He later discovered a vocation to ministry, and was ordained to the priesthood in the diocese of London in June. And this guy stood up in his cheap trousers, walked out in front of a hundred people and showed the cross. I thought about when the teachers would segregate me in school, and I was made to sit on my own for hours in halls and corridors. Though exceptional in parts, Claud's journey is remarkably relatable: it is one of being shaped by circumstance and formed through faith, of losing yourself only to be found.

Around this time, he started attending a Thursday night youth club with a friend and heard Brian Greenaway speak and read his book, Hell’s Angel, which awoke a brief interest in Christianity and even led Claud to ask the youth leader for a Bible; however, when he wasn’t given one straightaway, he became resentful and stopped going to the club.

Meanwhile the family were living in poverty and had to move house regularly – at one point, Claud slept on the floor under the stairs. He studied at St Mellitus College and was ordained in 2022 and is currently a curate at Holy Trinity Brompton.

Your heart will break but ultimately you will be left in awe of God’s hand on his life and the redemptive power of God’s love.When Claud was approached about becoming a mentor for high-risk young offenders for the local council, it initially seemed like a handy ‘respectable’ cover for his drug-dealing activities.

Who would possibly believe that one of the mentors working for the council was a drug-dealer in his spare time? My dad was a very old school – thought women should be in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, looking after the house. While there, I created behavioural programmes and implemented them within the sector that I was working in.

By the end of the Alpha course, God was such doing such a work in my life that I just had to confess to the vicar. And where I’d drive one of my cars into work each day and pay for parking, even though I lived within walking distance of the offices, Pete would catch public transport. He was my hero and he’d come back with these stories of what he’d been up to, while we’re told to sit and be quiet, so the crime was glorified to me.

His story is not just about a life of crime, but about the turning points, and the disillusion and damage, that take someone there. Looking back now, however, I think there was also some kind of secret desire hidden within me to make a difference. At twelve years old, James Carroll became the collateral damage of his pastor father's infidelity and his parents' divorce. By the time I was in my early teens, I’d lost interest in any kind of academic pursuit and began selling cigarettes in school. His story is one of poverty, abuse, drug dealing, and violence – and of a life turned round by a loving God who refused to give up on him.

When Claud was 12, he joined a new school where he was one of only 3 black or mixed-race children in a school of 700 pupils and experienced racism for the first time. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Republic Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Reunion Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (U. When they started to question me on this occasion, it soon came up that I was a mentor for high-risk young offenders with the local council. I was sure that the world around me is filled with predators – I was surrounded by terrible, inhuman things. Now I serve in the church, and therefore, if God permits, I will become a priest in the Church of England.