Even among inmates, Dougie March (pictured above) was seen as violent. But when two Christians approached and offered to pray for him, he listened – and his life began to change.
“Violence was a way of life for me,” he says. “I belonged to a football gang and while we loved watching a game, we loved going to fight rival fans even more.
“One time in a pub when I was high, I saw three guys grabbing my pal, so I jumped on them and started punching and kicking. As I looked through my drunken haze, I realised the three guys were police officers, but it didn’t matter – I just kept hitting them.”
That incident led to Dougie’s first of seven prison sentences. “I thought prison would be full of good guys, hero types like you saw in movies. But they were crooks who would steal food off your plate. I was always fighting and was regarded as so violent, they’d lock me up in solitary or keep moving me from prison to prison.”
Dougie, from Byker in Newcastle, spent a total of five years in prison. Every time he was released, he felt no different from the last time.
“I hadn’t changed a bit, except maybe in learning a few more fighting techniques,” he explains. “My life still revolved around violence, alcohol, drugs and casual sex.”
Dougie decided to travel, hoping that seeing new places and meeting people in different countries might help him take a different view of life. However, while the scenery changed, he didn’t.
“After a while, I started to think about God. Was he real or just another nice story? I didn’t even know how to pray so I just started talking like I was talking to a pal. I asked God to show me he was real by helping me to change my life.
“I didn’t know what to expect, if anything. Then, a few days later, I was walking along Northumberland Street in Newcastle when two girls approached and asked if they could tell me about Jesus. In the past if two guys had asked me the same question, I’d have made fun of them and threaten to beat them up. But this time, I was polite and listened and when they invited me to attend their church, I said I would go.”
CHANGE
One thing that attracted Dougie to the church was it was near a football ground. He still loved the game but, as he continued to pray, read the Bible and fellowship with the church members, he noticed a change in himself.
While he still didn’t like his team losing, he didn’t react to it by getting drunk, then looking for opposition fans to fight. His language changed, with swear words a distant memory. He actually preferred reading his Bible to taking drugs.
“At the church, I repented of my sin and was baptised,” he adds.
“I started to be led by the Holy Spirit and not by my own feelings. I could actually watch a game of football without being drunk by half-time or wanting to beat someone up after.”
As Dougie grew in his faith, he started asking God what he should do.
“I asked the Holy Spirit because I knew what I had was too good to keep to myself. Clear as a bell, he told me to go preach the gospel. At first, I didn’t know how I would do this, so one day I took a bus to a neighbouring town, found the main square and started preaching.
“I saw people come to faith like I had done. I prayed with them and got them connected to a local church. Some Christians heard me preach and invited me to their church or to join them on a mission.
“Soon I was travelling around Europe by train, getting off at a station, preaching, then going to the next town or city. I saw people come to the Lord, and people healed. It was just like the Book of Acts.”
Dougie, now aged 67, has since preached in more than 40 countries.
“God would tell me to go to a particular country. I never stopped to think how I would get money. Somehow, it always came. Someone would contact me to say God had told them to give me money, which was just the amount I needed for a ticket.”
As he travelled, Dougie often planted churches, helping them to grow before moving to another location.
“I’m getting on a bit but if someone asks me to go somewhere I will,” he smiles. “I never want to stop preaching the gospel.”
