From Perth to Purpose: Calum Souter’s Story of Courage

In this episode, Calum Souter shares a thoughtful and deeply personal conversation about faith, purpose, and what courage really looks like in everyday life. Raised in Perth, Scotland, in a committed Christian home, Calum describes his early resistance to faith, his years of drifting through university life, travel, and the hospitality world, and the turning points that led him back to God through Alpha, service, and a growing sense of obedience. He reflects on courage not as
something dramatic, but as the willingness to step up when life is hard, keep showing up for others, and say yes to God even when you feel unqualified. Now involved in charitable work through his family’s foundation, supporting causes such as anti-human trafficking, humanitarian aid, child welfare, and evangelism, Calum is also passionate about leading Alpha in his hometown and helping others encounter faith for themselves. His story is one of humility, honesty, and a steady commitment to serve where he believes God has called him.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out and courage, and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question: What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Hey everybody, this is Jeff. Welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads podcast where we ask that question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And we’re going to pose that question to my next guest, Calum Souter. He’s a Scotsman and a new friend of mine, somebody that I had the opportunity to meet at an event in Florida several weeks ago. And I was just captivated with his character, with his insight, with his heart for the Lord, his heart for service. And there’s so much about this man that you are going to enjoy. And so I’m grateful to present to you, Calum. We start off talking a little bit about his world travels and some things like that. So let’s jump in with our next guest, Calum.

Calum Souter: I love Lebanon. I’ve been out a few times now. We started to go out to visit. We support some charities out there called Sat Seven, the broadcast Christian content into the Middle East through the kids program. They do educational stuff for children and women and they’ve got Sat Seven, which goes into the Persian countries into the sort of persecuted church. And they’ve got a network that they feed into there, which is just incredible. Because they use satellite TV because it’s more difficult to trace. And because it’s not through the digital or through online.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah.

Calum Souter: And the Iranian government shot off the data in the past and shot off the Wi-Fi and they can track it. So if you’re watching on your phone, they’ll know that you’re a Christian watching Christian content and they’ll come and arrest you and through in prison, whereas through satellite TV, it gets broadcasted and they can just pick it up. And it’s untraceable. But a lot of these guys that is their church—becomes their church, you know.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. Now was this something that you started in Lebanon?

Calum Souter: No, no, no, no, no, we just support this amazing organization called Sat Seven. They started in Egypt and the 70s or I don’t know exactly when.

Jeff Johnson: I have a friend of mine, I have a friend of mine in Nigeria that was handing out phones. I think they’re still probably doing it, but they were handing out phones. And they had—they had a SIM card in the phone that would carry scripture versus.

Calum Souter: Wow.

Jeff Johnson: And they were able to tuck that into the phone and hand a phone out that seemed to be just a phone to people. And they had—it was a way to get the gospel into people’s hands.

Calum Souter: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: For people that knew how to access it. So there’s amazing things going on. There’s people smuggling Bibles over the border and everything like it’s—you hear some amazing stories of—

Calum Souter: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Over here and over here in Iowa, it’s probably like it is in Scotland or in the UK, you know, I mean, you can’t—you’re about getting hit in the head with the Bible, you know, over here. Some of the other places they’re dying to read the thing.

Calum Souter: Yeah. We’re finding there’s—there’s a real hunger for Bibles in the UK as well. It’s been a long time. I know that we just launched an Alpha a few weeks ago. And some of the young guys are—we’re on the week three and it’s these two young guys. And they’re like—one of them is like, “Oh, Calum, I’ve just been in the task. Is there any Bibles that you guys have here?” And I was like, “Yes, of course we’ve got Bibles. Like, yeah. How many do you want? How many boxes do you want?” Well, and then his friend is with him and he was like, “Oh, I’ll actually take one as well. If it’s going like,” you know, so.

Jeff Johnson: Oh God bless you guys. Well, Calum, thank you so much for joining us on the program this morning. And we’ll have a wonderful time. Can I have you for an hour? Would that be okay?

Calum Souter: I’m—I’m what you’ve got a few hours. Carp though just in case.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Well, this is fantastic. And it’s so good to see you again. I just met you the one time down in Florida a month or so ago. And was so taken with what you and your entire family are doing in ministry. So we’d like to hear a little bit about that. But this—this podcast is focused on—

Calum Souter: Here! I just got the new version of the t-shirt on. I’m excited. Very excited.

Jeff Johnson: You know, you’re established once you get a t-shirt. So you get a logo. You print on a t-shirt. You’re established.

Calum Souter: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: But anyway, we’re talking about courage. And we rest on the one question: What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? So I’ll ask you that question here in a little bit. But before then, we want to kind of get to know you and get to know what your mind is on this topic. And we’re going to have a little bit of courage. So let me ask you a couple of questions about who you are and where you’re from. So we—our audience can get to know you a little bit. Are you a rugby guy?

Calum Souter: I used to be—used to be. Hung up the boots at the ripe old age of 23. So I actually did—I actually played about two months ago because my mate messes me saying there were short on players. And he wanted me to come. But it was in the middle of—it was like one of the wetest storms we’ve had in years. The pitch was flooded. It was a brittle game. Per se whether right.

Jeff Johnson: Oh, you’re brought there. That’s, you know, perfect rugby. Extra meters to slide if you need to.

Calum Souter: If you need it.

Jeff Johnson: So now you’re Scottish, born and raised in Scotland. Is that correct?

Calum Souter: That’s right. Yeah, born and raised in Perth, Scotland. And just an hour from Edinburgh. So that’s got to be your team then.

Jeff Johnson: For rugby.

Calum Souter: Yeah. I actually played for it. Yeah, it’s in Perthshire. It’s a small town called Crieff.

Jeff Johnson: Okay.

Calum Souter: Yeah. So Perth is only 50,000 people in the surrounding, but there’s surrounding areas. You’ve got a little towns like Crieff is 15,000. And they’re only like 30 minutes from one another. But there’s quite a lot of little towns like that.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Well, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Scotland a couple of times. And I shouldn’t say this because it’s not a good thing, Calum. But I’m jealous because you got such a beautiful country. And all your—all your kinsmen over there are so fantastic. I mean, I—I’m a haggis guy. I meet so many Scotsmen that are not haggis people, but I’m—I’m big and fat. So I mean, I love that stuff.

Calum Souter: I love food. So hi, I guess is up there for me as well.

Jeff Johnson: Well, can you give us a little bit of a background then? Okay. So you started with Born and Raised, but tell us a little bit about your upbringing and university. If there’s a story there and what you do for all that kind of jazz.

Calum Souter: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so Born and Raised in Perth, my parents were both very serving members of the church. You know, it was twice a Sunday, every Sunday, the Friday Club on the Friday night. You know, if there’s a prayer meeting in midweek, we’d get dragged along. So we were very engulfed in the church through our younger years. But I never really engaged with it personally. I was quite—I was a bit of a misfit at school. I was a bit of a class clown. Like I wasn’t really there to learn. I was there to chat to people and make them laugh and do anything. Did anything I could to get at the class. So, yeah. So the same applied at Sunday school and all that sort of stuff. I just wasn’t really engaged. And then I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to never go to church again. And so I went to university and was like, “This is great. Never have to go to anything.” I studied business management and marketing. And then through that period was like, “Get to live this—this uni life, do a little bit of life that you want to do everything that you want.” And I kind of went through that for quite a few years. And—but thankfully my parents are very persistent and kept coming through and offering me free dinners if I would come along to them to church. And there’s a poor uni student you take any offering a food that you can. So that got me going back to church again. But not—I wasn’t going for my—I was—I got me thinking about faith as an adult. Whereas before it was like I just—I just wrote it off as that’s just something that my parents believe, but that sort of started to plant the seed.

But I never really wanted to take a step or change anything of my life. I know I’ve got very comfortable on things of the world and my friend group. And those were things I wasn’t ready to sort of give up or even think about. That—not that I’d have to give them up but that I’d have to change. And I moved to London. So uni finished. I worked in finance for the family office for a year. And COVID hit. And everything that I loved liked about it like the people sides. Meeting the different businesses learning about the different companies and different sectors. And all that was sort of caught. I’m being in the office and getting the buzz off the office and speaking to people like I’m very much a people person—not the sort of… due diligence financial poor person, you know. So COVID it became all of that. And then none of the side that I liked. And I got more and more into cooking. And it was like great. Got this passion for all this had a passion for food. I was out of passion for eating. But started to grow in the passion.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, you know—you know what it’s like. I love the America because you can just eat anything and everything that you ever wanted. All the way—all the way through it.

Calum Souter: That’s absolutely right. Yeah. I still am planning to do more of America for the food. I’ve Texas high on my list to get some of that good barbecue. I’ve never explored that before.

Jeff Johnson: So I’ll bet Calum. I’m telling you so here in Iowa here in the—here in the heartland. Yeah, I got to come to the Iowa State Fair. It happens in August. And it’s hot as I’ll get out. But there’s a million people rummaging around the Iowa State Fair. And you can get—it’s a foodies paradise. You can call—they call it a hot beef sundae. So instead of like a hot fudge sundae.

Calum Souter: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: And they’ve got this mashed potatoes and they’ve got this—this beef stuff and all the sauce that’s smudged on the top of it. It looks like chocolate sauce, but it’s this beefy stuff. And they put a cherry tomato around the top of my mouth. I don’t even think about it. And they deep fat fry everything. Calum come to—

Calum Souter: So it’s like Scotland or something. Like that’s a few crossovers here.

Jeff Johnson: That’s right. Yeah.

Calum Souter: So yeah, so that passion grew. I’m going to follow my passion. Get started. Like my idea was restaurants getting to hospitality sector. Travel the world. Go to Singapore. Sydney, Tokyo, working some of the big kitchens and the big cities around the world. So yeah, and wanted to start restaurants. I thought I’d better learn how to cook. So I went to London to culinary school. And through that process, I joined an Alpha course. And it was the first session: “Is there more to life than this?” And then the second session, it goes into—like just the facts about Jesus and his life and his resurrection. And I was like, “I believe all this. This is like, yeah… like I actually—like I’m like…” it was the first time I was like, “I actually do believe this. And if I do believe this, then it needs to change. I need to make changes to my life.”

Jeff Johnson: What’s it—now hold on. Let me jump in there real quick. Was there a—there’s a couple other details in here that I think might be germane for the audience. You come from a very successful family, a family that’s established. So when you say you went to—London to go to work at the family office. This is—this is a family office for a company that’s very well established. I’m curious. Did you feel a responsibility to do that? Or was that the next best thing for you? Because you weren’t sure what else you wanted to do? Or that was speaking to your gift set and you thought this is what I want to do? Was that—

Calum Souter: Yeah, there’s a bit. There’s a bit of all that in there. I think. I’ve always had quite a business fronted mind. So it felt like—for me before then there was maybe I put it was a self-expectation of “I need to go down this route. I need to get into the family investment business and office.” And—and definitely post-uni that was—I did business management marketing and it was like: after that looking at grad jobs I was either looking at grad jobs in like—financial wealth advising because the thought process was: go somewhere like… rescue someone else is learning with someone else’s money before coming back and using on your own. It was all—it was all very much that—that fronted was: how am I going to—get—how am I going to benefit the family office? How am I going to sort of—roundabout where you get back into there?

Jeff Johnson: It sounds like—I’m quite a bit older than you are, Calum. But I’m fourth generation at our family business. And there was—there’s always, you know, all the family business people that I’ve talked to. There’s a little bit of pressure usually itself and post about “I need to come back and help out and do this.” And this is a great opportunity and all that sort of thing. But it sounds like your parents didn’t put a lot of pressure on you about that. It sounds like it was more of an opportunity for you. Is that—

Calum Souter: Yeah. Yeah. My parents—I mean, they’re amazing in the sense that they’ve always been “You figure out and do—do whatever you need to do.” But it’s also to—like it was almost frustrating at times. You’re almost like, “Well, give us a bit of guidance.” But I think they’re so cautious of not wanting to influence the decision that they—and they want—that they’re both so independent themselves and have—have lived like the storm. Like my mom and dad have both come from working class—like council estate style housing and work the way up. Like they are—they did everything. Earned everything themselves. Have that makes sense. So there’s almost like passed on to—like as to like, “You need to figure it out. And figure out your own path.” But obviously there’s quite a lot to navigate there. And as a young 20-year-old male or whatever there’s—

Jeff Johnson: So because you’re not sure what you want to do necessarily. But you do feel a certain amount of—gifting, you know, I mean, you’re like “I’m—I can do this. You know, I’ve got some capability here and this—there’s an opportunity. So why not go do it?”

Calum Souter: Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: So now I want to go back to the Alpha thing because that was very interesting too. Was there a longing? Did you feel like there was a—a hole there or something or what got you back into the Alpha course? Sounds like you were—your faith the whole time. But maybe there was—

Calum Souter: Oh no, no, I definitely wasn’t. Like my faith was all over the place at that point. Like I had—I was taking nuggets. Like the—you know like one foot in the world, one foot for God. But taking—like trying to take the—the peace and the joy from—from faith. But then none of the self-control, none of the obedience, living a life from a self type thing. And that sort of—so once between Edinburgh from after uni I sort of went traveling for a bit. And I would say like just got really—you know what travel is like like backpacking. You’re like drinking every day and then move to London and it’s this big city that’s like—there’s things on. There’s so many things on. I just joined this culinary school and like chefs in that sort of world are known for—you go out quite a lot. So it was like it just felt almost like six months of just like continuous—just like drinking and I just… I was feeling very burned out by the end of it. It came up to the end of the year. And I was just like, “What am I doing? Like this isn’t why… like I’m just… need to focus myself.” And that’s when I would start and at that point I was starting to have a face. I was like—my Christian. This is definitely need to be doing something else.

So I thought I did a hundred days sober starting in the new year. And I joined an Alpha course. And that was my sort of two things to kick—kickstart me. Which was—it was the best thing I ever did 100% and a hundred days sober just focused me so much on even like my other course. And I don’t know if it’s the same in the US but there’s a very big like—party drinking scene. And especially in reality. You hear Scottish you probably associate with drinking and it is stereotypes.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah.

Calum Souter: And most of them are true unfortunately but. So it was something that needed to focus on and work on to myself. And then Alpha was part of that journey. And that was the—that was the thing that really got me. I was like, “I want to do more. I want to start… like if I believe in this I need to act. I can’t be—I can’t keep…” and it’s funny. There’s always things that your parents say that stick out and they probably don’t even know they say it but I remember. I was hungover for church one of the days. And my dad just was like—I think I missed church and I was hungover for lunch. Anyway, and he was like—my dad just looked at me and just said—just went “Priorities.” And like that just hit you so hard and then after then I was like through that journey starting off. I was—I realized that I’m prioritizing Saturday—Friday/Saturdays with my friends going to bars, trying new restaurants. And Sundays were becoming like just that day of recovery but not like the day of—that you just didn’t think about. And I want—I was like, “Right, I need to change my priorities to Sunday’s the day that I need to,” you know. That’s how it started anyway. You know it’s changed from then but at that time it was like I need to focus that I’m in a good condition for Sunday that I can give God… you know more of myself.

Jeff Johnson: And it wasn’t because of an intervention or anybody saying, “Man, you got to get your act together” or anything like that? That was—it was self-guided, you just felt like this.

Calum Souter: Yeah, I’m not going… yeah, I mean I wasn’t from the outside end I probably was just looking like I was enjoying myself. You know what I mean? Like there were people and people weren’t probably—I wasn’t doing anything too crazy. I wasn’t like… it was just consists of just a lot and yeah it was entirely—

Jeff Johnson: That shows a lot of—I don’t want to slobber on you, Calum. That shows an awful lot of character to be that kind of self-aware and go, “You know I’m young, I’m going to correct right now. I’m going to do something different. I’m going to give better Calum to God on Sundays than somebody that’s hung over and whatever.” Yeah, and I’m also impressed that your parents didn’t have a heavy hand, you know, they were just giving you that guidance. You know they were walking alongside you.

Calum Souter: Yeah, yeah I know 100% yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Okay keep going.

Calum Souter: So we’re in the class now. So now for that start get me thinking about, you know, “I need to—I need to act. Like—like if I do generally believe this I need to start acting it.” So start going on to church a little bit more—more consistently. I started serving on different parts of the team. I was still the culinary school I was in was six days a week and it was the shifts would sort of change you know you’d be in from—seven till three one day and then the other day being from three till nine or whatever like it wasn’t—wasn’t there wasn’t much consistency through the course. But started to sort of get—I sort of came into that spot of of going along to church but not getting… and then I was still doing different things. But I still prioritized another things. I also got a girlfriend at that time that probably distracted me more than anything.

And then at the end of the course. I still wasn’t ready. I still even though I said I was a Christian there were still things of the world that I wasn’t ready to give up on him. I’m a three my best way it makes came up to me and they were like, “Let’s go traveling to South… let’s travel South East Asia like backpacking for the next four months and we’re all going to go to Australia and live out there.” And I was like, “That was like—that’s like the dream.” Like we—especially nowadays you see on your social media and like TikTok and Instagram like—you’re only young once, you need to experience everything, travel the world. And I was like, “This is an opportunity I can—I need to do.” And I remember feeling at the time like God convicted me. But I was still very new to me and I kind of just was like, “No, no that’s—that’s…” you know, I can’t just overlooked it and then went on start traveling and it was like—turn my back on God. Was going out, just doing the backpacking stuff. Like on my mates aren’t Christians so we’re going to beach parties, we’re going to hostels, we’re doing all the stuff again. I sort of—like the thing was before then I sort of told myself, “It’s going to be different from last time… like I’m different, I’m changing now, it’s not going to be the same” and obviously it’s just not how it actually happens in real life.

And then it was through that process—like I just was starting to get more I think more depleted because now I knew—I had a taste of—of God and a taste of the kingdom, you know. So when you’re out there doing it you’re just… there was moments that like beach parties, you know, sunrise in the morning where are—like even just through the whole journey you’re like, “This is so purposeless… like what am I doing here? I’m surrounded by like people I don’t know and everyone’s just…” you know what we all like—no one actually cares for each other here of that makes sense. And just like, “What am I doing with my life? Like this… there’s more…” like that question the first week in Alpha: “Is there more to life than this?” just start replaying my mind over and over. And then one of my friends while we were traveling from back home in Scotland—and he ended up taking his life back home and like he was the type of guy that was like super friendly, chatty, we’re in a big friend group. Just started his own bar with his mom and no one really saw it coming. It just kind of was on—he just did it was just one day just woke up and—or one night he just got drunk and did it.

And so that was like… made just—like that just you just question life even more. You’re in that question “Is there more to life than this?” just like… I just really started to delve into. And I decided to come back for the funeral because it just didn’t feel—it was hard to process it when you were out and we were at—like a surf camp. Like we would—like we’re all like just quiet—almost in this belief… like for me it was this belief for—

Jeff Johnson: So long of being like—there’s no way that other friends is thunder struck by that as you were.

Calum Souter: Yeah yeah we were all—we all. All of us are like—the first night we heard we were all in the same room in a hostel and we just didn’t know and spoke for the rest of the night. We’re all just kind of like… didn’t know what to say and just like—just… we’re just in shock. And then—and it didn’t—just didn’t feel real because it was so far away. Like things back home just didn’t—they didn’t seem like anything was happening. So for me I was “I need—I from for my grief and to process it I felt like I needed to go to the funeral.” And then came back for the funeral for a month back home to Perth, Scotland where I hadn’t been to that same church that I grew up in that where I couldn’t wait to leave and never come back. And I just was like—God felt God really saying “You need to—to start serving at this church.” And I just—I know the first time I was there just felt so at home everyone was so friendly came back—like it was a completely different experience you know and you just felt, you know, so—so at home and at peace.

And then through the serving. I actually didn’t understand like—it’s when someone takes—when my friend took his life it was very much like you tried to rationalize it and think “Why did they do it?” and it’s a bit of a rabbit hole because you can never really understand it. Unless you’ve experienced something similar you know. And then—but one of—I went was helping out and sort of a soup kitchen/homeless cafe that they do. And one of the guys came in who was on youth with me. I grew up with him when he was younger, I didn’t really know him that well, but I’d seen him. I knew him from—from youth from things at church. And he came in just off the streets, he’d been just recently made homeless. And that week he tried to take his life twice. And he was—we were sitting across from him and he was just so down and was just talking about how he can’t—the next—all he can think about is the next time he’s going to do it and—like how he’s going to do it and—and it is just better for everyone of them not here. And it was just like seeing the hopelessness—like and for me it was like, “I can’t believe my—my mate was thinking this. And this is like… he’s talking about—my mate was thinking this but never told anyone.” And it sort of just showed a little bit.

So through—through serving it started to help me sort of heal my grief—healed my own grief. And yeah then—then I was still stubborn in—in the route of “My plan is to go out and work in these kitchens and Sydney” and it’s… it took you an hour to my—that was my plan. So I was going to follow through. So after that month I flew back out. My friends had all flown to Perth, Australia. So I went to Perth, Australia instead of Perth, Scotland. But I felt—I felt God really put on my heart “You need to be in Perth, Scotland.” I was… but for me I was like “Maybe even Perth, Australia I’ll try that out for a bit.” And just… I was there for a month. And after—but really feeling torn about being there. And then I went to one—I went to one service—I started going to church it there. I gave it… I was like, “I’ll go, I’ll be healthy, I’ll—I’ll do all the things that—that you know, I’ll go to church, I’ll get…” and it was probably quickest I’ve been accepted into church community. There was a brilliant church called Kingdom City out there and there fill a young people’s exciting it was not like it was really good but then there’s something didn’t feel right. And then I went along to service and it was on obedience. And it just hit so home. I mean I was like in that moment “I just need to be obedient. I need to head back to Perth.” But then even in that week between after it I was like, “Well maybe I don’t know, maybe that’s not exactly what I mean.” And I went back on a Sunday and I got exact same message.

I’m obedience again. I was like, “Right, that’s…” you know, you can be any clear God. So at that point I still wanted to work in hospitality in kitchens and I was like, “God, what am I going to do in Perth? There’s like… it’s awful, there’s no—there’s no good restaurants.”

Jeff Johnson: Like on the wrong side of Australia. All the fun stuff over on the other side.

Calum Souter: Yeah yeah exactly. So then on the way back I got the opportunity through—so the family office leads into a—charter foundation. A charter foundation. And they support thousands of different charities across—across the world. They’re in over 96 countries. Well they support charities that operate in over 96 countries in the world. And I got the opportunity to visit one of the charities called Hope for Justice in the—in Ethiopia on the way back. And I was like, “Okay, yeah that would be amazing. I’ll see some of the work that they’re doing.” And I got to see a 12-year-old girl who’d been trafficked for nine months. Reunited with her family. And it was just an insane moment. And the guy I was the CEO, Tim, I was traveling with, he just turned to me and was like, “That’s… my daughter’s the same age as that. I can’t even imagine her going through that for one day never mind nine months.” And I just… it just was like such a powerful moment. I just thought—I thought, “How can I work in a kitchen? You know, if this stuff—if there seems like there’s so…” like that whole “Is there more to life than this?” and I was like, “This is what life is like. This is these moments of reuniting—reuniting families are, you know… there’s just so much more. There’s so much more problems here than…”

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. When did that happen?

Calum Souter: It’s just—just—just under three years ago.

Jeff Johnson: Okay.

Calum Souter: Yeah two or three years ago.

Jeff Johnson: It’s a cathartic moment that hits you like a thunderbolt and you’re like, “Okay, I know what my purpose is—at least I know what my purpose is for the next few months or next few years or whatever.”

Calum Souter: So yeah. So after that I’m just like, “What can I do for the foundation? Can I get more involved?” and then you have been doing that to be doing that ever since.

Jeff Johnson: And do you get—so you don’t have to go into all of the details because I know that you’re—the work that your family does is extensive—but are you all over the world? Or are you just in Lebanon, the Middle East, the UK? Or…

Calum Souter: Yeah we’re just in—we pass the—we’re in—we support organizations. Like we give—we get around 400 applications—300-400 applications every month. And the majority of grants are 3K and under. Well maybe give to like 50% of the grants—it’s not every single one that will give to. But we give to over 1,500 different—different grants every year. And some of those are multi-year commitments. Some of those are just—some of those are multi-year large commitments all the way up to like multi-million and others are just 3K and under. So… so majority 3K and under. And we sort of look more in-depth and the ones that are sort of 5K and above and… but yeah most—they need to be a UK registered charity. But a lot of them have an office here, but a lot of their works are international and all over the world really. 96 countries. Over 96 countries. South America in a lot in Africa all across the continent and throughout the UK as well.

Jeff Johnson: Mental health charities… is there a ministry? Is there an endeavor in particular that is a favorite of yours that you could talk about a little bit? I don’t know how, you know, private you want to keep a lot of this stuff but—

Calum Souter: No not so good. I mean I say from the trust point of view they’re very broad and the terms that they’ll support. We do a application like grant-by-grant review it each on first one right. And we really have a broad spectrum of things we give to. But the 4 things they sort of focus on—are big things on our heart is anti-human trafficking, humanitarian aid, child welfare and all—in all forms like, you know, the care system, fostering, adoption, clean water and access for—for children, foods for children and that sort takes money sort of approach. And then evangelism are sort of the 4—4 key things. I’d say if there’s 3 that I’d have to say and they’re close to my heart would be Alpha—obviously through my own journey—and I now run an Alpha in Perth to sort of take that back home. And and they’re all over the world. There—their aim is to—their aim is to reach a billion people by—however 25th year something like that—but it’s an incredible and they’re contextualizing it to different parts.

So I was in—while I was in Lebanon their contextualizing it to the Arabic. Into an Arabic… so that just—it’s not just there it’s not just a translating it, but they’re getting it from a because it’s very different that we come from very different standpoint. So Alpha was sort of written in the sense for the UK where it’s like a secular society and a lot of it’s proving—so I’m setting it up to prove like, “Jesus was real, here the facts” and like it’s almost that logic followed by getting into sort deeper stuff of the spirit and everything. Whereas in the Middle East they come from a standpoint where most believe in God. But it’s a, you know, they don’t come from a standpoint of secularism where they don’t believe in anything is they believe in God, but a lot of it’s teaching who the characteristics of God are very different.

Jeff Johnson: Right. Right for sure.

Jeff Johnson: Well, I don’t want to flip this interview around and make it all about [my wife] and I, but you’re mentioning Alpha, and that was instrumental in our faith journey as well. You know, we were—we were good solid Christians, but we got involved with—with an Alpha class and then ended up shepherding a bunch of them and getting that in a big way at our church. In fact, our very first trip that we took to South Africa, we flew from London down to Cape Town, and on our way back we bought four or five extra days, I think, in London with our kids when they were all four of our kids when they were really little. And we had just been down to a ministry work in Cape Town, came back to London, and I think the second day we stopped by Holy Trinity Brompton.

Calum Souter: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Nicky Gumbel’s Church. And we sat there and the guy, I remember, was singing “How Great Thou Art,” and based on what we had experienced in South Africa, the tears were just rolling down our face. I mean, that Alpha program has done so much to increase people’s faith or just bring them to faith—I mean, God bless you for doing that. Now you’re getting it rooted in Perth.

Calum Souter: Yeah, come on. Well, I think people on too… Yeah, I think it’s anointed and I think it’s just an amazing tool to get people… I think a lot of people think, “We’ll do an Alpha, it will solve all the issues,” but no, it’s the praying—praying into the intentionality of reaching other people and it’s being authentic. It’s creating the space for you to open up the authentic, build these connections and yeah, I mean, I couldn’t—I couldn’t speak higher of it.

Jeff Johnson: Do you have siblings?

Calum Souter: I’ve got three. I’m one of four, yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Are they any good? The other three, are they any good at all? You’re fantastic, Calum, are they—

Calum Souter: They’re all great in their own ways, yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Anybody else involved with the family office and the family business or—

Calum Souter: Yeah, I mean, we’re all quite close so we—we touch based on and cross over and a lot of things that we’re doing, but my sister is a trustee and my brother just came on recently—the one up for me just came up on as a trustee.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Okay, well I want to thank you so much for that background. I mean, there’s—we could spend hours here talking about all the different stuff that you touched on there which is just fantastic, and the kind of experiences that you had in your life already have the hallmarks of a lot of courageous actions in there. I’m curious: How would you define courage?

Calum Souter: Hmm, it’s a good question. I think when I was sort of thinking of it before, I was like… you always jump to those—the extra—these extremes of like, you know, people stepping up against… Like, you almost think, like for me it’s like wartime. Like the courage of the folk that were fighting—like this—like an act of like fighting against something or stepping up against something that seems evil or—or is. But then the more I sort of thought about it, I kind of thought of, you know, people who actually spend time and give up their lives with—when their loved ones are really, really ill or dying. There’s a courage of them being there every day, you know? Someone—someone [with] Parkinson’s or—or—or, you know, one of these diseases is—is so tough. And just even just showing up and being there—like that, I was like, “Wow, that’s—those are real moments of courage.” So I guess for me it’s—is being there. So, stepping up when things are tough.

Jeff Johnson: That’s a great definition. I don’t know that I heard that one before and that hit right on—that hits the nail right on the head. I think stepping up when things get tough is a definition of courage. Do you think courage is in abundance in our society or do you think it’s lacking? Do you see it all around you or—

Calum Souter: No, I see—I think it’s lacking for sure. I think there’s—there’s a spirit of fear. In a lot of cases in—in terms of like… for us when we look at—we need like as part of Alpha, you go out and ask for leaders to join and—and even just associate in that word “leader” to the term, people get really anxious about it. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be good enough” or I think… and it’s like, I mean, we should really be called “hosting” that you’re just there to be a person that—it facilitates conversation to an extent and it’s just a friend is friendly and accepting and let you know… but people that get that—there’s that tagline “a leader” and you see the people sort of panic a bit.

And for me as well, but when I first started stepping into it because I’d never—I’d never have led a group or I’d never had even done an Alpha when I moved, but I’d been part of one but I hadn’t helped or served on one. But our church just weren’t doing one anymore, they just stopped it, and a group of us were chatting about how we all sort of in—in sort of… so there was—I understand it to an extent, but I think in the end of the day… But I think in—in society today and culture, there’s just—there is a fear of stepping at—stepping in to the—into positions of leadership has a tendency about that.

Jeff Johnson: That’s interesting that you talk about it from the vantage of leadership. You know, the scripture says in the New Testament, it says you haven’t been tempted by anything but what’s common to man and God’s faithful, he won’t let you be tempted without giving you a way out, you know? And we—recognize that Jesus was tempted just like we are, but he was without sin so he never acted on the temptation. I think I’ve heard other people say that if the temptation wasn’t there, where would the victory be? And based on your—your definition of courage, it’s a little bit like that—just keeping the faith and not taking the bait.

Calum Souter: Yeah, yeah. And he does as well. Yeah, it’s also along those of the verses—it clearly says he won’t—he won’t give you too much that you can’t handle. I mean, paraphrase on the whole, but in essence. And I think that God will give you—not breadcrumbs, but it’s like steps up. Like, he’ll give you a hand up to the next, but he’s not going to—he’s not going to just place you at the top, do you know what I mean? He’s not just going to just pick you up and put you right there. He’s going to prepare you and there is—I mean, there is a refining process through all, and each challenge and each step-up thing that you step into, you learn from and it refined you in a lot of ways and then prepares you for the next.

Jeff Johnson: You know, completely agree. And I agree with what you say about how you feel like it’s lacking in society today. It’s interesting to me that people, you know, respond more to fear than—then they do pressing through with faith. And it’s—um, I guess that’s the—I guess that’s the world that we live in. That’s the fight we have every single… well, and fear and distraction. I would say distraction is also huge. A huge pillar in stopping people from—from stepping in.

It’s almost like, you know, it’s so easy to avoid things these days. Like, you can just—you know, just can continue to live life or you can continue to, you know, with—with your screens and everything that you’ve got accessible to you. And I mean, I’m talking about when for younger kids as well—and I experienced this where it’s like—you can—you can spend days on—on a video game and—and you’re—you’re getting micro-achievements through that. Like, not like—you know, like you can make—you achieve something so you feel yourself, you think you’ve actually done—you’ve been very successful and you’ve done a lot. But really all you’ve done is spend 24 hours playing a game that doesn’t lead to anything, you know I mean?

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, completely distracted. Okay, so I’m going to—I’m going to jump in for a second into the theological deep end with you quick because you’re Christian, you brought up the subject and then we’ll go back out and I’ll ask you about what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done. I feel like that’s a spiritual attack that we live in now, or it—you know, if all of the fear that we’re inundated with… because if you watch television, you know, it feels like the world wants you drunk, it wants you on drugs, it wants you womanizing, it wants you full of lust and just completely distracted. And those algorithms are so strong. I’m 58 years old and—and please Lord help me throw this phone into the world. I’m not going to, because if I look at it and start poking… you know, you talk about being a foodie, I love watching some of these people cook on Instagram and I can click on the wrong thing and it knows that I like it and all of a sudden an hour and a half later I’m like: I’ve just been watching people make stuff that I’m not going to eat. I can’t smell food. I’ve just been sitting here like an idiot doing that—completely distracted from whatever God wants me to do. Do you feel like that’s a spiritual attack or do you feel like that’s just a nature of the fall or what do you make it?

Calum Souter: It’s a good question. I think I’ve always been very hesitant to say things are spiritual attacks in the past, but, you know, it just feels like how can it not be? And that there’s one of these things that’s… it took me a long time to clear my algorithm and get it onto the Christian—Christian stuff. So it’s good now. But one of the… we’re talking there, one of the reminded me of one of the videos where it says the biggest lie we’ve ever been taught is that this—and it showed a bunch of photos of like of spending time with your family, children, going to church, eating well is—was us being brainwashed. And out of the church are brainwashing you and it’s like: well, how if that’s brainwashed… now we’ve been made to see that like going out parting, spending—like getting as many girls as you can get on a yacht—that is “life.” That—that when now seems like way more of a brainwash and way more of just like chasing false gods than anything else, you know? And—and then also on the other side of that, a phrase I’ve always heard is “a comfortable [life] is the enemy’s greatest weapon.” So if he just keeps, you know, distracting you, if he just keeps giving you everything you want and making you super comfortable… are you—you’re never going to reach that point of [needing] God daily. So yeah, I think there’s a little bit in there as well.

Jeff Johnson: Okay, who represents courage to you? Do you have examples in your life or historical figures or—when you think, as you mentioned before, about people that go off to war. Of course, you—William Wallace, that’s courage.

Calum Souter: Yeah, that’s the case and doing all the things. But no, I mean, who—when you think about courage per your definition, who do you think about?

Calum Souter: Well, I think—I think that’s where my initial—like the connotations of courage, that’s maybe where it takes me. But when I really think about it, I always—I always say that the—like from serving—it was like soup kitchens and like homeless cafes. The old ladies that show up every week and treat all everyone as their—you know, as their kids. And they’re there, they just show up every week and they’re—they deal with like difficult situations but they’re so emotionally invested in people who they don’t know and also people who they do quite often fail them. Like they’re not gaining anything from these relationships but they—they’re still there every week and they’re still praying for them every night. And I just those—those ladies, old ladies in our church are the ones that I kind of looked at and I’m like, “I wish I’d faith like that. I wish I was…” you know. That’s courage.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, for sure. Okay I want to ask you the question now, Calum—Calum Souter, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Calum Souter: Well, I feel like—death… I feel like I’m in the shadow of giants in the terms of courageous acts of them. I would say touch on there—like starting that off, coming back to Perth in the—in the first right, and then leading an Alpha without even without even leading a group before, but just—just known that’s, you know, where—where God wanted me to be type thing. But I think there was a lot… I didn’t really want to do it to be honest. I just want to serve on one, I don’t want to be involved in the—in the leadership of it in the responsibilities and… you know, there is also the point of like, “What if this… no one shows up?” and all you get all these, you know, the enemy whispering in your ear all these sort of things. But just pushing through with that.

And—and also I’m not big fan of public speaking, but no one would never can find that I was like trying really hard to find someone to MC it and do it all. And I think… but then I just ended up doing it even though it was really something I didn’t want to do. But I think those things… and a mirror of that was I’ve always been a—very scared to do public—to do spoke singing in public. From a young age and now I’m in the—the gospel choir. I’ve actually just been given a big solo for this Saturday.

Jeff Johnson: So I’m not for that Calum, I’ve heard your voice, you’ve got to love it! You and your dad have a lovely voice, oh my god.

Calum Souter: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that thing of like… you can always get caught where, especially when I was younger, that like I put expectations on myself that if I wasn’t excellent then I wasn’t—it wasn’t good enough type thing. And so just stepping out… so it was the same with that—was the form of public speaking, like leading the group, I was like, “Well, I’m not going to be excellent, there’s going to be better people than me so I shouldn’t do.” Whereas sometimes God just calls us to step in and—and just do it. Doesn’t—you know, he doesn’t call the qualified, he calls the—he qualifies the called.

Jeff Johnson: That’s it, yeah exactly. Well, so you’re talking about the most courageous thing you’ve ever done is… I don’t want to read anything into it but through the whole conversation you’re talking about obedience. You know, you’re hearing that story about obedience down at [Perth, Australia]… “I’m not being obedient,” so you go back home to the other Perth. Yeah, you’re practicing obedience now and—and you’re doing the thing that you know in your heart that God wants you to do and that’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done. I absolutely love that. Have your—have your friends followed suit or are they still working process? You never—bodies always kind of writing their story, a different thing here, I mean—

Calum Souter: Yeah, well it’s interesting. It is interesting. I think we’re talking about that. I’m actually running two Alphas this—this term. And the second one I’m doing is just a small one with some of my closest mates from home who aren’t Christian, have never stepped into a church or thought about it. But there’s been a few times I’ve been at a party, being at the pub and they’ve got—they’ve had a few—a few too many. They come over and I like “This God things kind of interest… and could you tell me about more about this?” And one of my mates is going through a hard time with his mom and my other friend said, “You need to speak to Cal, you need to talk to him about what—about the sort of faith side of things.” And how that can—because his mom is—mom… and was an alcoholic and it’s a relapse pretty hard news, looking to get her into rehab. And—so being the first sort point of call for that was—was pretty special to me.

And then so then they—they’ve all joined on an Alpha course. And you know, it’s the first is actually—that’s the other thing is way more intimidating because you’re like, “Oh my, these are your mates, you’re sitting down at home and you put on the first video” and I’m just at the first session like they’re just going to turn on and be like—just laughing like “What are you—why are you showing me that?” I was this like… you know. Like we can’t talk about anything deeper than, you know, like… so like, you know, very much lad chat like you don’t really go into too much. You don’t go—you don’t never dig too deep. But they’ve loved it. They’re all saying that how—how it’s been amazing to just chat like this and they’re all saying, “It’s great we can chat like this without, you know, having six beers.” And you know, we can actually just do this on a Wednesday night.

And one of them is—they’ve all been starting—they’ve all been warm at their hearts had really wanted… and two of them have talked—three of them I’ve talked about praying. And I’m one of them—it I just—just share this, this is amazing. So there’s a week on forgiveness and it talks about how, you know, forgive—not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and hoping the other person gets sick. And he is grown up—his mom was an alcoholic, his dad was a chef who’s like very stereotypical chef, love parting—sort of was off the scene from a young age. And so the stepfather came into the—the scene who used to abuse like… he would hit my friend and his siblings. And so and then one day when he was 18, him and his friends went around the bottom, beat him up, kicked him out the house. And he ended up passing away a couple years ago.

And so the question at the end is “Is there anyone in your life for you to forgive?” and he was like, “Well, I would—I would never forgive him.” And I—and he was like, “Even if he was alive, I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t want to forgive him.” And then he calls me up that week and he’s like, “Maybe I’ve just had the weirdest dream.” He was like, “In my dream I met my stepfather and I forgave him.” And—and he’s been really leaning into it and—and he’s just like… you hear the stories in Alpha of people who’ve been transformed. And he’s like, “All right, well this is great… like how did I get this? Look at him! Can we just—can we just do this?” And so he’s been messaging me the other day saying I’ll be praying every day, things are going well, he feels amazing. So—and praise—praise the Lord for—for that, but…

Jeff Johnson: Oh, praise God for that, Calum! That changes—that changes everybody’s trajectory, you know I mean? You just become a different person, as you well know, when God gets ahold of you and you drop that weight and all that kind of stuff. Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic. So first of many, hopefully.

Calum Souter: Hopefully, this leads on to the rest of the group. That would be…

Jeff Johnson: I mean, the Lord has certainly given you a front-row seat. Your obedience, responding to that—you know, you get to—you get to sit right there and see what God does in people’s lives. And that’s—what a privilege that is. Do you feel like people can learn courage? I mean, I got 100%… we’re kind of… is courage is a great thing. Courage is associated with faith, it’s associated with obedience, the way that you’ve described all these things. Do you think people can learn courage?

Calum Souter: Outside of… I think… no, I think you can. I think a lot of getting comfortable in the uncomfortableness is becoming like a trend. I was going to see without faith, I don’t know how you can, but that—I mean, that’s from my own story. I think in a—without God you can learn courage. I think you can learn… yeah, I think you can learn forms of courage. I don’t think you can really—I don’t think people would really do that like sacrificial love for someone where they step in when things aren’t… like, I think people could be courageous when it means that they are—they’re receiving something from it. You know, there’s that courage where you can step out and be a leader but it benefits you in some way. I think there’s that style of courage. But the—the sort of style that we’re talking about with the old ladies here doing it and aren’t—aren’t receiving anything from it but are there anyway. And it’s the same with—with people, your loved ones and stuff for that. I think it’s a bit tougher when without—without God being on your side and in that regard.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, he’s the—he’s the answer, isn’t he? Wow, yeah. Okay just a couple more questions Calum and then I’m going to let you go. You’ve been so gracious with your time, I’m very, very, very grateful. Why do you think… why do you… the scriptures are very clear, you know, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You know, the author Greg Koukl talks about the five words that describe the Bible, you know: God, Man, Jesus, Cross… Cross and Redemption. And the redemption, of course, is Christ being reunited with the church and us being reunited with him and all that sort of thing. But God started in the beginning and then he created man—his most favorite thing—and he’s very clear about that: that it’s an individual thing. Fearfully and wonderfully made, you’re his masterpiece, all that sort of thing. But you’re a part of the body and you’ve been given certain gifts. Why do you think God made you? Why do you think he unleashed you on the world? What do you feel? How about that for a light question.

Calum Souter: Yeah, yeah no it’s good. You know, it’s funny… I mean I’ve been thinking a lot and it’s been coming a lot up a lot recently. I wasn’t really—I don’t really share this too often—but I got a word during that time at uni when I first start come to church. I got a word from one of the ministers who say he saw me with “expectations” written over my chest and then someone came over and took it off and there was a “warrior” underneath. And when he told me that’s—that was pretty weird. I had no exposure to people giving words of knowledge or anything. I was like, “Well, what’s this guy on about? That was a weird thing to say to someone you don’t know.”

And then as I’m talking about my journey, I start getting more and more into it and just in London through that process say, “You know what, I want to give my life to Christ.” And my brother told his friend, who messaged me a verse which was Judges 6:11-16. So I’m going to give him… which talks about—getting the story of Gideon. Of how—and Gideon thought he didn’t think anything of himself. He was like almost scared in the field when the angels came and then God said, “You know, you’re to be this mighty warrior.” And Gideon was like, “How can I be a mighty warrior? Like, I’m the least in my tribe. I’m a family in the lowest of my clan of Manasseh.” And you know, that kind of struck me through the time. But he says—he says—and he—God’s answer to him is “I’m on your side, trust in me throughout it.”

And I think that sort of is mirrored my journey a lot through the years and part of my journey… part of it you’re saying there, what I feel like my sort of calling is: One is be a good and faithful steward with the—with the family office and—and ensure that I’ve been blessed so that I can bless others. I think that’s what God’s placed me there. But I also on a personal side have been placed in Perth to sort of reach the lost. And in B… yeah, that’s kind of where I feel I’ve—he’s called me to be. So like geographically in Perth at the moment to reach the lost. But on a sort of bigger picture through the trust, support—support other ministries. Other… you know, part of my role is getting to meet some incredible people doing incredible work that really—real… real stories of courage of people in the front lines for—for God, for the kingdom. And being able to bless them and support them in some way is—is a huge honor.

Jeff Johnson: I love—I love Calum that you have been—you’ve been placed in a position where you can have a very big reach. And I hope I’m not overstating this but you could get distracted by that. Because there’s so many things that your business can do. So many… but again back to this idea that in the beginning was God, you know, and then he created man and you’re the only Calum that he ever created in all of human existence and he died on the cross for you and he would do it again just for you. That you’re back to put your small town of Perth now focus on that person that’s sitting right in front of you in an Alpha class and that—that’s where you really feel God’s purpose. I think there’s something beautiful about that because in God’s economy, if you touch one life, you’ve done the work—the whole thing. And so wow.

Calum Souter: Well he’s so—he’s so intentional and—and knows us all by name and knows us all. He—so knows us also intimately and speaks to us. And I think sometimes you can forget that and—but you’re like, sometimes it’s… you have to remind yourself like, “God’s placed me here today, like what for what? Like what—what can I be used for? What—what’s God trying to say to me through, you know, these different things?” and focusing on that rather than trying to look at… you can look at the big picture all the time and go down a rabbit—and go down a rabbit hole of, you know, and then it’s distraction and then you don’t—you never done what you’re supposed to be doing even though you know.

Jeff Johnson: Well Calum, you impress me greatly, young man. And I’m so glad that I got to know you and Florida here a little bit ago, and you know, your mom and dad as well. And God go with you with the work that you’re doing because he’s definitely got amazing things ahead for you. So Calum, man of great courage, thank you so much for sharing with us today.

Calum Souter: No, thank you for having me on. It’s been great to catch up and yeah, thanks for having me. God bless.

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