‘I was adopted and abused. Now I’m teaching young people to repair bicycles so they can know God’s love’

I live in East Leeds, where the most recent statistics show that a third of young people are living in poverty. Often, it’s difficult to describe what this looks like to others but, on my estate, I know kids aged nine and ten years old who are running drugs for their families.

These young people - who are coping with all kinds of dysfunction and trauma and trying to make sense of it all - find it almost impossible to express themselves in a way that will be heard. Feeling rejected, marginalised and angry, they are easily provoked; they get excluded from school, banned from youth clubs and end up roaming the streets.

Fighting for their dignity and respect, they crave acceptance, purpose and an escape from boredom. Police sanctions and school exclusions do little to address these underlying issues and, at worst, only reinforce destructive patterns.

Unwanted and angry

I was adopted and abused growing up, which made me feel unwanted and filled with anger. This anger led me to join the army, where I became a sniper and top infantryman. Despite my success, I developed drinking problems and struggled with PTSD and depression.

When a young person asks for prayer, I’ll stop everything in my garage

My wife, who was a Christian, prayed for me for years and took me on a church holiday. I felt out of place and suicidal. During a chapel service, I found a stone inscribed with Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

It was just a small pebble that fitted in the palm of my hand, but for some reason, initially,  it felt so heavy that I couldn’t lift it. But by focusing on the cross and reflecting on my past mistakes, it felt like a burden was lifted from me. That moment felt supernatural to me, like God stepping in to help during a time when I was feeling suicidal. I gave my life to the Lord and, afterwards, it was as though I had woken up feeling like a completely different person.

Since then, I’ve worked with prisoners and served in ministry. Feeling the need to reconcile with my birth mum, I shared my story on Facebook, which reconnected us. Despite feeling unwanted, I learned that I am loved and wanted. It reminded me that God knows you even if you don’t know him, and he is waiting for you to make contact.

Deserving of dignity

One day, I saw a group of young boys skipping school. They spent their days riding bicycles, doing stunts, wasting time and trying to get by. It’s easy to dismiss these young people - they are often written off by schools, local residents, and even the police as nuisances and problems.

Police sanctions and school exclusions do little to address these underlying issues

In reality, they are just young people weathering family breakups, witnessing and experiencing the impact of drug addiction, violence, abuse and chaotic lives at home. It’s what they lack that paves the way for how they behave. Even more tragically, these young people are four times more likely to end up in prison because of the choices they make in this environment.

But these kids have natural talent; they deserve dignity and respect. They are craving acceptance, purpose and an escape from boredom - just like all young people. Surely their young lives are worth more than this?

Geared for life

I knew what it meant to live through tough times, so I decided to do something about it. I reached out to my network and opened my garage in 2022 for ‘Geared for Life’, a start-up enterprise for young people in the area.

At first, young people brought in their bicycles to be fixed, and I was able to get to know them a bit better - that’s when I started seeing their real potential. Now, we have 40-50 young faces come through my open garage door, and we’ve built a program that helps them learn valuable engineering and electrical skills. The group environment is designed so that young people engage in new patterns of living through fellowship and enterprise.

They can fix bicycles, motorbikes and scooters, enabling greater social mobility as they develop a marketable skill. We now have a cycle engineer training young people to repair bicycles to an internationally recognised standard. We’ve also developed basic accounting, customer service and business development training. Beyond that, these young people are helping to power Leeds into the future by investing in the green economy.

Praying for more

At its heart, we want to see young people fulfill their potential and, ultimately, develop life-changing relationships with Jesus. The young people know us and trust us now, and they tell others as well. My favourite moments are when a young person asks for prayer - I’ll stop everything in my garage to do that.

We couldn’t do any of this without our partners and sponsors - Church Army, Christian Motorcyclist Association, EQUAS, West Yorkshire Police, and the West Yorkshire Fire Youth Intervention Service.

It’s all working towards the same thing: we want to make a difference in our community and in the lives of each young person. Because their lives are worth it.