: you can find several of his books on the Youthscape store.

Nic Tall is the National Co-ordinator of Together for the Church of England.
He is a supporter of a more inclusive and welcoming church. Nic is a member of the Church of England General Synod and he resides in South West England.

Background
Andy was raised in Andover after the family settled there with the Army. He was brought up in a normal, single-parent family, on benefits on a council estate. He has a young son. A youth worker, chef, gardener and Local councillor he went on to train as a Baptist Minister in 2013. He studied theology at Regents Park College, Oxford alongside reviving a dwindling 362-year-old Baptist church in Hampshire.

Experience
Andy was elected to the newly formed Andover Town Council in 2010, aged 20. He served the council in many capacities, including being Vice-Chair (deputy mayor) of the Council between 2013-14 and being the Chair of the Staffing Sub-Committee during the same period. He was also one of the main Councillors, along with Chair of Council Cllr Geoff McBride, to push for and form the Andover Youth Council. Andy was co-opted back onto Andover Town Council in January 2016 and then re-elected in 2019. Andy was the only serving councillor to be re-elected to the Council in that election. He served on the council until his resignation in October 2019 (https://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/17929625.councillor-andy-fitchet-resign-andover-town-council/).

He has stood for election at all levels of government from Andover Town (2010 & 2019), Test Valley Borough (2011, 2015, 2019 and by-election 2021 and 2023 - losing by just 25 votes!), Hampshire County (2017 & 2021) and Parliament (2017). Andy achieved the highest ever Labour vote in North West Hampshire. He was Chair of the North West Hampshire Labour Party between 2015-2023.

Andy is an authorised Minister in the Methodist church and since September 2019 he has been the Methodist Minister in Andover, bringing together the two Methodist churches in Andover into one church and overseeing a major redevelopment of the town centre church building. Andy became the Minister of Hungerford Methodist church in September 2023 also.

Andy has worked for a number of charities, most recently for the Good Neighbours Network, helping to tackle social isolation and loneliness through acts of kindness across Hampshire. For Good Neighbours Network, he trained voluntary groups on GDPR, Safeguarding & DBS checks, Insurance, Constitutional matters, volunteer management and volunteer recruitment. Before that, he worked for the leading Disability charity, Enham Trust as a Corporate, Community and Events Fundraiser.

Andy is often invited to preach across many denominations and invited to speak at conferences & events. He speaks on topics including social justice, political engagement, Christian engagement in public life and LGBTQ inclusion. He is a Co-Director of Affirm, Baptists Together for LGBTQ+ Inclusion and a Governor of a local primary school

Alex Frost is the vicar of St Matthew's Church in Burnley, host of the God Cast and author of 'Our Daily Bread, Argos To The Altar A Priest Story'
order here https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/Frost-Father-Alex/Our-daily-bread---from-Argos-to-the-altar/9780008556556
Follow Fr Alex on X @alexdjfrost

Phoebe Smith is an adventurer and multi-award-winning travel writer (most recently Sustainable Travel Article of the Year: Travel Media Awards 2023), photographer, presenter and broadcaster (specialising in adventure, sustainable travel, walking, family adventure and wildlife conservation). She has presented segments on TV including BBC Countryfile, BBC Breakfast, C5 Saturday Live, ITV’s Britain’s Best Walks and BBC Breakfast.
She is Sleep Storyteller-in-Residence at Calm where her stories have been listened to over 30 million times and been narrated by Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Cillian Murphy, Jerome Flynn, Bindi Irwin and Danai Gurira to name a few.
She is also the author of 10 books with her next one – Wayfarer: Love, Loss and Life on Britain’s Ancient Paths – out in March 2024 with Harper Collins. She is also the co-founder of the #WeTwo Foundation, a charity that empowers underprivileged young people through carbon negative expeditions.

Alex Frost is the vicar of St Matthew's Church in Burnley, host of the God Cast and author of 'Our Daily Bread, Argos To The Altar A Priest Story'
order here https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/F...
Follow Fr Alex on X @alexdjfrost


Patrick Watt is the Chief Executive Officer for Christian Aid.

Prior to this, he was Policy and Campaigns Director, responsible for leading Christian Aid’s influencing, mobilisation, and research and evidence in the UK and internationally, on issues of economic, environmental and social justice.

The Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns department works with Christian Aid supporters and partners, to create public pressure for political change, shape policy, and create platforms where people in poverty are listened to and can claim their rights.

Patrick has widespread experience of working in development and humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, ActionAid and Save the Children, on education, global health, aid policy, and debt and trade. He has engaged extensively with the UN, EU, and African Union, as well as with UK government and parliament.

He is committed to Christian Aid’s strategy of using prophetic voice to confront injustice, and of working with churches to achieve lasting change. He has degrees in Theology, from the University of Cambridge, and in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He is married, and has three children.