Many sporting clubs are the largest social group in any given local community. Do the local churches view them as rivals, or mission fields? Today, more clubs are recognising the competitive benefits of caring emotionally and spiritually for their athletes, opening up huge opportunities for Christian ministry. Here on PEP Talk, sport enthusiasts Gavin Matthews and Simon Wenham learn more about the the area of sports chaplaincy.

Mark Fleming has been chaplain to Partick Thistle Football Club since 1989. He now serves as National Director for Scotland at Sports Chaplaincy UK, where he recruits, trains, and mentors chaplains across the nation. He has provided in-house mental health awareness training at a range of football clubs and sporting governing bodies such as the English Football Association, Scottish Football Association, Scottish Rugby Union and the Camanachd Association. He has written a book on his experiences titled "Confessions of a Football Chaplain" available here.

Is it the dawn of an utopian age? Or will humans be relegated to the Matrix? It certainly seems that recent developments in artificial intelligence will bring profound changes to our world. But right now, profound questions are there to be asked. How can we show that the Christian message gives the best answers, and use AI as a platform for the gospel? Andy Bannister and Simon Wenham chat with Australian author Stephen Driscoll about God, AI and humans.

Stephen Driscoll wrote Made In Our Image: God, Artificial Intelligence and You (2024 Matthias Media). He studied at Moore College, the University of Sydney and the University of NSW. Stephen serves with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Canberra, where he disciples Christian students and shares the gospel with nonbelievers. He is married to Lauren and they have two young children.

Many Christians will be familiar with the practice of praying for and visiting those from their own church who might be sick in hospital. But the role of the hospital (or hospice) chaplain can allow for ministry to all kinds of people. What are the challenges, joys, and opportunities experienced in this unique role? This time on PEP Talk, we hear from a hospital chaplain who himself spent eight months in hospital after a car crash which left him permanently paraplegic.

Kelvin Burke is the author of "Lake of Tears", a compelling book with a unique application of God’s partaking in the face of suffering. Kelvin is an Anglican minister and Healthcare Chaplain. After his time as Priest-in-charge at St Andrew’s Wakefield Kelvin was called to Minister in Healthcare Chaplaincy, starting out as Honorary Chaplain at Wakefield Hospice and then Pinderfields Hospital where he had been an inpatient for nine months in 1979/80 following a Road Traffic Accident which left him paraplegic.

He was appointed Chaplain at Leeds Teaching Hospital during which time he studied for and attained a Masters in Theology at Cardiff University. In 2010 he moved with his wife Jennie and three teenage daughters (Chloé, Katie and Ellie) to the Isle of Wight, and after a short time as Chaplain at Mountbatten Hospice and St Mary’s Hospital, he was appointed Senior Chaplain of Isle of Wight NHS Trust.