The journey of living by faith

Jackie Macadam learns about the faith journey of bouncer turned pastor, the Rev Dez Johnston, President of the Boys’ Brigade in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

“IT could be quite violent as a bouncer. I would stand on the door and get abuse after abuse. This violence drove me to take more and more drink and drugs to feel okay again. It was a vicious circle and I lost my way. One night, when it had all became too much, I found myself alone and I overdosed. However, in that moment, I shouted out a prayer. I didn’t want to die.”

The Rev Dez Johnston would readily admit that his journey to being elected as the new President of the Boys’ Brigade UK and RoI last year, could certainly be called ‘unconventional’.

A native of Aberdeen, Dez’s family moved to Rothes in Moray a few years after his birth. That experience shaped what Dez sees as ‘community’.

“We were not a church-going family,” he says. “I remember one occasion, a cousin’s baby’s christening, sitting there on the uncomfortable pews in my new outfit including my new CAT boots. I rested my feet on the foot rest under the pew in front. As the seemingly never ending service went on I had a strange sense of my feet getting hotter and hotter.

“I’d managed to melt my new boots on the heater that ran under the pews… needless to say I was less than happy about that especially when I had to tell my Mum I had wrecked my new boots. I always laugh when people say they will catch fire if they entered church… because I nearly did.” Dez had family in Rothes.

“Mum and Dad were amazing parents and supported my brother and I in trying anything and supporting us when after a few weeks we usually gave up and moved onto the next thing.

“We moved to Rothes to support my Gran and the family business after my Dad’s Dad died very young at 56.

“My wider family were involved in lots of community things such as Gala days, running the local community hall and my Granny used to host displays of Rothes Past and present and became a bit of a local historian. Having a large family in Rothes and an equally large family in Aberdeen meant there were always lots of family events and fun to get involved in.”

Dez was a ‘good kid’ at school, initially at Rothes Primary School and later at Speyside High School in Aberlour.

“I was a consistently high achieving student but managed to also spend quite a few hours in detention and sitting with the Principal,” he says. “I was a House Captain, and usually involved in school projects, like reading Burns’ poetry, or memorably, playing the fairy godmother in our school’s retelling of a Doric Cinderella.

“I enjoyed being involved in every part of school life, I was the resident DJ on the school radio, writer for the paper, sports captain and even a member of the chess club to name but a few of the things I was involved in.”

But for a youngster with such an active mind, the extracurricular activities soon began to dominate.

“By the age of 13 I was running a successful DJ business on the side. When most kids were happy to have a paper round I was planning on how I was going to make my first million. I still managed to finish school with a load of higher and standard grades under my belt.

“After leaving school I had all the best intentions of completing university and starting a career in journalism or in law… however the allure of fame and fortune as a superstar DJ was too much, which ultimately led to lots of part-time jobs to fund my ever growing record and equipment collection and, even more worryingly, my rapidly growing party lifestyle.

“Growing up in a village with five distilleries and five bars for around 1000 residents meant that drink culture was all around me. My DJ-ing also introduced me to the Club Culture that I longed to be part of. I guess, in some ways, the writing was on the wall….

“By 18, my weekends were getting longer and longer and my ability to say no to any kind of party got less and less. I was surrounded by like-minded people who were also keen on the next party and we encouraged one another. Eventually I moved to Glasgow thinking perhaps my next stage of superstardom would come from being in Scotland’s music and club capital. This is when my drinking and drug use got worse. I had to stop DJ-ing and was working on the door as a bouncer.

“The laid back environment and focus of the word and the holy spirit meant I was blown away to meet people my age who really believed in God. I saw the power in who God was… I met the pastor and he invited me to try Alpha and the rest as they say is history.

“Being a bouncer was the most amazing job. The teams that I had the pleasure of working with were some of the best in the business and many have become life-long friends. We lived and worked together and often were putting our lives in one another’s hands.

“The madness of wearing stab and bullet proof vests to go to work, requirements of reading a person and a room require a mix of psychology, that takes a lot of time to master. There was a lot of banter between the bouncers at the night club. The mentality was to push each other to be funnier, stronger, faster and more aggressive.

“I lived on Sauchiehall Street and my flat was party central – there was not a day that went past that there wasn’t some kind of group of people there either before or after work and often for days at a time.

That was the point when I took the cocaine overdose and finally asked God for help.”

It was a turning point for Dez, though he didn’t know it at the time.

“The next day I woke up and felt like I never wanted to touch drugs again. In my self-obsessed nature I just put this down to my own strength. But something was different…. I kept meeting Christians, which in my line of work was quite weird in itself.

“On one occasion, I met a young woman called Fiona when she came for an interview at a shop that I managed. She mentioned that she was a Christian and it really interested me – mainly because I was sure she wouldn’t steal anything and also I then had a pet Christian I could torture with questions.

“Instead of getting annoyed, she bought me a Bible and suggested I tried reading it. Little did I know she could see the destructive path I was on. As well as the drugs, I would regularly drink excessively and enjoyed smoking far too much weed.

She prayed for me every day. We became great friends over the next couple of years. “I started to like her and asked her on a few dates which she persistently said ‘no’ to.

“She lived her faith according to this book, the Bible, and I figured that somewhere inside it I could find an argument for us to date. As I read it, I came to Ecc 3a season for everything under heaven. I began to realise that God had been moving in my life: through overcoming my cocaine habit, the people I had met and the Bible.

“God offers a path out of any situation with complete love and forgiveness simply by asking him into your life.

“That’s when I asked Fiona to take me along to church with her.

“She took me to Vineyard in Glasgow’s West End. The laid back environment and focus of the word and the holy spirit meant I was blown away to meet people my age who really believed in God.

“I saw the power in who God was… I met the pastor and he invited me to try Alpha and the rest as they say is history.”

Dez stopped drinking for a year and learned how to do his job without every situation resulting in a fight and he carried on with Alpha.

“My first thought was how everyone made me feel so welcome. It was great to meet other people asking the same kinds of questions I had and it allowed me to start really thinking about faith. How could I be forgiven for all the things that I had done? Why would God forgive someone like me? As we all became friends over the weeks, there was a real sense of family that developed in our group. It was amazing. We shared meals and laughed during the discussions which really brought us together. These people profoundly changed my outlook on Christians with the message of Jesus they shared.

“The journey of living by faith and committing to follow him regardless of the cost has stood me in good stead ever since, especially when my friends were all pretty sure it was just an early mid-life crisis.

“After six months the church advertised a discipleship year programme and I jumped at the chance of growing in my faith. I quit both my jobs and chased after God by serving the local church. This is when I first started my youth work journey and also has became a fundamental foundation on the man I am today.

“Alpha showed me what Christianity actually means. It turned the questions I had about whether God exists into a belief that God cares about me. It showed me I could change from a violent, drug addict to a man who is happily married, cares for his family and is full of love. I had such a profound encounter with Jesus on the weekend away that I knew God was real and that there was no way back.”

It was Alpha that gave Dez an entry to the Boys’ Brigade.

“I got involved in BB in 2017 as the Youth Co-ordinator for Alpha Scotland. I met with John Sharp and Alan Hunter at their Scottish centre at Carronvale to see if there was any way we could work together as Alpha and the BB. This led to a completely new partnership forming and ultimately we provided each BB Company (group) in Scotland with a memory card with Alpha on it delivering a set of guidance as to how they could use the resource.

“The following year I was asked to speak at BB England’s summer camp called Unite and we were able to agree to roll out Alpha across BB groups in England as well. This was the start of even more opportunities to speak at events and roll out online training and support for the whole of the UK. This relationship has continued to grow. I have felt drawn to the BB’s vision of children and young people living their life to the full (John 10:10).

“Last year I was approached to consider the role of BB President. After a lot of prayer, I felt daunted, terrified and under equipped but called to go forward. So here we are now today.

“Looking back over the last 13 years I can see God’s hand and leading at every stage of my journey. The fact I am where

I am now and doing what I do is testament to that.

“God has shown up time and time again in asking me to take the next step from, guest on Alpha to host, to area volunteer, youth co-ordinator, Scottish director and now Europe, middle east and north Africa Youth Director.

And his advice for anyone still struggling? “I would simply say there is always a way out of whatever you are struggling with.

It might not feel that way but there is.

“God offers a path out of any situation with complete love and forgiveness simply by asking him into your life. It may not be an easy path after that but it’s the first step in a journey to freedom that will see darkness becoming light.

“Looking back over the last 13 years I can see God’s hand and leading at every stage of my journey. The fact I am where I am now and doing what I do is testament to that.

“Speak your deepest worries and fears to Him and then you will have the strengt hto talk to others and find a road out of whatever you struggling with.”

To find out more about the work of The Boys’ Brigade visit www.boys-brigade.org.uk