NEW LIFE
JANUARY 2011 • Issue 203 40p
GOOD NEWS STORIES
IT’S A MIRACLE THAT OUR LITTLE GIRL SURVIVED SAY COUPLE FULL STORY – PAGE 2
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REVEALED: TEEN POP STAR BIEBER’S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP FULL STORY – PAGE 3
TALKS TO ENCOURAGE MEN TO CHURCH Man returns fiver... 27 years after theft
Firefighter’s saving lives 999 MAN ON MERCY MISSION... EVEN WHEN HE’S NOT AT WORK FIREFIGHTER Keith “Mitch” Mitchell has rescued people from smoke-filled houses and freed them from car crashes. But now the tough emergency does more than rescue – he's "saving" people's lives. Mitch, as he is best known, is the co-fou nder of Crow n Jesus Ministries based in Belfast, one of the most dynamic evangelistic outreaches in Ireland. He said that his own search for God drove him to help others.
desire “As a teenager, I'd wake up many Sundays not with a desire to go to church, but a sore head from the night before,” Mitch said. “I grew up attending church but fell away in my early teens after the death of my father. “I didn’t see how God or church connected with my life. "I was a teenager looking for fun; enjoying nightclubs, drinking alcohol, smoking pot and chasing girls and thought that was what everyone
my age did.” But when he was 19, a friend invited Mitch to visit his church and over the coming weeks he was surprised at what he saw and heard about Jesus. Slowly, the pieces fell into place and Mitch realised the one thing he was missing was actually the last thing he had been looking for – Jesus. After listening to his brother give testimony at a local church and a gospel message by evangelist Roger Carswell, Mitch “prayed a simple prayer inviting Jesus into my life. I have never looked back.” Mitch now works as a part-time firefighter and spends the rest of his time telling others about the Lord through his witty and lifechanging talks. He is especially keen to reach men, who ma ke up on average approximately one third of most congregations. “In some churches there are so few men that when you walk into the gents toilets, they have lavender walls, smell of flowers, have candles and scented toilet paper. You wonder if you have walked into the l Continued on Page 3
LIFESAVER... Keith “Mitch” Mitchell
A FORMER choirboy has returned £5 he stole from a church collection plate more 27 years ago. Jason Boucher, now 40, nicked the fiver from Hereford Cathedral when he was a teenager. H e h a s fe lt g u i lt y about the theft for many years, and decided to do something about it when he rece nt ly beca me a Christian. He wrote a letter of confession to the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Andrew Priddis, and returned the cash. Jason said: “It’s as if God has been on my case all this time as I’ve always had a conscience about the theft. It’s never too late to put a matter right and I feel a massive burden has been lifted now the money’s been paid back. “I feel the delay was preventing me getting to know God. “I had images of Jesus hanging on the cross and thought he did this for me. Now I want to see what he’s got planned for me after I’ve finally put
FORGIVEN... ex-choirboy Jason Boucher things in order and have been forgiven.” Bishop Priddis, in a written reply to Jason, added: “You knew at the time it was wrong to take the money and clearly this has troubled you at different times in your life for the last 27 years. “God always calls us to new beginnings and he is obviously doing a work in you. Jesus talked about the great joy that there is over ‘one sinner who repents’. “It shows real courage and strength of character to act on that now, after all this time, and I am really delighted that you have done so.”
My faith helped me cope with my abusive husband FULL STORY – CENTRE PAGES