In Depth:  Roger Loosley

Work in Progress

Subject: James Cary, who is married with two children and lives in Somerset, is a scriptwriter.
Age range: 30 – 40.

RJL: You write comedy scripts for a living. Does the BBC employ you?
JC: No, but I’ve done a lot of work for them on short-term contracts (Miranda, Bluestone 42, Another Case of Milton Jones, Hut 33 etc.)

Work in Progress

Subject: Heather Watkins, a speech and language therapist. Married with one daughter. Lives in Tillicoultry, Scotland and works in Stirling and Alloa.
Age range: 30–40.
Interests: Outdoor pursuits.

RJL: What is your family background?
HW: I am the middle child of three. Both my parents are Christians and we were involved in a Baptist church in Glasgow. My father ran a business.

Work in Progress

Subject: Dr Phil Harper, CEng MIMechE MInstNDT PhD MEng, who runs his own company in Sheffield making ultrasonic measuring and monitoring equipment for engineering applications. Married with two children.
Age range: 30–40.
Interests: Food, cooking, DIY.

RJL: Were you were brought up in Sheffield?
Phil: No, I was brought up on a farm in Kilkenny in Southern Ireland.

Work in Progress

Subject: Rhian Williams, an Education Consultant who lives in West London. Rhian works part-time for an Academy Trust in Devon and also as a self-employed consultant.
Age range: 40–50 years.
Interests: Photography, reading the classics, music and any sport.

RJL: How did you become a Christian?
Rhian: When I was 9 I thought that I had become a Christian, but when I was at Chester University my heart and mind were changed.

Work in Progress

Subject: Liz Lewin, a hairdresser from Leeds who is married with one child.
Age range: 50-60.
Interests: work, church, walking and friends.

RJL: How did you become a Christian?
Liz: I had left home and was living alone. My business as a mobile hairdresser took me to visit wealthy clients in big houses – I thought I had made it! I started asking meaning of life questions. I was visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses and talked to them, but I had a problem with their views on blood transfusions. After I left home my parents had become Christians and when I had to have an operation they were praying for me.

Work in Progress

Subject: Matt. Lollar is married with two children and lives in Sheffield where he is a Sales Manager for a computer services company.
Age range: 20–30 years.
Interests: Coaches American football; power lifting; photography.

RJL: What is your family background?
Matt.: My father is a Southern Baptist pastor who is mostly involved in church planting. I grew up in small churches in Florida.

Work in Progress

Subject: Tessa Passey, a Chartered Surveyor from Chesham, Bucks. She is married with three young children.
Age range: 30– 40 years.
Interests: Training for a triathlon, the Outlaw Half Ironman, in Nottingham at the end of May. This involves a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. Tessa also likes knitting and the theatre.

RJL: Please explain how you came to be a Chartered Surveyor.
Tessa: I took a sports science degree, qualified as a teacher and then taught in Brazil. When I came back I couldn’t face teaching in the UK. At that time my father was selling his office. I saw some of the challenges of property work and thought that this was something I could do. I took an MA in property valuation and law.

Work in Progress

Subject: George Moody is the head of the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at a senior independent school. He also coaches athletics. He has recently been ordained into the Church of England ministry. George is married with four children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome. He lives in Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
Age range: 40–50.
Interests: Playing the guitar and cycling – presumably not at the same time.

RJL: When and how did you become a Christian?
George: I was brought up in a Christian family. One year at a Scripture Union holiday camp I responded to Revelation 3.20: ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.’

Work in Progress

Subject: Julie Skelton, a photographer who lives in Guildford, Surrey. Julie is married with three children.
Age range: 40-50 years.
Interests: Music, handicrafts, baking.

RJL: How did you become a Christian?
Julie: I come from a Christian home. When I was 14, I went on a young people’s weekend to Perthshire and on looking at what God has created, I realised that he had created me. On my return home I asked Jesus to be Lord of my life.

Work in Progress

Subject: Linden Sanders, Operations Director for Fegans. He is married with two children and lives in Crowborough, East Sussex.
Age range: 30–40 years.
Interests: Football, tennis, surfing, good wine – he is a Francophile.

RJL: How did you become a Christian?
Linden: I was brought up in a Christian family; I have one brother and one sister. When I was 11 years old I made my personal commitment to Christ at a Spring Harvest youth meeting following a very clear gospel presentation – suddenly it all made sense!

Work in Progress

Subject: Simon Hallett is an employed classical musician at the Royal Opera House (ROH), Covent Garden – he plays the double bass.
Age range: 40-50 years. He is married, lives in Nine Elms, London and has a four-year-old daughter.
Interests: Cricket and his family.

RJL: Tell me about your family background.
Simon: I am the youngest of eight children born to Christian parents. We attended Westminster Chapel and, although I grew up in the Christian faith, it was at a camp when I was about 13 years old that I made my personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Work in Progress

Subject: Nik Yianni is a London Black Cab driver.
Age range: 40-50 years. He is married to Lola and they live in Guildford.
Interests: motor sport; formerly had a licence to drive Go-Karts.

RL: Nik, please tell us how and when you became a Christian.
Nik: Lola and I were living in France and our nephew, who was working for St Helen’s Bishopsgate, used to visit us and would bring us some Christian books, which were thrown in a corner! I wasn’t really interested.