About us

The Origin Team

These are the people that make up the Origin Scotland team. In addition to these, we have an oversight committee who's only role is to keep tabs on the leaders of the ministry and our decisions. They are made up of ministers and Christian leaders from Edinburgh.

	Rev Sam Torrens Non-executive Director, Chairman of the Board Rev Torrens is the minister of Barclay Viewforth Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, and was appointed to the board of Origin in 2009.
	Fraser McLaren Non-executive Director Fraser is managing director of Room 3 Records and an experienced event promotor and sound engineer. As such he brings valuable insight and wisdom to the leadership team. He worships at Bruntsfield Evangelical Church, is married to Lynn and has two boys.
	Cara Thompson Non-executive Director Cara joined us in April 2015. She is a member at Carrubbers with her husband Andrew, where they are involved in a number of different ministries. She works as a psychometrician for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (doing statistics on their exams). In her spare time, she enjoys playing the piano, writing songs, running, and reading. Having grown up in France with parents who are involved in full time ministry through music in an interdenominational context, she is passionate about using songs which are both musically and theologically rich to inspire the Church in worship.
	Colin Peckham Managing Director/Artistic Director Colin founded Origin in 1997 while working as Director of Music at Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh. He studied music at Edinburgh University and theology with the University of South Africa, is married to Norma and has a young son. Colin serves on both the Origin Scotland and Origin South Africa leadership teams. Colin is also our liaison to Artists in Christian Testimony Intl, where he serves on the leadership of Origin Ministries USA. He is a member at Protea Valley Church in South Africa and Carrubbers Christian Centre in the UK.
	Alistair Dewar Director/Scotland Area Manager Alistair studied medicine at Edinburgh, is a doctor training in Emergency Medicine and has been involved with Origin since 2003, starting out in the choir. He sings with The Exile Band, heads up the music team, is married to Sara and has two boys. He worships at Edinburgh North Church Edinburgh. Alistair serves on both Scottish and South African leadership teams.
	Stuart McAra Director Stuart works for The Leprosy Mission Scotland, travelling extensively around Scotland promoting support for the mission and its work around the world. Stuart was a founding member of the Origin leadership team back in 1997. He is married to Naomi and has a young son. He worships at Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh.
	Alistair McLeod Company Secretary/Finance Director Alistair works as an IT manager for the NHS in Edinburgh. He has been involved in Origin first as a member of the technical events staff and later as finance director. He worships at Charlotte Chapel, is married to Louise and has two children.
	David Biddulph Band Manager Dave has played bass guitar for The Exile Band for a number of years, brings considerable talent and natural arranging ability to the band and assists with programme creation. He worships at Charlotte Chapel, is married to Wendy and has two daughters and a son.
	Norma Peckham Office Manager Norma joined the choir in 1999 and was elected choir rep to exec, where she stayed taking on several roles ending up with publicity. She is a qualified physiotherapist, but now works full time for Origin in research and data entry, office manager, publicity, and as a choir manager. She is married to Colin and has a young son. Norma serves on both Scottish and South African leadership teams. She is also a liaison to Artists in Christian Testimony Intl, where she serves on the leadership of Origin Ministries USA. She is a member at Protea Valley Church in South Africa and Carrubbers Christian Centre in the UK.
	Heather Merriman Choir Manager Heather is a qualified paediatric nurse who has been involved with Origin since 2005. She worships at Currie Community Church where she is involved in a wide range of ministries (children and youth, worship, teaching). Heather believes being part of God's plan and doing His work to be the most important and ultimately satisfying thing in life. She serves as manager of the Exile Choir.
	Ceilean Morison Choirmaster
	Marc Jones Graphic Designer Marc is responsible for Origin's in-house design. He worships at the Esk Valley Church in Newtongrange (Free Church of Scotland).
	David Wright Tech David is often to be found with a pile of cables strewn about him and crawling under floors in the Usher Hall to put in cables for our larger events. David grew up on Tyneside, before Uni in Edinburgh & Glasgow. he has been involved in serving Origin on the tech crew of Room3 since 2003, and the staff of Origin since 2007. David is a junior Doctor in Glasgow and attends Bruntsfield Evangelical Church in Edinburgh.
	Stephie Clark Mailshot Co-ordinator Stephie has been involved in the worship group of her local church and has been singing with Origin since 2002. She has a musical family; With a clarinettist, a singer, a drummer and a guitarist in the house it can be noisy! She loves baking and decorating cakes and is a qualified nurse (retired). Stephie is committed to serving Jesus in any way He calls her to, and worships at Livingston Baptist Church.

While these are the members of the leadership team, there are many others that serve as volunteers in publicity distribution, technical teams, front of house staff and so on, quite apart from all the musicians and singers. We are extremely grateful to all who make up the various teams that keep things going - you know who you are!