Here is a bit of an introduction to Josie..

Josie Gwin, co-founder of ⁠The Resilience Resource,⁠ is a Mental Health Coach, a Spiritual and Psychological First Aid Instructor, certified Chaplain through the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and caries various credentials in Trauma-informed crisis care. She has a masters degree from Bethel University, and is a PhD researcher investigating the intersection of faith and resilience at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Prior to co-founding The Resilience Resource, Josie Gwin served as a firefighter for 6 years, spent 18 years in the equine therapeutic industry, and has served as a crisis chaplain. She has been involved in cross-cultural and international contexts for over 35 years. She has lived and served in multiple countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Josie, along with her husband, Scott, has trained, resourced, and provided care for personnel, leaders, and teams from a variety of faith based and secular organizations, as well as firefighters and law enforcement, first responder chaplains, medical personnel and hospital chaplains, and military and special forces personnel.

For lovers of poetry of wild places, Kenneth Steven probably needs no introduction, but here we go anyway.

Kenneth Steven is first and always a poet. To survive as a ⁠literary author⁠ he’s had to become many other things as a writer – he translated the Norwegian novel The Half Brother, he’s a children’s picture book and story writer, he’s an essayist and a feature writer – but it’s poetry and the love of poetry that lies at the heart of it all. His volume of selected poems Iona appeared from Paraclete Press in the States a couple of years ago. His numerous collections have sold many thousands of copies, and he has a strong name as a poet thanks to the poetry-related features he’s written and presented over long years: his programme A Requiem for St Kilda having won a Sony Gold for Radio 4.

His poetry has been inspired primarily by place. He grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands with a profound awareness of that world: his mother’s people were Gaelic speakers from Wester and Easter Ross. It’s the wildscape of Highland Scotland that pours through his pen.

It’s that same wildscape he seeks to capture as a ⁠painter⁠. He and his wife Kristina live on the Scottish west coast, and it’s the ever-changing colours of sea and sky he loves so much: the myriad blues and the incredible beauty of the light.

Kenneth runs his own podcast, available to those who support his work through patreon- we very much encourage any of you who are able to reach out. We need out poets more than ever!

You can connect with the wonderful ⁠Imagining Things podcast here.⁠

Kenneth's website with links to many of his books and paintings that are available⁠ is here.

Chris wrote these as part of a processing a long journey outside organised religion—but not outside faith—and Rob was keen to dig deeper into the content.

We also give an update as to where we are and what help we still need as we continue to shape a phoenix from ashes.

We explore a little of Mark's Story, but then get into some chat about how spirituality might relate to art.

You can find out more about Mark on his website: https://www.mark-berry.co.uk/

Katie's first book was a theological engagement with the Sunday Assembly, a "godless congregation," and she has also co-edited two volumes on trauma theology (Feminist Trauma Theologies and Bearing Witness).

Her current research adventures into a large scale study of people who have left church—that is, Christians who no longer attend church but (as we shall see) have not necessarily lost faith.

Her work in many ways develops previous research undertaken by Steve Aisthorpe, author of The Invisible Church.

Why were we so keen to talk to Katie? Well, listen to find out, but it is fair to say that in considering what future community we think a revived Proost may be connecting with, it seems likely that in no small part, the diaspora of church leavers may well form a significant part. There is also the big question of whether church is dying, or reforming.

Jonny currently works for the Church Mission Society, where he has been instrumental in developing pioneer minister training.

He blogs here: https://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/

Original music by Will Goan.

His work has taken him to challenging and deeply moving contexts—including both the West Bank and Gaza—where he has created powerful films that witness to resilience, injustice, and hope.

In this conversation, we talk with Mark about his career, his experiences in Palestine, and the convictions that drive his work—and we explore how art, faith, and activism intersect through the camera lens.

You can explore Mark’s photography and film work on his website: markkensett.com

Resources and Links Mentioned:

• Amos Trust – a creative human rights organisation, and home to much of Mark’s recent work.

• Edukid – supporting children living in poverty and conflict zones to access education.

• We Are Not Numbers – a platform sharing the stories of young Palestinians.

• We Are Not Numbers (book): Penguin Books link

• Mark’s photographic inspiration: Sebastião Salgado

• Mark and his wife Liane are also part of the Kairos Movement, a community seeking justice, transformation, and new expressions of faith.

Stevie lives with cerebral palsy which has affected her speach patterns, so listen carefully, because hers is a voice worth listening to! She speaks movingly about her long powerful poem which tells Mary's story. It is a stunning piece that she was keen to allow to stand on its own. We recommend checking out her website to see/hear more of her work! https://www.steviewills.com.au/

Talitha is a long term Proost person, having been a key part of previous poetry collection curation. She is active within feminist spaces and activism for indiginous rights in her adopted city of Melborne, although she was born in NZ. You can find out more about Talitha and her other projects here;

https://linktr.ee/the.recollective

The conversation in this chat was a privilege to be part of, says Chris. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

(If you really need to know, it is a random messy chat about restarting a publishing platform, and a strange decision to make some of this process public via the medium of podcasting.)

Music by Will Goan

In this, the first pod of 2025, we introduce a new member of our team, Cameron Preece, who has been working hard on a Proost website, having all sorts of skills that feel essential. We are so grateful to have him part of this project.

As well as all his technical prowess, Cameron brings some important learning and creativity. His Masters dissertation explored the connection between poetry and prayer. We think this is an issue much neglected in western Christianity, even if it has always been there in the margins.

The link to Cameron's disertation is here if anyone want to read it in full. (You should!) https://www.academia.edu/127826868/Poetic_Prayer_as_Revelatory_Expression_and_Impression_in_Trinitarian_Context

Yvonne has been a professional musician for over twenty years, with a dozen albums to her name, garnering praise from many, including Radio 2's Bob Harris.

She talks about her beginning in church music, moving through an encounter with the Christian music scene, then her move beyond these categories into making her own mark as a significant singer songwriter.

Her latest project, out later this summer is a collaboration with Boo Hewerdine, and this is one of many collaborations with other artists, including poets Stuart Henderson and our own Chris Goan.

You can learn more about her music on her website: https://www.yvonnelyonmusic.com/

Ant has been making music with his fellow Lofters since 2002, and along the way, released some of his music via the old Proost platform. We were delighted to talk to about his inspiration, his experience in the music business, and how we might support grassroots music making. Ant still leads worship in Church, so we had some interesting chat about that too.

You can listen to more Lofter and find out more about the band via their website: https://www.lofter.co.uk/

In the spirit of supporting other artists, we hope you will give Lofter some listening and also some social medial love.

You can be part of this project as follows;

• By attending online workshops to discuss prompts and reflect together. You can sign up here to join in.
• By writing up your own reflections in your own time, and emailing these to Katie here. 

Afer this, we turn to a discussion about the so called 'quiet revival' that is being talked about here in the UK and elsewhere. Is it real? Listen to find out our views.

We also talk a bit more about the next steps for Proost, and how we intend continuing the conversation.

Chris makes reference to 'At work in the ruins', by Dougald Hine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/At-Work-Ruins-Pandemics-Emergencies/dp/164502184X