Tony is a very experienced and popular speaker in all kinds of contexts from small groups through to international conferences. Subject matter ranges from engaging with popular culture (especially film and literature) through seminars on science or postmodern philosophy to Bible teaching. He is much appreciated by both Christian and secular audiences. As both a teacher and a trainer, he is very able to help people learn in a variety of styles: interactive, multimedia workshops, facilitating learning through small groups, mentoring individuals and lecturing.
Tony started preaching in churches as a late teenager and has since been involved in a wide variety of up-front roles in many different contexts. Several years as a secondary school teacher gave him a good grounding in engaging the attention of an unwilling (sometimes even hostile!) audience, as well as the ability to communicate effectively to a wide age range. His five years as a staffworker with UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) gave him the opportunity to develop his skills as a trainer as well as in teaching. He gained invaluable experience of speaking in a number of cross-cultural contexts during his eight-year leadership of the Congregational World Assembly of Youth, and subsequently in other contexts.
Since joining The Damaris Project (the predecessor of Damaris Trust) in 1996, Tony has developed significant expertise in helping people learn through highly interactive multimedia workshops as well as in more traditional teaching and training styles.
Tony is a very enthusiastic communicator who will happily speak or provide training on a very wide range of subjects but areas of particular expertise include:
- Understanding films: workshops based on Tony’s highly respected book Focus: The Art and Soul of Cinema, looking at how to watch films with a greater awareness of worldviews, and therefore how to respond to the messages which they communicate. [More details]
- Engaging with the media: Theoretical frameworks and practical processes involved, as well as looking at lots of examples – especially from cinema and literature – and a biblical foundation for why this is important. Some of the many specific areas of the media on which Tony can speak on include: Doctor Who, Philip Pullman, the Da Vinci Code, Douglas Coupland, Ian McEwan and the Matrix trilogy. [More details]
- Aspects of culture: Helping people understand both how our culture has developed, and some of the enormous changes that have taken place in recent decades with the rise of postmodernism. [More details]
- Worldviews: How to think about and engage with worldviews generally, or a specific focus on any of a number of major worldviews. [More details]
- Science and faith: origins, the environment, ethics of technology, bioethics, philosophy of science, etc. [More details]
- Bible teaching: Perhaps Tony’s greatest passion; he has a particular love of teaching the Old Testament prophets. [More details]
- Religion and Spirituality [More details]
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