National Team
Youth Alive UK is directed by Glyn Barrett. He is also supported by an awesome team of leaders, Stuart Keir (Assistant Director), Rachel Waddams and Paul Reid.
Glyn Barrett – Director, Manchester, UK
Glyn Barrett is the director of !Audacious and Youth Alive UK. He and his wife, Sophia, are the Senior Pastors of !Audacious City Church, a thriving church in the city centre of Manchester.
A powerful and sought-after communicator, Glyn’s messages and motivational teachings have impacted the lives of thousands of young people around the world.
Glyn was born in Manchester in 1972, the son of a pastor. At the age of 2, he moved with his family to Australia. During that time he was a part of a growing church, and a thriving youth group. At the age of 15, he moved back to Manchester with his family and pioneered his first youth group.
After five years of successfully leading a drama and evangelism team – as well as the youth ministry – Glyn moved back to Australia to attend Bible College.
In his three years in Sydney, he pioneered a youth group and led teams inter-state on ministry weekends. After graduating in December 1995, Glyn married Sophia and moved to Sheffield to pioneer the youth ministry in Hope City Church under the leadership of Pastors Dave and Jenny Gilpin.
In 2007 Pastor Dave Gilpin released Glyn and Sophia, after serving as part of his core team for 12 years, to plant Audacious City Church (ACC) in Manchester. ACC is now a thriving, passionate church, raising up a generation of bold, daring, cheeky leaders, who are unrestrained by convention.
Glyn and Sophia have two children, Georgia and Jaedon. As far as passions go, Glyn is fanatical about Manchester City Football Club. He also loves golf, his family and did we mention Manchester City Football Club?
Stuart Keir – Assistant Director, London, UK
Stuart is a core member of the vision team at Audacious and the Assistant Director of Youth Alive UK.
Stuart attended Mattersey Hall, AOG’s Bible College. While attending he met Julie whom he later married.
Following graduation Stuart and Julie joined a church in Leicester as youth pastors. They built a vibrant youth ministry, reaching into the local schools and discipling young people to live passionate lives for God. They became involved with Youth Alive UK through regional leadership and the short-term leadership training programme, ACE Teams.
In 1997 Stuart & Julie moved to Dagenham, East London, and became the youth pastors of Bethel – the Church on the Avenue. This youth group grew phenomenally, seeing hundreds of young people touched by God’s love and power over the seven years of Stuart and Julie’s leadership.
Stuart later became the associate pastor at Bethel, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of creative arts in the church as well as carrying leadership and preaching roles.
In 2006 Stuart, Julie and their three children relocated to the heart of London to plant London City Life – a revolutionary church for the 21st Century.
Rachel Waddams – National Team, Kingswinford, UK
Rachel is an integral part of the Youth Alive UK team with a heart for mission and evangelism.
Rachel with her husband Andy are youth pastors at Calvary Church, Kingswinford. They have a phenomenal youth group that is making a name for itself in the local area. She is passionate about seeing young people across the nation reached with the gospel and will do whatever it takes to make it happen! Rachel is a gifted speaker and has the ability to speak the Holy Spirit into situations.
Rachel and Andy have a beautiful daughter Rose and have one on the way!
Paul Reid – National Team, Bolton, UK
Paul has been part of the Youth Alive team for 5 years. He is an awesome leader creating massive waves in the North West of England!
For 10 years Paul sowed his life into Fusion Youth in Bolton. It grew to become one the biggest youth groups our movement has ever seen. In 2005, Paul and a small group of revolutionaries came together to dream about how to reach a town and a nation for God. With a passion to build a local church that was both contemporary & credible they embarked on a journey that would change lives forever. Paul and his wife Zoe are now associate pastors at Kings Church, Bolton; a growing, vibrant, contemporary church!
Paul & Zoe have two gorgeous boys, Riley and Parker.
