Nathan Jones
FOREST OF DEAN bullyboys came perilously close to destroying Nathan Jones's life.
They smashed holes in his confidence, tore at his self-esteem and drove barbs into his emotions. From the age of 11 to 16, school was a nightmare of mental torment and physical pain.
He recalls: "The moment I began my secondary education, the kids began to pick on me. I don't know why they did it. Perhaps it was because I was smaller than a lot of them and somewhat shy and quiet.
"Whatever it was, I was the victim of severe bullying, virtually every day. It was very, very traumatic. The abuse was both physical and emotional. They would push my head into walls, or call me names. A lot of them were doing it and it went on for five years.
"I was subjected to jibes. I was belittled. I was isolated. And I became very emotionally damaged. In fact, I now realise that I was not too far away from a nervous breakdown."
So it was with huge relief that Nathan left school at the age of 16 to begin work with the high street fashion retailer Next. But the savage mental wounds inflicted on him at school were still there, even though the perpetrators were not. It was while he was working as a Next manager that he finally hit rock bottom.
He explains: "My shop colleagues were friendly and the atmosphere was congenial. But I was going down and down and down. Underneath the facade I was so depressed. I hated myself and emotionally I just wasn't coping.
"Even though I was a Christian I was so close to despair that I felt even God couldn't do anything for me. Members of my church in Mitcheldean were doing their best to help and support me, but that was not making me any better.
"I didn't feel the church could relieve my pain but, of course, the church in itself can't ever relieve anyone's pain. Only God can do that, through the church."
"So, I decided to turn my back on Christianity and look for the answer to my need in the world outside. But that just made the problem even worse.
"After eight weeks, when I experienced an enormous void in my life, my mum asked me if I would go with her to a Christian conference in Newport. The title of the sermon was Turning Back. And the message was that it didn't matter how far we might have distanced ourselves from God, we could always return.
"And that is what I did. I rededicated my life to Christ and, the moment I did so, I found a new peace as God lifted me up and began to help me deal with all that had gone on, and was still going on, in my life.
"I can honestly say that God changed it all. He took away all the turmoil and pain and gave me a new purpose, a new direction and a new satisfaction.
"I still have the occasional struggle but, as the Bible says, 'He gave me a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair'."
Three years later as a 20-year-old Next department manager, handling a staff of 20 and an annual turnover of £1 million, Nathan decided to commit his life to full-time Christian service. He went to London to join the Oasis Trust and for the next 12 months, while based in Battersea, he worked tirelessly with drug addicts and the homeless.
One day, while driving through London, he suddenly felt a calling to return to Gloucestershire and begin the ministry that, from the very outset, was known as Teens in Crisis.
After six years working among the county's troubled youngsters, Nathan says: "Yes, God is using someone who was a teen in crisis himself to help kids who are virtually carbon copies of those who caused me so much anguish.
"When I began this work, I was extremely nervous. Because of my memories, gangs of teenagers filled me with considerable apprehension.
"But God has helped me walk back in victory over the very same territory that Satan used to try to destroy me."