John Lawson was born in Glasgow in 1966 where he spent the first three years of his life before his Parents moved to South Africa in 1969. In 1972 his brother Alex was born and it seemed like happy families. Four years later after a family Trauma John’s parents split up. His father remained in South Africa and his mother had no option but to move his brother and John back to the UK. John moved to the roughest housing estate in Europe (Drumchapel, just outside Glasgow) and that is where he learned to use violence for the first time to solve a situation! A few years later John moved to Merseyside and he got interested in Martial Arts and became pretty good at it. John then started work as a bouncer and the moved into bodyguard work. He got involved with a highly professional group of ex-soldiers from various countries and they became a professional team. Their company would use them to clean up troubled nightclubs. “Hit them Hard and move on” was the Motto.
Working with big bands like “The Rolling Stones” only gave him the desire for the high life. It was not long before John ended up doing some serious debt collecting for some of his close protection clients, which quickly moved into choosing their own ‘Jobs’. He was soon involved in international kidnapping of men that had stolen from some of his clients. He became embroiled in a world of Shotguns, kidnapping and Money! He made a lot of cash and money was his god. Subsequently, John ended up in prison serving a 5 year sentence for extortion.
John’s wife left him, his home was sold and all John’s worldly possessions were confiscated by the state! He did not care, he was so arrogant. He figured he would do another job when he got released and be back on top. However it was the persistence of a Nigerian friend in Prison that led John one night in February 2005 to the Christian Fellowship. The thing that interested John the most were the cakes and biscuits that he heard were on offer!
John Lawson amazingly encountered God that night as other hardened criminals sang gospel songs. John wept like a baby behind the song sheets as he felt a sweep of emotion overcome him. He woke the next day in his cell and he just felt that everything was going to be okay, and he had an amazing sense of peace. He read the story of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John, chapter 4 and he was intrigued, and as John read more he felt God’s very presence in his cell. He was excited the following week as he headed back to the Fellowship. The combination his mother’s prayers, the prison Pastor and most importantly the Grace of God led John to turn away from my old life and surrender to Jesus.
Now, John has realized that the greatest place he could ever have gone to was prison! There are no walls that can ever hold John again for he is free indeed!!! John has been out of prison since May 2007 and The Lord Jesus Christ Has blessed him in so many ways. A beautiful Christian wife and a full time ministry position with Avanti. Today John travels around the world going back into prisons to plant the seed of The Gospel. “God has amazing plans for all our lives and I thank Him every day for saving a wretch like me! . My desire, God willing, is to continue to God’s work and fulfill the command of Jesus Christ in Mark 16.15 to Go out and preach the Gospel to all nations!”
Reference:Andrew James Moules
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