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The Thread, from Alpha
Leadership & Ministry

The Thread, from Alpha

Alpha International

71episodes
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The Thread is a space for fresh perspectives on Christian leadership, global culture, and evangelism in our changing world. Brought to you by Alpha, The Thread shares timely talks, relevant insights, and hosts open free-flowing conversations with diverse leaders from around the globe. All hosted by Stephen Foster.

Episodes

71 episodes available, newest first.

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LC26 Bonus Episode: The Drama of Leadership: Authority, Vulnerability, and Power
54 min

Healthy leadership combines authority and vulnerability. This episode considers the complex dynamics of living and leading with both, including the particular challenges when leaders experience vulnerabilities that others do not see. Andy Crouch will help you recognise redemptive opportunities in your current sphere of influence, providing a practical tool for charting a healthy course through leadership demands.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Leading Churches: Building Healthy, Growing Local Churches
58 min

Leading in a church environment requires particular skills and expression. In this episode, HTB's Archie Coates, Mexico's Andrés and Kelly Spyker, leaders of MásVida, and Canada's Father Simon Lobo, General Superior of the Companions of the Cross, discuss how to navigate the different seasons of church life, how to build a diverse team and draw out the best in others, and how to set and sustain culture.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Breaking Strongholds: Spiritual Warfare in the Life of a Leader
55 min

This seminar from the Leadership Conference explores how spiritual warfare uniquely affects those in positions of influence. Jon Tyson considers how unseen strongholds can surface in life and ministry, and how the way of Jesus leads us to seek genuine freedom and power from God. You will be encouraged to pursue God afresh and lead with dependence, courage, and spiritual resilience.

LC26 Bonus Episode: An Interview with the Koleoso Family
18 min

Nicky Gumbel interviews the leaders of Jubilee Church London, Tope and Kemi Koleoso, alongside their musician sons Femi and TJ from Ezra Collective. They discuss parenting well while leading in ministry, representing Christ in secular spaces, and growing up on mission together as a family.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Archie Coates, Treasure in Jars of Clay
14 min

Vicar of HTB, Archie Coates, turns to 2 Corinthians 4:7 in this message from LC26: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Reminding us that God's power is made perfect in weakness, he shares that though the containers of our lives are ordinary, the treasure we carry is extraordinary and that the way you walk in weakness is what draws people to the hope of glory that lives in you.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Digital Reset - Developing a Digital Rule of Life and Making AI Work for You
56 min

We all live by a rule of life – including with digital devices which come with default settings that are poorly designed for genuine spiritual, mental, and emotional health. As AI expands, intentional personal and communal practices become more urgent. This episode will help you redesign life rhythms to use technology fruitfully while growing in wholeness, freedom, and deeper humanity.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Unusual Suspects: Lessons in Leadership from Strange Corners of the Bible
57 min

When thinking about biblical examples of leadership, we often turn to the usual suspects for wisdom and inspiration. But what might we discover if we mine the scriptures for leadership examples that are less commonly spotlighted? Join Tim Mackie from The Bible Project and The Orchard's Rachel and Amy Hughes, as they highlight a handful of unlikely leaders in the Bible.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Stephen Foster, Shaken Yet Stirred
30 min

From the main stage at LC26, Stephen Foster teaches on being a joyful leader in an anxious age. Looking to Paul's letter to the Philippians, he shares an exhortation to let the disruption and shaking around you stir a passion within you, to let gratitude fill your heart, and to stay in the fight – because He is worth it.

LC26 Bonus Episode: Johannes Hartl, Are We Working Too Hard or Not Hard Enough?
28 min

In his main stage talk from LC26, Johannes Hartl poses the question, "Are we working too hard or are we not working hard enough anymore?" Referencing Nietzsche's model of the camel, lion, and child, he explains why this is a spiritual question that demands the spiritual solution of being rooted and grounded in the love of God in order to no longer operate as orphans.

LC26 Bonus Episode: An Interview with Louise Perry
22 min

Through working as a journalist and a support worker at a rape crisis centre, Louise Perry began analysing the impact of the sexual revolution and went on to write The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. In this interview with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel at Leadership Conference 2026, she discusses her findings on the cost of removing Christian sexual ethics from society and how this led her to faith in Jesus.