TESTIMONY OF GRAHAM JONES

It all began in 1966 after a lot of pushing, sweat and pain, out i popped. "it's a boy!" They shouted. I can't remember too much about that, but i've seen some photographs to confirm the incident. The name they settled on was Graham. My earliest memories were of growing up on a housing estate in liver pool (england), called Dodge - named after Dodge city. I think the name says it all, it was a very rough housing estate.

Mum and dad weren't really religious but they insisted that my sister, Coreen, and i went to sunday school from an early age. We found this boring, irrelevant and all the other words people use to describe a 'traditional' church. Some people like traditional churches but it never really did anything for me.

Mum had an unusual job, she's a fork-lift truck driver. dad was a night club bouncer who occasionally helped himself to the payroll of local banks. As you can imagine, i had quite an unusual upbringing so it wasn't long before i started getting introduced to crime - believe it or not it was my dad who introduced me to my first felony! The local fruit and veg shop was broken into and dad asked me to take the wheel barrow and fill it up with whatever i could. By the age of eight the social services were very involved in my life and they decided i was better away from home on the grounds of being out of parental control! I lived in a number of foster homes and assessment centres which really messed me up. At this early stage i started to get introduced to soft drugs and by the age of sixteen i was selling and supplying a large amount of various drugs. For a number of years i was getting more and more deeply involved in crime, violence and drug trafficking. Things really started to go wrong. .

I nearly died a few times from drug overdoses which entailed me having to be 'pumped out' at the local hospital. I started to ask some serious questions about where my life was going and what would have happened if i had died. Little did i know at this stage that God had his hand on my life.
I'd come across some outrageous and wild people in my life, but nothing could prepare me for the people i was about to meet. I started going to the local youth centre to play pool and really just for somewhere to go to spend a few hours before the clubs opened. While at the youth centre, i came across these really strange people, Lyn and Arthur, and Chris and Margaret - they were Christians!

There was just something about them that fascinated me. They had that 'ready-brek' glow. They were always happy, smiling, full of joy, peace and everything else i was taking drugs to find. What these people had i was spending about £100 a night trying to find! This intrigued me so much i had to ask them what made them so happy. When they told me it was Jesus i was really shocked, had no-one ever told these people he was dead? I said "isn't he dead? That's what i learned in Sunday school." What they quickly pointed out is that he rose again and no-one ever explained to me that he had been resurrected. I didn't fully understand all this but i was genuinely interested and wanted to find out more, especially the bit which Lyn said that if he's alive, you can meet him and he an change your life. Little did they know the kind of things i was into, so i began to confide in them about my drugs problems. Lyn was quite shocked and suggested i go back to her house for a coffee. On arriving, she went into the kitchen to put the kettle on, taking an unusual amount of time. I followed her through to the kitchen and i found her talking to god on my behalf. I'll never forget what i heard. "oh God," she was saying "i don't know what to do with Graham. Please show me what to tell him." She didn't see me so i walked out very quietly, not wanting to disturb her. She soon emerged from the kitchen and, telling me she'd been praying for Me. I tried to laugh it off by saying, "I know, I caught you." The laughing soon stopped when she said "God has just spoken to me about you." My instant thoughts were 'who's on drugs here!' especially when she said "he has given me a vision of a man i've got to take you to." I was convinced she must have taken something to see the visions and have God talk to her. Very confused, i asked her to explain what she saw and she began to tell me about dave cave who runs a project in liverpool reaching out to inner city people with similar backgrounds to my own. I wasn't too sure of whether to go, but she told me he was alright. I had reservations because he was a minister and my experience of the clergy had never really impressed me. I had never really related to all that stuff, you know, the batman cloak, the ring of confidence and one who dressed up like mother but we called him father. I've still not worked that one out!

Contact Address:
Graham Jones
3 September Road
Anfield
Liverpool
Tel 0770 249 2599

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