Barry’s story - The drug dealer
It shouldn’t have happened really. I had two great parents who brought up me and my two older brothers well. We lived in Salford, near Manchester. I struggled at school and eventually left school with no qualifications.
One night, when I was a teenager, a few of us were at a friend’s house when another friend came round and offered us some heroin. We were curious but a bit disappointed with the effects. So a few days later we took some more. Within a few weeks we were taking heroin on a regular basis.
I met an older woman who was a dealer and I left home and went to live with her in Manchester’s Moss Side area. I was drawn into Manchester’s drug scene taking cannabis, amphetamine and LSD. I became addicted to heroin and began to supply drugs to others.
I descended into a very dark world. I was dependent on drugs for fourteen years and spent a number of terms in prison for various offences. My health suffered and I even began to hear voices in my head.
After many years of taking drugs and living in the Manchester area I decided to move to Rochdale, after a break in at my flat.
I had only been in Rochdale eight weeks when one day I got on a bus to go and do some shopping. While I was on the bus I got talking to this guy who seemed really genuine. I got off the bus and I thought ‘Hey, that guy was alright’.
The following Sunday I was taking my Jack Russell out for a walk at about 1pm in the afternoon. As I was walking up the road who should be walking in the opposite direction but the guy that I had met on the bus just a few days before. We stopped and talked and then I asked him where he had been. He said, ‘Church’.
To be honest my inward reaction to that statement was ‘Church!? Church is just for older people. Church isn’t relevant. Church is boring!’ My outward reaction was ‘O that’s cool’. He said to me, ‘Why don’t you come along?’ He looked over the road and said that they met in the hospital grounds over there. I said no and that I was OK. We said goodbye and we continued on our way.
A few days later I had an appointment to see a psychiatrist as my medical records had been transferred from Manchester. His name was Dr. Samuel. He was a very smart, well spoken African gentleman. We had our meeting and I came out still able to get all my medication, which at the time meant a lot to me.
The next day, I was taking my dog for a walk again and while I was walking up the road, past the hospital, I started to look for this church but I couldn’t see one. I was looking for a big cathedral type of church.
The following day there was a knock at my door. I opened the door and it was a woman whom I had never met before. She said that she was my next-door neighbour and she had come to introduce herself. After a conversation I asked if she could tell me where the church was that was in the hospital grounds. She said ‘Yes I will take you, because I go to that church’.
The following Sunday she came and picked me up and she took me to this church. To be honest it wasn’t what I was expecting. It was a group of Christians who met in a wooden hut!
I sat down next to my neighbour, then there was a tap on my shoulder, I looked over and it was the guy that I met on the bus. He sat on the other side with his wife and children. After a short while the minister got up to speak, but just before he spoke I heard these words from behind me, ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!’ I looked round. Can you guess who was walking through the door? It was my psychiatrist!
All three people that I had met in the last ten days were all in this room!
After the speaker finished his message that day, I received prayed for drug addiction, my mental health problems that had been caused by drug abuse and I encountered God in a powerful way. I could hardly believe how all my energy had come back. When I got home I began to think 'What have I been doing with my life?' I cried out to God in my living room - "God! Help me get this **** out of my system!" The following day I committed my life to Christ.
This was the beginning of a really exiting journey. After only four weeks I came of all the drugs that I was addicted too. I had been suffering from hearing voices for nine years. After becoming a Christian they disappeared completely and to this day have never returned.
Today Barry travels around the UK telling his story and introducing others to the power of Jesus that he encountered in his life. He has also travelled to many other nations speaking to crowds of thousands and seeing many miracles in the lives of those he prays for.