Welcome to Tough Talk

The Tough Talk Team

IAN McDOWALL

Ian began working as a nightclub bouncer at the age of 18 and by the time he was 24 violence and anger had taken over his life. All the time he was getting more involved in crime and the taking of anabolic steroids. He lived for his obsession: bodybuilding but the drugs were destroying his health. His heart was becoming cold and hard as stone. After a serious fight at a club one night, he pleaded with God to change him. At that moment, love filled his heart and he was born-again by the power of God's Spirit and he is no longer filled with hatred.
He is the founder of Tough Talk and he travels with the Tough Talk team sharing his faith in Jesus Christ and the love of God.

ARTHUR WHITE

Arthur was a World Champion powerlifter, a successful businessman and a happy family man. Then, his life spiralled out of control. Cocaine, steroids and an affair wrecked his life. He lost his family, his business....everything. Death seemed the only way out. Yet, when everyone had given up on him, Arthur heard a voice calling out to him-the voice of God. On a freezing cold morning in Spitalfield market in East London, he responded to the voice and Jesus Christ came into his life. His life was restored and he became a born-again Christian with a passion to tell others of God's mercy and love. He won a World Masters Powerlifting championship without the use of drugs but has had to retire from the sport because of problems with his knees. He is a founder member of Tough Talk and travels extensively with the team.

JOE LAMPSHIRE

At the age of 16 Joe entered the financial sector of the City of London and forged a successful career as a Lloyds broker. However, with no direction or purpose in life he became caught up in all the glitzy trappings that can so easily entangle a London worker. After a very scary experience with the occult, Joe came to the realisation that only Jesus Christ can fulfil the void in his life. He put his life in the trust of Jesus and became a born again Christian. He is now competing as a competitive power lifter and travels with us all over the world sharing his faith and the power of Jesus Christ that changed his life.

SIMON PINCHBECK

Simon Pinchbeck was a `copper`, who had a career change & became a criminal, then had a life change, & became a Christian. After 23 yrs in the Metropolitan Police, Simon left after receiving a `not guilty` verdict on an assault charge. He then became obsessed with money and material things, so entered into a life of crime, but after being `ripped off` for a large amount of money by his knew found colleagues, he was left the lowest he had been in his life, facing prison, or even death. That was when God threw him a lifeline in the shape of fellow Tough Talk member Bryn Robertson. Seeing the change that faith had brought to Bryn, Simon made the choice to invite Jesus into his life, and embark on a personal relationship with him made real through the Christian Course of Alpha. This was in 2002, & since 2004, Simon has been a constant member of the Team eager to tell anyone that will listen, what the Love of Jesus has meant in his life.

MARTYN PARRISH

Martyn Parrish started a life of drug addiction at a very early age. The use of one soft drug led to harder drugs and finally, Martyn was injecting heroin and became a registered drug addict. He was very lonely and began to pray. He found strength to get his life back which he knows came from God. He is now a committed Christian and member of the team. As an enthusiastc powerlifter, he regularly demonstrates the squat at Tough Talk meetings.

ADAM MACMILLAN

Adam went off the rails as a youngster starting with petty crime and ending up as an expert car thief. He got into drugs and lost his job because of smoking cannabis. Crime then had to pay his bills. In a friend’s flat one day he found a Bible and began to read it and found out about Jesus and called on Him to help him sort out his life. Soon after, he read an advert for a local church, went along to it only to realise it was one he had previously broken into! He attended the meetings and eventually became a born-again Christian and he gave his life to serve the lord. Adam has been in the Tough Talk team for several years.

CHRIS SAYERS

Chris believed in God from an early age. As a young boy, his parents became Jehovah’s Witnesses and he was made to go to their meetings. But as a teenager he rebelled, refused to go to the meetings and began drinking and smoking joints. Later, he took up kick-boxing and body-building to improve his self-image, used anabolic steroids excessively. His life spiralled out of control and his marriage broke up. After his divorce, he started a relationship with a Christian woman but continued in his old ways but in the summer of 2005, he went to Notting Hill Carnival and saw a Tough Talk demonstration outside Kensington Temple. He stayed on to the evening which really affected him and he gave his life to the Lord. He didn’t have a thunderbolt experience, but he says “something was happening inside me, it was like a softening”. He then joined a church in Whetstone where he was baptised and married in 2006. Chris takes his weight training seriously (but does not use steroids!)and now joins the Tough Talk team at meetings where he demonstrates the squat.

SEGUN ADEKOYA

Segun, known as “Koya” grew up in a Christian home but did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ and in his teens he got involved in petty crime. Later, he started work in security at some of the notorious night clubs in London and violence became a way of life for him. He was involved in fights with weapons but he always was unhurt but he realized that ultimately he would be in trouble with the police or be involved in a tragic incident. Koya’s ability to survive these fights earned him a reputation as a “hard” man. But God began to tug at his heart and he began to feel bad about his life and to re-think where his life was leading. A young woman, now his wife, took him to church where he gave his life to Jesus Christ. He now has a passion to lead others to God and uses his strength as a powerlifter as part of the Tough Talk team in their meetings in churches and prisons.

RENTON BAKER

Renton's life spiralled out of control when his father died of cancer. He was drawn into football violence on the terraces, streets, clubs and pubs across the country.He decided upon which football match to go to based on where the best punch-up could be found. Renton led a double life as a loving husband and father and as a heartless thug......until God showed him in a dramatic way that love not hatred was the way forward. He met faithful Christians who were willing to step up to the front line in terms of their faith.
Renton has a great passion to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and does this both as a member of Tough Talk and as an independent evangelist.

MIKE STEWARD

Mike Steward does not have the usual background of a member of Tough Talk. He has had a successful career in medical research focussing on immunology. He spent more than 30 years of his career at the London University School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he was Professor of Immunology. He has published many scientific papers and books and was Editor of the international journal “IMMUNOLOGY” for many years. Mike had a remarkable experience of God as a young man and became a born-again believer in Jesus and pursued his career in science as a committed Christian.Since his retirement from university work, he has been actively involved with Tough Talk as the team’s administrator and Chairman of the Trustees. He considers it a great privilege to help these godly men share the good news of Jesus Christ.