Manor Park Evangelical Church|Serving Christ and the Community in St. John's

I was born in Africa and returned to Bristol as a boy. I was sent to Sunday School and grew up believing that God had created everything. At one nativity play I remember thinking that the greatest gift you could ever desire was Jesus. God was speaking to my young heart.

Due to family trials we moved from Bristol to Worcester where I have lived most of my life. At my new school I tried to impress friends and got into a bad crowd shoplifting and the like. I began to drift away from God but events in my teens frightened me. I went to a seance and felt the presence of evil. At the age of 16, on my way home from a dance in Malvern, my friend was killed on his motorbike. I was stunned and had to bear this trauma on my own. In fact loneliness was the most characteristic feeling of these ever more wayward years.

What did you do after school years?

Schooling went wrong and I decided at the age of 19 to escape to the Shetland Islands. I made lots of money and lived it up. But several events brought me to my senses. I became fearful of Aids and adjusted my lifestyle accordingly. Then just when I thought life was sorted with a good job and a woman on my arm I lost everything and at the age of 27 reached a very low point.

How did you became a Christian?

My sister become a Christian first. She began praying for me and told me about Jesus and suggested I read the Bible. I would make fun of her but inwardly I was seeking for something and I could sense God pulling me towards him.

On a day late in 1988 my sister prayed for me and I felt an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. One Sunday that November the paper boy knocked on the door. After delaying I finally opened the door and he said 'You took your time'. I read this as God speaking to me through him, saying that I was taking my time in turning to him. That day I turned to God. I gave my life to Jesus and had a real sense of joy and release, an amazing experience.

I knew from then onwards I would go to heaven if I died; I felt a weight come off my back, the weight of my sin. I knew things that I had done were wrong. I experienced forgiveness and love and was convinced that whatever happened God would be with me always, he would never reject me. I began to tell everyone.

It hasn't been an easy life, I have had lots of ups and downs. I have even lost jobs because I stood up for Christ and his righteousness.

Why should someone follow Jesus Christ?

The most important thing is that we know we are going to heaven when we die, to have a cleansed conscience and to know God is with you no matter what. Otherwise we will go to hell which is an awful place.

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