Benjamin Cremer is a pastor who spends his time these days in the online space in the intersection of Christianity and politics. Having grown up in white Christian nationalism in the U.S.A. Ben now gracefully explores how faith in Jesus offers a critique to policies and ideologies that many Christians actively support. We talk about his upbringing, the changes in his faith, the costs of those changes on relationships, and how his more open understanding of God has given him the ability to better...
Jun 02, 2025•54 min•Ep. 110
Kate and Alex are the co-founders and co-directors of Common Grace Aotearoa. Common Grace is an organisation doing advocacy work and organising the church around key justice issues. While the Church is involved in much justice work at the coal face, there is also a need to work towards changing systems that oppress and marginalise, systems that cause some of the problems we then see. Common Grace Aotearoa is working at that systems level, striving for change. Kate and Alex and I talk about how t...
May 13, 2025•56 min
Phillipa Hunt is a wife, mum, engineer, and the founder and chairperson of Satisfy Food Rescue. We talk about the environment, food poverty, Satisfy, working to our strengths, partnering with others, and where faith fits into all that for her. Check out Satisfy Food Rescue on their website , on Facebook , Instagram , or LinkedIn . ___ Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at: Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations Ema...
Apr 13, 2025•47 min•Ep. 108
Cathy Marston and Steven Goulstone, the hosts of the Changes Ahead Podcast, a Baptist New Zealand podcast hosting conversations that discuss the changes the church needs to think about if it is to have a meaningful presence in the future. We talk about the unheard voices of our church communities, the desire to be faithful by keeping things the same, when perhaps faithfulness demands change, hearing people's stories rather than discussing theology abstractly, and why the church might be worth ch...
Mar 31, 2025•59 min•Ep. 107
Sharon 'Rocky' Roggio has spent years in the film and television industry, working in a variety of roles on many well known shows (e.g. House of Cards, Parks and Recreation) and films. In this conversation we discuss her directorial debut film, '1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture'. The film has won over 25 awards at film festivals around the world. The film documents the first time the word homosexual was included in a Bible translation (as recently as 1946), the subsequent decision b...
Mar 16, 2025•55 min•Ep. 106
Jaimee van Gemerden holds a PhD in theology but, unlike some academics, is great at connecting deep thought about God with real issues in and around the Christian faith in a way that the average person can connect with. With her friend Andrew, she is the founder of Metanoia, a platform for hosting conversations about faith in public spaces that might otherwise be held behind closed doors, if they are had at all. We talk about how deliberately bringing her understandings and experiences as a woma...
Mar 02, 2025•56 min•Ep. 105
Dallas Harema is a social worker, counsellor, coach, husband, father, and so much more. My observation, having known Dallas for a while now, is that he has a really good grasp on what it means to love people well, in a way that gets through the clutter to make real connections. We talk about how being Māori influences how he sees relationships, we talk about breaking down barriers for men to be vulnerable, for couples to connect better, the current political climate around Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ...
Nov 30, 2024•57 min
Earlier this year I was a guest on Stephen Garton's podcast, Fresh Aesthetic. This episode is a rerelease of that episode in full. If you enjoy it, make sure you check out Stephen's other episodes of Fresh Aesthetic. Check out Fresh Aesthetic on Instagram, linktree, or wherever you get your podcasts. ___ Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at: Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations Email: downtoearth.conversations@gmail.com
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Kylee Black is a social entrepreneur committed to cultivating strong connected community. Through her own experiences with disability and complex health challenges, Kylee has been able to create spaces for others and that help empower them in their own journey. Kylee is the CEO and founder of Kylee & Co, an online platform with accessible products by the disability community for everyone. On this episode we talk about Kylee's journey with health and disability, her advocacy for people with d...
Oct 21, 2024•59 min
As I release this, today marks one full year since the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel, and the beginning of a horrendous campaign of genocide that Israel began in Gaza as a result. Violence that has, in the past week or so, spread into surrounding territories as the western world sits back and watches. Today's guest, Cole, is a visual journalist, capturing stories through photos and videos. While many of us were simply getting on with our lives, Cole left the safety of Aotearoa New Zeal...
Oct 06, 2024•1 hr 34 min
Episode 100 is here! As I was thinking about what to do for this episode, I thought, why not interview someone who has featured more on the podcast than anyone else, yet who hasn't actually been a guest on the podcast? Every episode since episode 21, Strahan Coleman's music has been there. And in this kōrero with Strahan we go deep, talking about the journey that led to him being an award winning musician who travelled the world, but then the way life all came crashing down, pulling his music ca...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Asif Mall works out of the UK in places like his homeland of Pakistan, helping to support persecuted Christians, but even more than that, using influence and strategy to help create change that prevents some of the persecution from happening to begin with. We talk about growing up in Pakistan as a Christian in a Muslim country, how he got involved in the work he is doing, and what he has learnt about himself and his faith along the way. We hear stories of how strategies Asif's organisation emplo...
Sep 09, 2024•59 min
Charlotte Cummings works in a number of ways to outwork an inner desire to help others, especially people who are finding life tough through mental health, parenting, or because they've been hurt in faith-based spaces. We talk about her work as an investigator, counsellor, consultant and more. We hear about her experience of supporting those who have been hurt in Christian faith communities, and get her take on the recently released report from the Royal Commission of Enquiry into Abuse in State...
Aug 28, 2024•56 min
Scott Gilmour is the chair and founder of the I Have A Dream Trust. I Have a Dream is an organisation working to support children through building relationships that span years. It is a programme that, as you will hear, was a long time in the making for Scott, but he followed his intuition, used the resources he had, and now supports over 20 workers, or navigators as they call them, who are supporting students across 5 schools, from the day they start school until they are 20. Scott comes from a...
Aug 12, 2024•49 min
Back on episode 11 of Down to Earth Conversations I talked to Aaron about work he was doing with young people experiencing homelessness. Aaron is still fighting with and for our rangatahi (youth) but has left the larger, more generic services he worked for and, with his wife Summer, started Kick Back - an organisation dedicated to supporting some of our most vulnerable young people - particularly those experiencing homelessness. We talk about the journey of starting something new, how it fills a...
Aug 05, 2024•34 min
I have released this episode out of my usual rhythm because the day of release is a significant day in Aotearoa New Zealand. On this day, July 24, 2024, the Royal Commission of inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care released their final report. This report, which took six years to compile, details the abuse of thousands of New Zealand children and other vulnerable people while in the care of the state or faith based organisations. The report estimates that between 1950 and 1999, over 2...
Jul 24, 2024•52 min
Daughter-father combo, Jemma and Shane Clifton, have both gone through large life transitions, Jemma's around gender, and Shane's around disability. Both have been long processes of change, and they have been a support for one another in their transitional journeys. Jemma and Shane run a podcast called the Change podcast, which follows Jemma's gender affirmation transition, as she embraces who she is as a transgender woman. It is available on all podcasting platforms, and was the catalyst for my...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Tim Whitaker is the founder of The New Evangelicals (TNE), a non-profit challenging toxic Christianity and supporting those processing their faith. Tim started TNE as an Instagram account in order to pose questions about his Christian faith and share answers that he received. This has led to a connection with thousands of people around the world who have asked many of these same questions. TNE is now a non-profit, an online community, a podcast, and a group of people who amplify the voices of a ...
Jun 16, 2024•50 min
Chris Clarke is the CEO of the Wilberforce Foundation, having previously worked in leadership in the health sector, followed by leading World Vision NZ. Chris and I begin by talking about his own journey, through business, into the health sector, and then into the world of non-profits, including his time with World Vision NZ. We talk about why he got into that work, and what he learned from those times. We then discuss the study the Wilberforce Foundation commissioned into faith and belief in Ao...
May 26, 2024•49 min
A content warning right from the beginning here...the episode contains discussion around self-harm a.k.a. non-suicidal self injury (NSSI), and suicide is therefore also mentioned. So please take all the precautions you need to keep yourself safe, and skip the episode if you need to. Please also access support if you need to. You can find a large range of support services at thevoicesofhope.org/pages/find-a-helpline Dr Kirsty Moore is a doctor of psychology, with lived experience of NSSI. She wor...
May 12, 2024•45 min
Back on Episode 33 we talked about James' time working with refugees in Ngaru, and then what he was up to in the Australian outback. This time we talk to him about his involvement in the formation of the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages that began before easter and are continuing around the world. We talk about how and why they started, how it's going, and what they are hoping to accomplish. We talk about the importance of the involvement of Palestinian Christians in the movement, and how people aroun...
May 08, 2024•26 min
Bridie Boyd is, among other things, a chaplain at Hillmorton hospital, a psychiatric care facility in Ōtautahi (Christchurch). She is also involved in advocating for, and supporting, women in the Anglican environment in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We talk about both of these roles. What drives her in her advocating for others? What draws her to love those others neglect or even despise? We discuss what the role of chaplain actually involves and the challenges and rewards of doing such a role with peo...
Apr 21, 2024•53 min
Caz and Em are the hosts of the fantastic podcast, the Bloody Bible. Outside of the podcast they are Dr Carolyn Blyth and Dr Emily Colgan - academics in the world of theology who have found ways to share their research so that it is digestible for the general public. On the Bloody Bible, Caz and Em explore some of the more violent passages in the Bible, linking them to modern true crimes, and behaviours and attitudes that are still in play today. They also help us see the stories from the perspe...
Apr 07, 2024•55 min
Dr Pauline Stewart is an educator, a psychologist, an Anglican Priest, and when she was an age when many would be hanging up their work clothes, she was starting up a charity to support the family and friends of people with alcohol or other drug habits. We talk about her time as a teacher and why she moved into psychology. We discuss her time working for the Ministry of Education as a psychologist. And we talk about Family Drug Support, the charity Pauline founded to educate and support people w...
Mar 24, 2024•42 min
Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) are an organisation working with Christians in places where being Christian is dangerous. Where either there are restrictive laws, or simply open hostility towards those who follow Jesus. I am joined in this conversation by Voice of the Martyrs NZ National Directors and their Events Coordinator. We hear about how Voice of the Martyrs work with endangered Christians around the world. Their empowering way of supporting and getting alongside the persecuted church. The ris...
Mar 10, 2024•56 min
This time we are Catching Up With episode 7 guest, Jeremy Faumuinā. Jeremy talked last time about trusting his intuition, about serving neglected and abused children in Samoa, his social work with youth and the family based approach he takes to that, and about how his son coming out as gay shifted his world from anti to ally when it comes to the rainbow community. It's definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard it already. Jeremy joins me on Catching Up With to talk about his move to the NZ ...
Mar 03, 2024•20 min
Ruth Schmidt (she/her) is a pastor pursuing ordination with the United Church of Christ in the USA. She was also a senior director at Fuller Theological Seminary, California, until she was fired in January 2024 for refusing to sign Fuller's statement of beliefs. Just two weeks after she was fired for standing up for what she believed in, we recorded this conversation. In the weeks afterwards Ruth publicly shared, in what I thought was a respectful and hopeful way, looking to stand against the in...
Feb 25, 2024•52 min
Sophie Fasi-Mohenoa is part of a small but growing group called Christians for Peace in Palestine Aotearoa that has arisen in the midst of the Israeli war on Gaza. Our conversation is grounded in her time living in the West Bank, working with Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians looking to drive peace in the region. We talk about how Christians for Peace Aotearoa came about, what they are involved in and are hoping to achieve, what she learned from her time living in Israel/Palestine, her e...
Feb 11, 2024•53 min
Donna Dyson is a fantastic human with a beautiful story. Her life has changed significantly on several occasions, yet she has managed to pivot, and to keep finding ways to move forward, bringing life to others as she does it. She is an educator, an author, an award winning song writer, and much, much more. We talk about teaching, literacy, health conditions and disability. We talk about music and creativity. We hear about to moments of Donna's life that marked significant endings, and how she tu...
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min
It's a busy, crazy time of year for many but it's also a time that can be really hard for those already doing it tough. For those living on the streets or those who have accommodation but can't afford the necessities of life, without support life simply isn't manageable, especially in a season where they are often forgotten. Orange Sky is an organisation based out of Australia that, through a huge number of volunteers around Australia and New Zealand, offer a free service to allow people doing i...
Dec 03, 2023•37 min
