Quick tours
Stories from past guests
Diane Louise Jordan
Former Blue Peter presenter, Diane Louise Jordan, attended Sunday
schools as a young girl, but at the age of 17 she turned away
from Christianity.
In 1989 Diane's sister died and she found herself asking,
'What is it all about? Where do we go after this?' That same
year she was offered a job as presenter for Blue Peter.
While working for Blue Peter, Diane discovered that a good
friend and colleague was a Christian. Their conversations
began to challenge her perceptions of Christianity.
When she left Blue Peter, she was invited to present an episode
of Songs of Praise from Lourdes. 'I came back feeling quite
changed. I didn't feel that I was a Christian but I definitely
felt I wanted to become one,' she said.
In 1998 Diane was invited to present another episode of Songs
of Praise about Alpha from Holy Trinity Brompton. She said,
'It felt fantastic to be at Holy Trinity Brompton and I thought,
'I've really got to do this Alpha course.'
Diane enrolled on an Alpha course. 'During that time, God
sort of crept up on me really gently and he has kept creeping
ever since. This is the best thing that has ever happened
to me and I wish I had done it earlier. It has completely
transformed my life for the better.'
Ben Hume-Wright
At the age of 16 Ben Hume-Wright started to smoke marijuana
and soon afterwards he was experimenting with harder drugs.
After his A-levels Ben went to Kingston University to study
Geology. After a couple of weeks he had lost interest in the
course and focused his attentions on partying. He failed his
exams but managed to transfer onto another course. His lifestyle,
though, didn't change. He was smoking more marijuana, taking
ecstasy and speed and drinking lots.
'One night I looked in the mirror - stoned out of my nut
and just really pale and skinny - and said to myself, "What
are you? Who are you?"' Ben said.
In September 1998 one of his sisters recommended he go on
an Alpha course. She had been on drugs but had come off them
and become a Christian. He decided to give it a go.
'After about three or four weeks, I was beginning to find
it all very relevant,' he said. After the weekend away he
said, 'It was genuine fun. It wasn't like I was boshing pills.
It was relief to enjoy myself and not have to be off my nut.'
At the weekend Ben prayed a prayer asking for God's forgiveness,
his cleansing and his help.
Since praying that prayer, Ben has lost the desire to take
any drugs and has stopped smoking. He says, 'Now I have a
time of prayer each day. I wake up, and thank God that I'm
alive and ask for passion and joy. It's in having more and
more of a thirst for Jesus that I've found so much life and
satisfaction. And people can see the ease with which I live,
the peace, the love, the joy - so Jesus is basically life
for me.'
Billy and Debbie Bell
After six years of marriage, Debbie and Billy Bell were close
to separation. Billy was drinking more and more and was having
regular rages at his wife and young son, Sam. 'We were spiralling
down and out of control, there was only one outcome,' he said.
When Debbie's mother died she completely fell to pieces.
'I remember crying out to God in the bathroom, saying, "I'm
so unhappy. How could I be this sad? Why am I so lonely?"'
Soon afterwards Debbie pulled a muscle in her back and started
to see a physiotherapist called Rosemary Gunning. 'She was
very, very lovely and easy to talk to,' she said. It turned
out that Rosemary was a Christian and recommended that Debbie
should attend an Alpha course.
At about the same time some Christian friends presented Billy
and Debbie with two invitations to an Alpha course at their
church. They decided they had nothing to lose and started
the course.
They expected the course to be boring but Debbie said, 'After
the first night of Alpha, Billy and I started to get really
excited. We were like two children saying, "This is brilliant."'
After a few weeks things were already getting better between
them. At the Alpha weekend they both decided they wanted to
become Christians and were baptised. Debbie said, 'After that,
our marriage began to mend, big time. It felt like we had
just started all over again. I felt like I was opening my
eyes for the very first time, seeing everything new and fresh.
As for Billy, he was like a new person - more loving and caring.
I just fell in love with him all over again.'
'What God has done in my life is amazing,' said Billy.
Steve Diddams
Steve Diddams, a London police officer, was persuaded by
his wife to watch the Alpha course on video. To his surprise,
'It really had an effect on me,' he said. Steve then decided
to do an Alpha course at his local church. On the Alpha weekend
he found himself waking up on the Sunday morning and praying.
He said, 'At 5.15 on Pentecost Sunday morning, aged 44 years,
after 24 years as a professing agnostic, verging between an
agnostic and an atheist, sometimes arguing against the existence
of God, I invited Jesus into my life and He came and I haven't
stopped laughing. As a Christian I am a better police officer
without a doubt. I think I am a more even and calmer person.'
Etam and Shabu Dedhar
Etam and Shabu Dedhar, from Northamptonshire, England, separated
in 1994 and their three children spent weekdays with one and
weekends with the other. Divorce seemed inevitable. Then,
at the end of 1996, at the suggestion of a friend, Etam went
on an Alpha course in a local Christian centre. She said,
'By the end of the course I felt completely different. God
helped me give up smoking. I started staying in with a takeaway
instead of going out to nightclubs...gradually I began to
think of my marriage.' Since then their marriage has been
coming back together. Etam says, 'Shabu and I pray together
now - and with the children too. We are so secure in everything
we do because we know our marriage is for life. I am sure
that if I hadn't gone on Alpha, we wouldn't be back together.
It is like a fairy tale.'
Bernie Keane
Bernie Keane, a London taxi cab driver, went on the Alpha
course with his wife Pamela and soon found himself captivated.
'My wife and I would go home and sit up until one o'clock
chatting about it all,' he said. Now he declares himself completely
changed. He said, 'I now have a relationship with Jesus. I
can talk to Him, he has also strengthened my marriage."
David Kennedy
David Kennedy, a City banker from Sussex, England, had been
an alcoholic for nearly 20 years. One day his boss recommended
he go on an Alpha course. He felt he couldn't say, 'No'. Half
way through the course his group prayed that he would stop
drinking - he hasn't had a drink since. At the weekend he
said, 'I said the prayer that Nicky mentions at the back of
Why Jesus? where you repent of everything that has passed
and ask for forgiveness. I guess that was the turning point.
After the Sunday morning session of the weekend, Nick Henderson,
my boss, came up and said, 'How are you?' I just couldn't
speak. I just broke down in tears for about five minutes or
so. It has been an ongoing relationship with God ever since."
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