- So I've got another guest in front of me right now. I'm told his name is Jeremy, which I hope is correct. Or hey, you can correct me as fine. - Hello. - Yes, my name is Jeremy, that is correct. - Jolly good, my sons were well informed. Yes, we think his name is Jeremy, we'll go for that fine. So just tell us a little bit about why, what is it you're doing here at the Gathering 2024? - Well, people who run the Gathering as CVM, Christian Vision for May, and I used to work for them. And what the roles I used to do were marketing, communications, and when on site, I would run, there's an exhibition area that we as the radio station are sat in, as well as many other organizations are exhibiting here. Loads of guys is hanging about, there's a bar, there's coffee and so on. So I would run this, I would plan it out and make sure the people were sat as and where, and set up where they're supposed to. Do some interviews in the various meetings. Do some hosting of some seminars and run a quiz on Saturday afternoon, which I'm doing today at five o'clock. - If I'm honest, quizzes are not my thing. Mostly because I have loads of knowledge, but I can't apply it to anything. So I kind of tend to stay away from it. I couldn't love the atmosphere of a quiz, but I'm beyond rubbish because I just, I have knowledge and I can't think what was that from. I had names and words and it means nothing. So what can we expect from the quiz tonight? - Well, just going back on your reticence to quizzes, I think that's why we encourage getting into teams, because often someone has it, but they need the trigger point or somebody saying something that will then pull it out of their, what's sitting at the back of their mind, but they can't actually verbalize if they were sat on their own. So it's all encouraging teams to get together. Quiz is one of the best things for networking. I've always said, if you get into a room, if you're an organization or you're running something and you said, this is a networking time, go and network, how do you do that? So you need something like a quiz, not just a quiz where you are forcing people to make small talk, nothing embarrassing. Oh, what was that film? Oh, yeah, I know I've seen that painting. Where was that hanging? Oh, I remember what happened. When did, when did they become Prime Minister? This kind of stuff. And then you start to interact in between rounds. You then naturally carry on your conversation, end of the quiz. You've made, not friends for life, but you've made contact with people. So that's the thing about the quiz is about the community of it. As well as having the fun of possibly being the winner. I think that's interesting, because I was walking around yesterday around on site, first day, some of the guys were arriving, sitting like tents, they were driving in and we were just grabbing a quick word with them. But the one thing that really struck me, I think, is the first time I've been here, is how many people said, well, I didn't want to come, but so and so was coming. So he brought me and now I can't not keep coming back because they love the sort of sense of community and family of 2000 guys in a field. - Nice, wind it. - Yeah, it's very low-key as well. And it's very laid back. So one can relax, you can access as much or as little. It is a Christian event, but we encourage loads of guys here who have nothing to do with church. And when I used to run the marketing side of things, we would love to get feedback. And the amount of times we got feedback from people who said, I came along an atheist, I think I'm still an atheist, but I'm coming back again, 'cause I just love the event, even though it's a Christian event. And of course, there was some guys who's changed their thinking as well, but it was more the fact that people realized, you know, you're not forced to do anything. It's very laid back in that sense. - Which I think certainly speaks of the heart and attitude behind this event is it's, you know, there's a lot of Christian content behind it, a lot of, you know, deep people who want people to see change, but actually, you're very welcome to come here and you'll have a fantastic time. Whether you want to go into the big top, whether you just want to go out and do football or whatever, there's something for you to do here. How would you describe it? 'Cause I'd be struggling. I was chatting to Steve Leg earlier, I thought he'd stand. I don't know how to verbalize what this place is, because we're just like outstanding, the electric atmosphere, they're not enough. So how would you try and put into words, just summing up what is this place for you? - Well, it has been described as in the past, as songs of praise meets top gear. So as in, we have some cars around with it, there's not many in it, but it is Christian. At the heart of everything is wanted to communicate who Jesus Christ is and the difference he can make in anyone's life. So that's the heart, you know, and that's the Christian message, you know, that shouldn't be anything that would be a surprise to anyone and they're on, we're unashamed of that. But at the same time, we want to make it accessible that people can come and enjoy themselves here, even if they have nothing to do with any of the preaching or the teaching or the stories that we give out, but it's amazing how many people find something from those themselves. Yeah, it's a bit of a men's festival escape. We can't because, you know, and then are not escaping from trying to get out of doing stuff, but often wives or partners have said, you go on, you need to go on this. So they actually encourage them because it's sometimes a re-evaluation time as well for men whom some of them may be husbands, some of them may be parents as well, some of them may be single or struggling with stuff or may not be struggling with stuff, but it is a fun time of re-evaluation and escape for the very purpose of being better men when they get back. As a bloke, I'm not necessarily brilliant at stopping or caring for my own needs. I want to look after my family and want to do all I can, often at my own physical expense. I drove trucks for 15 years and there's a physical consequence to that. It was always worth it because you know what? I'm getting some money from my family. I know Dr. Ken is going to be chatting about mental health and the importance of the guys, you know. I think it's actually going to be talking about suicide as well, but I think that's the thing is men do need that encouragement and opportunity in somewhere for that distraction, for that engagement in something different, which is such, I think it's the same form. - Oh, yeah. You kind of stumped me on that one. So, I mean, you're talking about a place, a separate place to what they would normally have in the run a mill of things that we're meeting with other guys, where they can be honest and open, perhaps in an environment where they don't normally find themselves in, where in other words, where they, it's more, they're more freer to be honest, a more welcoming kind of, yeah. I mean, one would hope that that can happen anyway. As a church goer, I hope that church can be that place anyway. They don't necessarily have to wait once a year to come around to a weekend like this. But all the more we make the weekend, is try and make it as accessible and also as encouraging for the guys to be honest in each other's and talk about our frailties and talk about our fears and our doubts and our, but also our joys and our victories, whatever that could look like. Yeah, and I guess share that with other guys. So yeah, it's a safe place, but again, hopefully it's something that can be replicated back, take it back home and replicated. And that's why the whole of CVM is about men going out and continuing to spend time with each other and support one another. 'Cause men don't tend to do that as easy as women do. It's a generalization, but it tends to be the rule. I was chatting to Carl Beach last year and interviewed him. And we were talking about Christian vision for men, talking about the gathering. And he spoke about the Christian vision for women. And he said, the thing is, if we put on something like the gathering for women, they'll come. We'll be inundated, whereas guys need something more than we're just gonna get together. That's what he was saying, that that's why we had the cars and the football and the other stuff, whereas perhaps women might be more inclined to happily come with the guys, it's like, we need a reason, but there's so many reasons to come here. I mean, I haven't even been outside today yet. And there's so much to see. Have you got something that you're looking forward to seeing or watching or being part of, apart from the quiz? Oh, oh, I guess all of it, I never get to partake in all the fun stuff they have. So they have five-star football, axe throwing, they have inflatables to jump on, 'cause men need to jump on inflatables, don't they? Not one specific thing, I love being here, 'cause for me, it's a catch up with a lot of people I know. And it tends to be a nice weekend because the weather, you know, this time of the year, I know it, you know, our weather isn't quite as good this year as we'd like it to be, but it on the whole, it's been fine. So for me, it's just a nice catch up with a whole load of friends that I know and used to work with in some cases. But there's a whole load of stuff out there that I don't partake in that are a reason what guys come along. And it's amazing how we try and get the publicity out or what goes on, but yet not until people turn up, they realize, oh yeah, oh yeah, there is, I can do that and I can do that and I can do that. And it's no extra cost unless I'm buying food. So as much as you will say and communicate, I guess you only really see what goes on until you come here. It's hard to explain it, it's hard to publicize it as much as it deserves to be publicized. So for me, it's just being here and meeting up with friends. That's my main draw for being here. And being part of the telling of the stories, I enjoyed doing the interviews of people and sharing, helping them share their stories with everyone that comes along. - I met so many guys yesterday who just said, we love coming, we're meeting guys, we only meet them here, we don't have any contact with them apart from when we come and we come here, we meet up and it's fabulous. And it just encourages my faith, it encourages me in my walk, encourages me in my day job. And it just feeds them. I was so excited meeting guys who are coming saying, I'm already looking forward to next year, which just, I think it sums up just how much, how good a place this really is for guys to come together. - We, and that's what we aim for. That's what, I say, we, I don't work for them, but I'm very much part of the family. And that is what they would hope. But we also hope, and I've already said, is it's something of that taste and that culture that the guys take back with them. And some are already doing that and trying to foster that same kind of camaraderie, that brotherhood, that place of safety where you can be honest and sharing and encouraging in the faith that they take something of that from here and deploy it throughout the year. So this isn't such a, not so much, this is a culture shock, that's a bad thing. But so, so it's not such a, oh, what am I gonna do for the next year? And that your support network is there, your band of brothers are there, and this is just the icing on the cake. There's a little advert for the gathering. It's the icing on the cake. And thank you so much for your time. I appreciate your busy and your comstances, which I'm really grateful for. Did you know, Pure 24/7 Radio has a shop? Well, we do. You can buy merchandise while supporting the work that we do here. Simply head over to www.pure247radio.org/shop. That's www.pure247radio.org/shop. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
