Former convict David York preaches on the streets.,,,
By the age of 24, David York had racked up 20 prison sentences, 55 convictions and been arrested more than 100 times.
So it came as a shock when the gang member became a Christian in prison and a developed a passion to share his story in the very jails he was once locked up in.
“I’d spent most of my life trying to get out of prisons, now I’m trying to get back into them,” says David, now 33 and a father of two with his wife, Stephanie.
David’s troubles stemmed from a childhood in Rutherglen, Glasgow, marred by bullying and the death of his father at 11.
“A culture of gang violence developed when I was 11 and I began experimenting with drugs and alcohol,” he explains in an interview with lifestoriesworldwide.com. That led to a cycle of crime and prison as harder drugs, gang violence and homelessness took hold.
As David served time, he flicked through the Gideon Bibles in his cells. Then, on a stretch for serious assault, he attended a fellowship group at HMP Kilmarnock and decided to become a Christian in 2011.
But the road ahead remained tough.
“I thought when I was released from prison I would be perfect and live a clean lifestyle. How wrong I was,” he says.
David joined a church but, strapped for cash, he found a friend’s invitation to sell drugs irresistible. By 2014, David was back inside. Now determined to change, he vowed to turn from his old lifestyle.
“I said to God, ‘I’m addicted to money but I hate what I do for it. When I get out, I’m going to live for you.”
True to his word, David enrolled in Bible school. But a family tragedy turned his world upside down once again.
“I went to my brother’s house and found him lying on the floor. He’d passed away from a drugs overdose.”
Drawn back into drugs, alcohol and violence, it took his church’s support to help him complete his Bible study course but as he did a desire grew to share his story where he had grown up. David helped plant and pastor Destiny Church in Rutherglen.
“God had taken me from being a notorious convict, drug dealer and gang member to being the pastor of a church, sharing the gospel and trying to love people.
“I’ve been invited to tell my story in prisons I once served time in, sometimes to people I’ve shared cells with.”
And now David has secured a full-time job with Prison Fellowship Scotland as their projects manager.
“God can do the impossible. He gave my life purpose, hope and meaning.”
