Barry Cooper is a British pastor, writer and podcaster. He lives with his wife and daughters in DeLand, Florida. He serves as Lead Pastor at Christ Community Church, Daytona. 

He’s the producer / writer / presenter of Simply Put, presenter / co-writer of Luther: In Real Time (Best Original Podcast, National Religious Broadcasters Awards 2023), and co-producer / presenter of Cooper & Cary Have Words (Podcast Of The Year, Premier Digital Awards 2018).

Barry is the presenter of Stephen McCaskell’s feature-length documentary LUTHER, writer of the feature-length documentaries PURITAN and THE CHURCH, and writer of the forthcoming six-part series MISSIONARY. The documentary explores the lives of William Tyndale, James Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, William Carey, David Livingstone, and John Paton.

Between June 2019 and December 2022, he was Supervising Producer at Ligonier Ministries. 

Before that, with Sam Shammas and Rico Tice, he co-created Christianity Explored, a film series that has so far been used in 100 countries, and translated into 50 languages. He began working on Christianity Explored in 1998, co-founding Christianity Explored Ministries in 2001.

Barry is the writer and presenter of the Discipleship Explored film series, co-writer and co-presenter of the Life Explored film series, and co-writer and co-director of the Christianity Explored film series.

Barry has authored and co-authored a number of books including One Life, If You Could Ask God One Question and Can I Really Trust The Bible? He’s also written for Christianity Today, Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, 9Marks, and ExploreGod.

Born in Epsom, Surrey, Barry holds an MA in English Language and Literature from St Catherine’s College, Oxford. He wrote, directed and performed in numerous comedy shows at Oxford, including the Oxford Revue. Having trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he co-ran a theatre company for seven years. He’s performed in such places as Shakespeare’s Globe and the National Theatre.

Barry also holds an MA in Christian Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. He has interned with Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC, and was part of the core team that helped to plant Trinity West church in Shepherd’s Bush, London.

You can send Barry a message here, or follow him on X.

Photo | Marcoz & Miranda