A week in the life Andy Peck

Sunday

Up a bit later – typically around 8am. Breakfast and then I currently read from a Bible-in-a-year plan, which has a Psalm or Proverb, a part of the Old Testament reading chronologically and a New Testament reading chronologically. I commit the day to God and pray about anything that struck me from the reading.

My wife and I attend the morning church service less than a mile from home.

We return around lunchtime and typically have a Sunday roast together. Most weeks it’s with our two sons (18 and 20), if they are around.

The afternoon may include a walk locally or watching TV. I may have a sneaky look at the football on my Sky app.

We may attend the evening service, though since the church has introduced a policy of repeating sermons from the morning there’s less incentive. Some weeks I am involved in a preview session with the youth. We meet at 5.15, for a disgustingly high sugar ‘tea’: doughnuts, cookies, cake, crisps, mini bites (which I avoid…) and look at the passage being considered in the evening service at 6.30. We ask: “What does this tell us about God, about ourselves and what do we need to do?” We have some lively discussions. 

Monday

The alarm goes around 6am and so most mornings it’s a two-mile run down to the local park, often passing the Britain’s Military Fitness group doing their push ups. My wife leaves to commute to teach at a primary school so we overlap for ten minutes when I get back.

My youngest son works locally and so needs a lift!

Starting around 8am I work from home, linking with colleagues via WhatsApp and Teams.

Each day I upload a piece for the NexGen website, so the aim is to get that done first. If it needs an image, I send the content to the designer.

My non-NexGen role involves selecting material for the Voice of Hope e-send: a daily e-send of five or six pieces of magazine and audio content from the range of brands within Premier. This also includes the NexGen material I have just uploaded. The e-send goes to over 100,000 and by the end of the day we know the open rates and who has read what.

At 9.15 we have a Premier wide team meeting hearing what each department is doing in the week ahead.

At 10.15 we have a meeting with content producers in radio and magazines. I get to hear of the major news stories, including any possible leads on youth and children’s work and feedback on the e-send stats from the previous day

The morning after that is typically spent finalising content for the daily e-send. The first draft is sent to the designer and head of media who OK’s it or makes adjustments. I then schedule this to be sent for 1pm.

Once that has all been done, it will be editing of copy that has come in for the magazine and uploading to Dropbox where the resources editor, Alex, has a second edit (I do the same for him). Then it’s sent to John for design.

Early evening is often sorting laundry that has been washed and dried and now needs ironing (I kid you not) with our meal around 7. As a family we do Wordle during the evening meal.

We often watch TV in the evening though rarely live – mostly streamed content, box sets etc.

Tuesday

The start of the day is as Monday.

I have hosted a Leadership show for Christians in leadership for 17 years (prerecorded and broadcast on Sundays at 4pm) and so today is the day to send prerecorded audio to my producer and the audio of the previous Sunday to another producer for a podcast. We have found a strong audience on the Profile platform run by Premier Christianity. They have a show that goes out on Saturdays and mine is typically released on a Wednesday.

In the afternoon I might have a recording to make (via Zoom) and can often transcribe this for the magazine and / or website. Interviews last 25 minutes and so once its topped and tailed and edited the whole thing might take 90 minutes from start to finish. 

Wednesday

At 9.15 we have a Premier-wide devotional. Then the mornings are much the same as Monday and Tuesday.

I always have daily emails to sort, with many PR companies looking to promote people, charities and books, and team members sending me content for the e-send.

This is my day to sort the best content from the previous seven days for the NexGen e-sends, one for Christian parents and one for youth, children’s and family workers and volunteers. You would be surprised how many need a reminder that they are paying for content that can be used.

Lunchtime I may catch up with Sam, the editorial director, on any magazine-wide things and feedback on how the work is going.

Afternoon: emails, content editing, commissioning.

Wednesday evening is our youth group from 7 until 9. We have around 50 young people (aged 13 to 18), and there are around eight volunteers most weeks. 

The first hour is free for board games, table tennis, pool, soft football etc. Then the second hour will be notices, a short talk and discussions in smaller age-specific groups. This term we are going through Youth Alpha. Many of the young people are believers but also many on a journey with God and a few say they are atheist. But they still come! We clear up, debrief, pray and I get home just after 10.

Thursday

This is a publishing day once a month: final proofreading, checking design, deciding on the cover and cover copy, and finally uploading for the digital platforms on which it is accessed. I may do a final tweak to my editorial (called ‘First word’).

Technically I work with Premier for 25 hours a week and so by Thursday afternoon I may have time for freelance projects. I continue links with my old employer, Waverley Abbey Trust, who have a few writing projects I am working on. I also have occasional courses to make as online offerings or I may have a visit to a church to arrange those. I still do on-the-road courses on a range of topics on a Saturday. The next coming up is for small-group leaders. 

Friday

If I can, I get out for a cycle. I have the crazy notion that one day I will be able to cycle around the Isle of Wight (where I was born) in a day. It’s 66 miles and I am currently fit enough for a half of that, so depending on the weather today or Saturday will be a lengthy cycle. When I return the focus is on freelance work, often at Caffe Nero. Working from home, it’s good to have a change of scenery. My eldest has his break around lunchtime so we may have a drink together.

Saturday

The mornings may include some domestic tasks but after a run of Saturdays when this is all we seemed to do, we are trying to arrange to something. As the days lengthen we look forward to say visiting a National Trust place or I might play golf. As an Everton fan I have learned to temper my expectations and so around 5pm, I will check the score having avoided the result and then catch up on web and Twitter chat on how the game went.

We occasionally have friends around for meal. My wife loves cooking and when we have people over, she doesn’t mind the lion’s share of the day being spent in the kitchen.

Bedtime is around 10 even on weekends and so I record Match of the Day, ready to watch first thing Sunday.