Staff Team
Martin Hodson
General Director
Martin has been General Director at BUS since 2018, having spent four years prior serving our BUS as Ministry Development Coordinator.
After an initial career in production management with Kangol Ltd, Martin served as a minister in churches in Cumbria and Aberdeen and then as senior minister at St Peter’s Baptist Church, Worcester. Through these years his aim has been to live out the vocation of a missionary disciple and equip others for this role. Martin has degrees in Theology from Oxford University and is passionate about leading and creating space for God to increase across Scotland.
Andrew Clarke
Leadership Development Lead
Specialist area: Continuing Ministry Development, supporting pre-accredited ministers.
Before joining the BUS, Andrew lectured in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen for 20 years, with a particular research interest in life and leadership in the earliest Christian communities. Together with his wife, Jane, he has been involved in planting and leading a ‘Simple Church’ in North Aberdeenshire, in which small groups meet regularly as families to worship, learn from each other about God’s call on our lives, and develop as faithful disciples of Jesus – all in the context of hospitality around the kitchen table. He is passionate about these two goals of learning and formation, which come together in his role of Leadership Development Lead.
Email: andrew@scottishbaptist.org.uk
Usual working days: Mon- Fri
Lisa Holmes
Deeper Church Lead
Lisa is excited to be in the role as Deeper Church Lead, drawing on around 30 years of local church leadership, involvement on the Spring Harvest Leadership team and life experience as a follower of Jesus.
For Lisa this new role is about encouraging us all in starting where we are (not where we think we ought to be!); to be Growing Deeper in our devotion to the Lord, Growing Deeper in our formation as followers of Jesus together, and Growing Deeper in the transformation of our everyday lives so that knowing Jesus makes a difference to every part of who we are.
Ali Laing
Younger Generation & Digital Church Lead
Specialist area: Youth, Youth Leaders, Youth Ministry Development, Student and Young Adults.
Originally a Secondary Teacher Ali served Queens Park Baptist for 6 years as youth pastor before working nationally across Scotland for Alpha and Onelife. Ali aims to live authentically as a follower of Jesus and is passionate about inviting, equipping and encouraging young people to join the adventure of following Christ. Ali is committed to seeing youth and young leaders raised up across Scotland and serves on the Deep Impact Conference Planning group and is on the council of reference for PowerPoint.
Email: ali@scottishbaptist.org.uk
Usual working days: Mon- Fri
Glenn Innes
Future Church Lead
Glenn has been Pastor at Portobello Baptist Church, Edinburgh since 2018 and is now sharing his time between ministry life and in his new role as Future Church Lead. Glenn spent 10 years in Aberdeen involved in church planting, and prior to that he was at Regents College, Vancouver, Canada where he completed his theological studies.
Glenn’s role as Future Church Lead is to facilitate and encourage our family of churches as we go together on mission into the future. He is working to resource and equip churches for church planting; supporting churches in areas of innovation, and facilitating experiments in new forms of church.
Usual working days: Tues pm, all day Wed, Thurs am
Lyndsay Cameron-Ross
Communications Lead
Lyndsay is leading our new Communications strategy which focuses around promoting the togetherness of our network. Her role involves developing our social media and online content; producing Connect, our monthly BUS digital newsletter; editing the website, and gathering and sharing stories of what God is doing in Baptist churches across Scotland.
Lyndsay is keen to highlight these to encourage, inspire and motivate each other as we move forward in this new season. Based in Glasgow, she loves exploring new places, interior design and coffee, so would love to chat and hear about what’s happening in your Baptist churches!
Brian Windram
Finance Director
Brian is our new Finance Director, and also serves as an Executive Director on the Board of Directors and acts as our Company Secretary. His work involves attending to our financial and regulatory responsibilities as a company and a charity, managing the financial affairs of the Union including preparing our annual accounts and budgets, and monitoring the use of our restricted and designated funds.
Brian’s also seeks to develop relationships with our church treasurers and serve as a support and encouragement to them.
Katy Swan
PA to the General Director
Katy has recently joined the team and provides administrative and organisational support to the General Director, National Team, Council and AGM. Katy is also the Prayer Coordinator and compiles the daily prayer guide.
Katy’s role is wide and varied, and she brings her background and expertise from working at one of Glasgow’s busiest colleges to the BUS.
Katy is involved at her local Baptist church, helps run a men’s futsal (indoor football) club, as well as enjoying coffee (and cake!) with friends and family.
Ivy Young
Ministry Administrator
Specialist area: Administratively supporting all areas of Ministry.
Ivy has been a key part of the team since she joined the BUS in 1998, serving in a number of roles before becoming our Ministry Administrator in 2011.
Ivy is responsible for administering our Board of Ministry, Pre-accreditation process, Continuing Ministry Development, Sabbatical Grants and Settlement. Ivy is happy to receive all enquiries relating to ministry.
Carly Morris
Administrator
Carly joined BUS in 2022 and her role involves supporting the team through administration, both in day-to-day office upkeep and in wider Baptist Union involvements
Working part-time, Carly providing administrative support for the Lead Academy sessions held here in Scotland, and for Training Hub, our young leaders development programme. She keeps the BUS database up-to-date, deals with bookings for our holiday accommodation in Findochty and deals with our retirement properties and their related matters.
Most of Carly’s spare time is spent with family, but she does enjoy listening to a variety of podcasts!
Samira Abdollahi
Finance Administrator
Samira joined the BUS team in 2022 as Finance Administrator. Her areas of responsibility include supporting the Finance Director with payroll, funding, expenses, invoices and all other areas of finance admin.
Samira has been part of a local Baptist church for almost 5 years after moving to Scotland from Iran.
Alan Holloway
BUS Solicitor
Alan has been our law agent and solicitor since 1996, having worked in house for the BUS since 2018.
The twin strands of law and Christian service have woven their way throughout Alan’s career, including studying at the Scottish Baptist College, serving the Lawyers Christian Fellowship, and working in private practice legal firms, large and small.
Alan has progressively specialised in the unique complexities of church title deeds, combining this with charity law knowledge to pilot unincorporated churches through the process of re-structuring as SCIOs. Alan serves many using his legal knowledge and skills and also has his own firm, Diakoneo Legal Services, serving churches and related charities in Scotland.
Erin Ralph
Training Hub & National Team Assistant
Erin joins us for this year as Training Hub and National team assistant, and is based up in Aberdeen. Her role is to both support this year’s training hub, getting alongside those eager to grow in their faith, and helping support the Increase vision this season, working with the national team. She’s passionate about leadership and loves to have meaningful depth of relationship.
She’s currently taking a break from her music studies and is excited and expectant for what God has for her future, and also for the people of Scotland. Erin is also a keen coffee lover and works as a barista during the rest of her week.
BUS Trustee Board
The Trustee Board is comprised of Martin Hodson and Brian Windram (executive directors) and the following non executive directors:
- Stephen Hagan – BUS Convenor (convenor@scottishbaptist.org.uk)
- Sylvia Jones – Galashiels Baptist Church
- Caz McCrone – Queen’s Park Baptist Church, Glasgow
- Alan Milnes – Leslie Baptist Church, Glenrothes
- Alistair Purss – Dumfries Baptist Church
- George Scott – Granton Baptist Church, Edinburgh
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Irene Campbell – Westwood Baptist Church, East Kilbride
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Ruth McCaig – Peterhead Baptist Church
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Duncan McGruer – Easterhouse Baptist Church, Glasgow