One day, about to shoot a man, he had a spiritual epiphany which led him to God, and a mission to serve the UK’s most vulnerable. I might have been wrong in what I did, but I was trying to keep people alive long enough to hear the gospel, because I knew what it had done for me. The Revd Dr Alan Billings is the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire and the author of Lost Church: Why we must find it again (SPCK, 2013). We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues.

The pastor continued: “It’s not something royals really tend to do so William has broken the mould in writing this for us. Laying bare his struggles in full for the first time, including a failed attempt at suicide, Pastor Mick relates how sharing his pain has helped others who are suffering. Removing references to God from Brownie campfire song ‘Brownie bells’ is the latest attempt by the girlguiding movement to erase their Christian roots.He wrapped his quilt around me, put his hat on my head and poured cider into my mouth until the shakes stopped.

Sadly, due to covid this won't be able to take place this year but Pastor Fleming said food would be handed out on the old Thompson Centre car park on Christmas Eve along and around 300 families would be given brand new Christmas presents for their children. The day after, the angel came again, and said God wanted me to forgive the man who had hurt me, and to tell everybody about Jesus. Mick didnt cry again for 30 years, masking his pain with drink and drugs and working as notorious underworld fixer - until the day a revelation of faith unravelled his world, and he found himself utterly 'blown away.The sound that came out my mother – I imagine it’s the sound Jesus made as he took his last breath on the cross.