Financial support is one thing, but I always think what becomes really sacrificial is your time.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

There's loads of things you can do to make things easy for your throat, you can drink a bit of lemon and hot water couple of spoons of honey, you can gargle with port, I've done it a couple of times myself - but don't swallow it!

If you have got the public in the palm of your hand, you can be sure that is where they want to be.

When you're out there with thousands of people it's probably better to have a bigger show to look at, and it turned out really well and they videoed it for me.

I don't mean that if you're a Christian, walking close to God, you will immediately gain celebrity. you may fail as an artist, because you may not have what the public want at that time, and you have to be prepared for that.

We need to pray and read the Bible every day, and regardless of whatever else happens to you, that tends to keep you close to Him, because you are constantly in touch through His Word.

But if you have a solid walk with the Lord, then you won't fear that failure.

It is important to have a circle of Christians friends, which I do have.

When I use music on stage, the prime directive is to entertain the public, so it is different.

We need to be adopted by God through Jesus - that was what happened to me, and that's what changed my life so that now, I can see that my career can be part of a calling.

I involve myself in an organisation called Tear Fund.

Financial support is one thing, but I always think what becomes really sacrificial is your time.

Someone recommended that I read the Bible, and it was then I discovered that I knew nothing about it.

If I'm going to represent God I have to do it the best I can.

If you can play guitar and sing, you can probably get a gig down the road playing at a restaurant, but don't throw your life away chasing something that is so elusive it will only lead you to regret and may turn you bitter.

Of course, when I started my career, like anyone else who was 16 at the time, we were besotted by the rock-n-roll scene from America, and all I was interested in was having a career of my own.

It's important to put all I have into my career.

I have tried to have a regular daily intake from my Bible, regardless of how late it is.

When I became a Christian my confidence grew.

But Jesus changes your attitude towards yourself and towards other people.

The thrill of hearing your own voice recorded is still there, I still love it, going into the studio and thinking how can I sing this song and between the producers and the musicians you find a way of doing it.

It's the business I'm in, I can't say that signing things is the favourite part of my career but you know that it has to be done and that there is no pain involved.

But, of course, one relies on the everyday people who just simply like your music, for whom you may not be a hobby but they enjoy being in your presence at a concert.

There is no better news, than the fact that Jesus can actually turn a life upside down and save it.

But Portugal has a peaceful feel about it. I sit on the terrace overlooking the vineyard there and I feel cut off from the world. You need that sort of thing.

Our industry is full of all sorts of eccentricities and one of them is owning property.

I've got two places I like to be. Portugal is one.

I can say I have become far more open about what I believe.

So I will go as far as I can into rock and roll carrying my Christian banner.

I'm very grateful because my fans are very loyal.

About two months ago I finished a gospel tour.

I realised that God has placed Christians everywhere, to support each other, to support the needy in those areas, and that is the thing that I find is a great plus.

I have a group of people, about 40, in a local church in Surrey in England, who pray for me regularly.

And, of course, Barbados is the other place where I like to be.

The more I read my Bible the more I veered away from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Celebrities meet a lot of people and we just can't maintain them all in our fuddled brains.

The only advice I would give Christians entering the world of arts: give yourself a period of time, maybe three or four years. If you haven't made it in your chosen art form, dump it.

The more we depend on God the more dependable we find He is.

Our strength in finance has led us to set up an international financial centre with medium and long-term objectives, especially to develop Islamic financial and insurance services.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you're dealt?

I take great pride in having been able to overcome the Asian financial crisis and seeking the opportunities available to bring about an unprecedented growth in the economy.

I've been a financial journalist for 30 years.

Over and over again, financial experts and wonkish talking heads endeavor to explain these mysterious, 'toxic' financial instruments to us lay folk. Over and over, they ignobly fail, because we all know that no one understands credit default obligations and derivatives, except perhaps Mr. Buffett and the computers who created them.

I believe my publisher has shown a great deal of faith in me over a lot of years but I'm not prepared to be so arrogant to say that the long-term literary value of my work would compensate them for a financial failure.

We have, unlike many of our competitors, continued to meet our various financial obligations.

I kept an interested eye on the transfer window in England, which opened and closed last month, and the lack of frantic activity just goes to show the current financial state of the game right now.

I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries.

One of the special characteristics of New York is that it is different from a London or a Paris because it's the financial capital, and the cultural capital, but not the political capital.