Rob Joy, the son of a recovering alcoholic, grew up on a troubled estate. He longed to be accepted by his father - but his father died suddenly one night after a blazing row.Rob had begun drinking at an early age and was treated for alcohol poisoning at 14. After losing his dad, he decided if he couldn't go straight, he would go for a life of serious crime.
He was nicknamed "Bobby the gun" because he carried a weapon. He was "always drunk, always high and always fighting."
He put two men in a coma in gang violence, allegedly blew £250,000 on drugs and slid into paranoia. People said he was going to wind up dead.
His mother and two sisters had become born-again Christians. Rob wasn't having any of that because he knew that Christians were all brainwashed nutters, but his mother and sisters continued to pray.
One night in a filthy drug den, Rob fell to his knees and pleaded with God to forgive him for a life of crime.
He's now pastor of a church in Wellingborough, Northants, and a gifted evangelist. He's married to a Christian girl amd has two young children. Their story is told in a book, Internal Revolution.
Carl Beech, leader of Christian Vision for Men in the UK, says "Rob is a living testimony that your past, no matter what has happened to you, does not need to govern your future."
Rob's former pastor says of him: "His zeal is real. He loves to see people brought into a new life that only Jesus can give. I thank God that He occasionally releases a man with a message to build His church and encourage us all. I see this in Rob Joy. He's a man with a message, born on time."
You can read his story here.
