From robber to fundraiser

9 June 2009

Church Army's Head of Fundraising Paul Fitzpatrick speaks with encouraging honesty about his journey 'From robber to fundraiser' in the current issue of Inspire Magazine (holiday special).

A Church Army Evangelist, Paul has come a long way from a boyhood in South London that saw him take a wrong turn, to his position now as a manager responsible for recruiting new supporters to pray for and finance the organisation.

A conviction for an attempted revenge murder put Paul behind bars at the age of 18, where his well-practised hard-man demeanour masked the emptiness he felt inside from everyone but himself.

In the article he speaks of being "mysteriously signed up for an evening Bible group", whilst in prison, and giving his life over to God one day, after listening to Trans World Radio. "I realised that if I didn't change I was going to spend the rest of my days in a cell," he says. "I was looking into my own fire, and all I could see was the misery and hurt I had caused."

Following his conversion Paul became an evangelist to other prisoners and, eventually, was made the Prison Chaplain's orderly. About two-and-a-half years later he was released from prison, signing up to train with Church Army in 1998.

Paul concludes the article with typical frankness: "Many have said to me that believing in Jesus is a load of rubbish. All I can say is that my own life is a witness that irrefutably challenges that. God has got a sense of humour - he took me from robbery to fundraising. How about that?"

You can read the full article on our website, and also see Paul as he introduces the work of his Fundraising Team in a short film.