A Remarkable Rescue

Tuesday, 06 April 2010 12:53

In March, Barry spoke for three nights in Liverpool at a new church plant called Victory Family Church. On the final night, after he had finished speaking, a young man approached him and introduced himself to Barry. He said that it was an honour to meet him as he had read his book ‘Once an Addict’ while he was incarcerated. He added that the book was in all of the cells of every prison in which he had been an inmate (and there were many)! He then explained that he had just wandered in from the streets that night completely out of the blue. When he saw Barry’s books on display and noticed that it was Barry speaking, he decided to stay and hear what he had to say. That night, he was one of the many who responded to the message.

After the weekend, Rachel, our Events Administrator, made a post-event telephone call to the pastor. He recounted the events of the weekend and explained that the man with whom Barry had conversed on Sunday had fully intended to take his own life that evening before coming to the church event. Instead, he gave his life to Christ. This is one of the many lives that God has rescued, and we truly thank Him that this man was somehow compelled to attend the meeting that Sunday evening.

Red Letter Day

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:26

A ‘Red Letter Day’ is described as 'a day of special significance' and such a day happened to Barry on the 3rd March 2010 when he had the opportunity to speak to 40 church leaders in the city of Salford, at Elmwood Church.

When Barry walked through the door, one of the first people he spoke to was Noel Proctor, who is the former Prison Chaplain at HMP Strangeways. In Barry’s autobiography ‘Once an Addict’ he tells the story of being greeted by Noel in the prison holding cells. Each time he would offer him an Extra Strong Mint and say, 'there's your anti-swearing tablet for the day!’ He did this with all the inmates. The first time this happened to Barry was when he was 19 years old. When Noel noticed Barry at the Salford leaders’ day, the first thing he did was put his hand in his pocket and pull out his Extra Strong Mints. He put one in Barry’s hand and said, ‘there’s your anti-swearing tablet for the day!’ Of course, this brought back many memories of Noel and his role as a Prison Chaplain and the part he played in Barry becoming a Christian in 1995. Noel was the speaker at the event Barry where made a commitment to Christ.

Before Barry addressed the leaders, he sat and had lunch with Noel and his wife, and they had a good catch up. It was a real ‘Red Letter Day’.

Teen Challenge Graduation - Scotland

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 12:22

Teen Challenge is one of the foremost Christian organisations in the UK offering positive help to young people who are trapped by addictions and other life controlling issues. On 15th January Barry was privileged to spend a day at Teen Challenge in North East Scotland on behalf of Proclaim Trust.

During the day he visited the Men’s Centre and then the Women’s Centre. In the morning he spoke on the subject of “Church Integration” and then in the evening he had the honour of speaking at The Teen Challenge Graduation Celebration. The event was held in a church in Aberdeen where hundreds attended and 36 people responded to the message. It was really encouraging to see eight men graduate from the program.

The highlight of the whole event was when Barry heard the personal story of a beautiful young lady. She had a history of drug addiction and prostitution but five years ago she had a God encounter. Her life had been totally transformed and she as recently started working for Teen Challenge as an administrator.

New Schools Project

Thursday, 07 January 2010 14:41

This year we are launching a new schools project in the secondary schools in Greater Manchester. RE teacher, Steve Burtonwood has recently joined the team and will be overseeing the project.

The aim is to teach young people about the Christian faith using Barry’s story as a basis. The Trust will be producing two workbooks to be used in the delivery of Religious Education (RE) lessons and Personal and Social and Health Education (PHSE) lessons. The workbooks will be used in conjunction with the ‘Once an Addict’ DVD.

 Over the next 12 months, we will start to strategically roll this initiative out through relationships and personal contact.

While this project is focused specifically in Manchester, the actual resources will be published so they will be available to teachers and youth workers nationwide.