Birds Who Pray

She's got a loud voice, good pitch and no shame and she's not afraid to use them. Reverend Elizabeth Smith's podcast is cosmic and offers more than a breath of fresh Aussie air. Join us in this upside down chat between Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and the not so glamorous, Essex.Merry Christmas one and all and thank you for supporting the labour of love, that is, Birds Who Pray.Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ Thank you.

Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy brings hope, peace and love to the Birds Who Pray podcast this Christmas. A lot's happened since we last spoke at her home in Perth a year ago, here she shares her experiences of the global pandemic, the loss and learnings of life during coronavirus and her Christmas message.Season's greeting from Watts Where Media.This call was recorded on Zoom.

From Islam to Christianity, Reverend Valentina Emmanuel grew up as a Muslim in Iran, now she's an Anglican Priest in Melbourne. Here, she tells why she risked everything to become a Christian and how she hopes freedom is something her children prize rather than take for granted. This recording was made in Melbourne, Australia in November 2019.

Harlow based pastor, Reverend Alison Taylor shares her experiences of the coronavirus pandemic. From the dark art of technology to the dark times that have challenged her community, she's remained "cup half full" as Covid-19 has taken hold. She's also doing her best to understand and respond to the Black Lives Matter campaign. Music track provided by https://www.purple-planet.com thank you

Reverend Elizabeth Smith's a mine of information when it comes to theology, which is quite apt for a woman whose parish is in the heart of the Australian goldfields. Here she shares her thoughts on the coronavirus pandemic and how it affects her community in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Extracts of this recording appear in the Together In Isolation podcast.

Easter. It's the biggest weekend on the Christian calendar, but the church buildings are closed thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Clergy across the world are adapting and meeting their congregations online. But why's COVID-19 happening, or more specifically, why's God letting it happen? It's a question that all of the clergy in this podcast have addressed, along with others. All of the contributors recorded their responses to the same questions.UK Prison Chaplain, Elaine WykesAnglican Priest, Melbourne, Victoria: Valentina EmmanuelAnglican Priest for the parish of the Goldfields, Western Australia: Elizabeth SmithPastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Austin, Texas: Cheryl KimbleArchdeacon of Essendon, Victoria: Vanessa BennettVicar and Area Dean of the Bellarine area Deanery, Victoria: Elizabeth BreakeyParish of North Beach, Perth: Reverend Frida LemiMusic tracks provided by https://www.purple-planet.com thank you.Here's a transcript of this podcast: https://www.wattswhere.co.uk/transcript-together-in-isolation

Reverend, or Mama Frida has made a new home for herself and her family in Perth, Western Australia. It's far far away from her birthplace in South Sudan, a place she will always call home but was forced to leave. Can you imagine, leaving everything you own and moving four children to a country you've never been to, with just your faith and the support of strangers to rely on? This former refugee has no idea how impressive she is. Respect.Please note: Frida references her favourite verse as Jeremiah, but she meant to say Isaiah. So it's Isaiah chapter 6, verse 8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

If women are changing the narrative of the church, then Bishop Genieve Blackwell is at the centre of that change in Melbourne. She's a no-nonsense campaigner who respects and challenges in equal measure, in order to build a better future for the church and beyond. There are many causes on her list, amongst them, the prevention of violence against women.

Leadership and courage were the subject of discussion by some of Australia's leading Anglican women at the inaugural Women in Leadership conference in Perth. Hosted by Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy, here's a snapshot of their thoughts and experiences as women of the cloth.Watts Where would like to thank the Archbishop and all of the delegates for inviting me to tell their stories.

Bishop Kate Prowd's whisky has been blended with tears over the last year as she's overcome the challenge of her new role. It's not that she's not capable, it's just that she never expected to be a bishop. Kate was ordained before becoming a clinical psychologist, a career that was jogging along quite nicely, thank you very much. Then, one day, she went to a fateful meeting, where she was expecting one thing and came out with something entirely different. It happens and it's an appointment that's made her one half of the only brother-sister bishop combo in the world.

Reverend Yvonne Poon is full of surprises. She's made her home in Melbourne, where she wages war on zombies, while channelling her hero Lara Croft. It's a bit different to her childhood days in Hong Kong where she made paper planes from pages of the Bible. Yvonne's superpower is making people laugh, she will do that for you, if you have the time to listen. It's poignant too, but I'm not going to spoil the surprise. As the first Chinese woman to become a vicar at an Anglican church in Melbourne, Yvonne's story is a good one.

She's a pioneer who's learned to be patient rather than perfect and the first woman in the world to be ordained as an Archbishop. As such, The Most Reverend Kay Goldsworthy navigates uncharted territories, while encouraging others to follow. This recording was made at the inaugural Women in Leadership conference in Perth in November 2019.  

Reverend Vanessa Bennett's a squash playing cat mum, climatologist and cricket tragic who lets her ministry do the talking. She's the first woman to be appointed vicar at St Thomas' Church in Moonee Ponds, Victoria and has stories to tell of the ostracism she's encountered on the way, how she aligns her religious beliefs with science and the importance of a good pair of earrings.

Secrets of a straight talking Baptist Minister, featuring the reverend and sometimes irreverent, Alison Taylor. She's a driving force within her community, occasionally unconventional in her approach and doesn't suffer fools as she pursues her ultimate aim: for everyone to know Jesus.Here's a transcript of this podcast: https://www.wattswhere.co.uk/transcript-I-Am-what-I

Coffee morning capers at Potter Street Baptist Church, the home of Reverend Alison Taylor. There's now a podcast with Alison, but here are Violet and Betty (pictured) and other members of Alison's community to introduce her.Here's a transcript of this podcast: https://www.wattswhere.co.uk/transcript-coffee-morning-lowdown

As a lifelong activist, Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay's a force to be reckoned with. She's a mover and shaper of conversation at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary and executive director of the Hendel Center for Ethics and Justice. As such, she's bringing activists and academics together to explore how we know what's right is right.Justice isn't an optional add-on for Rabbi Ruskay. Her campaigns are many and be warned, her energy's infectious.

She was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar...Well almost. Reverend Yamily Bass-Choate was a waitress in a Mississippi restaurant  when she met her husband-to-be Horace. They trained at seminary together, became part of each other's ministries and now, after 35 years of marriage, they're battling his dementia together.This, while Yamily continues her role as liaison for global mission at the Diocese of New York. It is perhaps the perfect job for a woman who started life in Colombia, before moving to Venezuela and finally settling in the USA.Nobody said it would be easy but Yamily's natural optimism and faith see her through.

Teacher turned preacher, reverend Cheryl Kimble avoids politics in the pulpit, but opens up here, with her thoughts on faith in a time of fake news, what it takes to be a good leader and the importance of love and truth. This grandmother's holding her own as the only female Baptist Lead Pastor in Austin, Texas.

Reverend Lisa Jenkins is a native New Yorker who's all about social justice. As well as fighting for others, she's had her own battles to face from being kicked out of church for being an unmarried mother, to fighting cancer and facing her own mortality. Reverend Lisa's weathered some storms on her way to becoming senior pastor at St Matthew's Baptist Church in Harlem, but campaigning for others is still at the heart of everything she does. 

She's not very good with germs but works as a hospital chaplain, she's more used to quoting Lord of the Rings than the Bible and Reverend Canon, Karen MacKinnon admits to being less tolerant now than she was 25 years ago. Then, on the 12 March 1994, Karen was the youngest of 32 women to be ordained as a priest by the Church of England for the first time. Here, she shares what it was like to be part of that change, the obstacles she's encountered and admits there's "a bit of a way to go". Here's a transcript of this podcast: https://www.wattswhere.co.uk/transcript-ordained-in-spite-of

In this, the first audio offering in the Birds Who Pray series, 'ordinary' Reverend Elaine Wykes shares how an irresistible urge to become a vicar has steered her away from the family motorcycle business to a completely different vocation. She's more surprised than most that her dream job now is to become a prison chaplain.