Why a Dying Pastor Calls These His Best Years

Why a Dying Pastor Calls These His Best YearsTold he had two to three months to live in January, Allan Finnegan says these are the best years of his life — and means it.About this episodeAllan Finnegan is a Baptist minister from Liverpool, a stand-up comedian, and the author of I Didn’t Ask For Any Of This — Church, Comedy and Cancer (Broad Place Publishing, 2026). On the 20th of January this year, he was told he had two to three months left. He’s still here, still finishing things, and remarkably at peace.In this honest, often funny conversation Allan talks to Matt about the comedy course that quietly changed his preaching, the hour he spent crying in a Tesco’s car park because he’d realised he had no friends outside church, the night his old mates told him they thought he’d been dead for thirty years, and what he’s learning about finishing well now that the medicine has stopped working.Timestamps00:00 Welcome and Wednesday Night Finnegans01:23 The book — I Didn’t Ask For Any Of This03:30 How a preaching class led Allan to a stand-up comedy course06:20 Why comedy techniques make for better sermons10:58 Certainty kills faith — giving people permission to doubt13:24 “I started a podcast instead of a prayer meeting”14:30 Becoming the minister he never wanted to be17:43 Trying to engineer being sacked18:32 Crying in a Tesco’s car park in Litherland21:00 Walking back into a Bootle pub after thirty years away24:00 Why comedy saved his faith28:27 Comedy needed him less than he needed comedy32:50 Steve the nudist Baptist minister35:08 Britain’s Got Talent — the four yeses38:30 The Zoom semi-final disaster and the £9 Primark shoes42:18 “It’s only a freckle” — the cancer diagnosis50:00 Told he had two to three months on the 20th of January51:34 “I am truly in the hands of God now”52:38 The last sermon and the last comedy gig53:56 What Allan has learned about finishing well54:42 Philippians 1:6 as the verse that holds his life together1:00:00 Just keep turning upKey referencesPhilippians 1:6 — “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” Allan’s anchor verse since he came to faith aged 16.Jonah — Allan reaches for Jonah’s story to make sense of his own. The hard work, he reckons, often needed to be done on the messenger as much as the message.I Didn’t Ask For Any Of This — Church, Comedy and Cancer by Allan Finnegan (Broad Place Publishing, 2026). Available on Amazon in Kindle and Audible. The audiobook intro is read by Allan; the rest is narrated by Christian comedian Andy Kind.Wednesday Night Finnegans — the podcast Allan ran with Tom Grant during and after lockdown. Tom has also been a guest on What’s The Story — listen to his episode here: crowd.church/whats-the-story/breaking-out-of-our-comfort-zone-being-part-of-an-eden-team-tom-grantComedy Trust Liverpool — where Allan did the six-week stand-up course (taught by Sam Avery and Brendan Reilly) that started everything.Britain’s Got Talent 2020 — Allan’s audition at the London Palladium got four yeses, with Simon Cowell calling it the best audition of the day.Quotes from the episode“Certainty kills faith. Faith has to exist in the doubts and the uncertainty.” — Matt Edmundson“I always thought I was kind of the worst Christian, and I was just putting this veneer on to hide so no one would get through and see that I was really rubbish at following Jesus.” — Allan Finnegan“I started a podcast instead of a prayer meeting. Still got no idea how I got away with that.” — Allan Finnegan“I am truly in the hands of God now. I’m not receiving any medication to make me better or keep me better. I am only receiving it for palliative care.” — Allan Finnegan“I think what I’m learning about finishing well is sticking in there. God will finish it. I just need to stick in there. Just stay. Don’t give up.” — Allan FinneganLinksCrowd Church — crowd.churchMore episodes of What’s The Story — crowd.church/whats-the-storyAllan’s book on Amazon — I Didn’t Ask For Any Of This — Church, Comedy and Cancer (Kindle and Audible)Broad Place Publishing — Allan’s publisherCrowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.