“I’ll never be a Christian…”

Levi never guessed the transformation God would work in him – from unhappy, troublemaking teen determined never to become a Christian, to evangelist to Gen Z. His story began a few years ago, as a teenager in North Devon with no exposure to faith.

“I never grew up a Christian, or around any concept of religion at all. I was taught A LOT of complete opposites; I was taught, ‘If someone hits you, hit them 10 times harder!’ That sort of attitude kind of made me who I was…

“I started going through a rough few years in my life, before coming to Christ. I was causing as much trouble in school as I possibly could, but this changed for a little bit when I met my best friend, Sam.

“Sam is a Christian, incredibly on fire for God! I always knew this, but never took any proper notice. He was just a normal guy who was a little bit odd to me at times. He pulled me away from the bad crowd that I was in and was always there for me.

“Eventually, we left school, and Sam thought it was a great time to invite me to a church youth group at Grosvenor Church in Barnstaple. VERY reluctantly I came along, after around four months of nagging. The moment I walked into the first room, I felt welcome. There was no bias towards me just because I was new. It was weird to me, people liking me just because I decided to show up.

“I remember the whole thing. I had an amazing time! We got into the car afterwards and Sam asked, “So did you enjoy that?” I always remember my reply. I love to think that God got a great laugh out of what I said: “Yeah, but I’ll never be a Christian…” If I only knew the plan He had for me!

“I continued going to this youth group and eventually went along to a Sunday evening service called Elevate. I loved it! It wasn’t something I was searching for, but something I needed that found me.

That’s what God does – He finds the lost and brings them back to the place that they’re supposed to be. However, this was not long lived, as I would eventually slip into a spiral that I saw no end to.

“I started drinking at every social thing I went to. I thought it was what was helping me cope, when in reality it was pushing me away from all that was good in life. I stopped going to Elevate, I stopped going to my youth group, I cut off my connections with Sam, my youth pastor and other friends I had made.

“I started going to more and more parties, smoking weed and some other stuff as well. I was a complete mess with no view of a way out – this was my life now, and I was nowhere near okay with it.

“This went on for months, and it was hard to even look at myself in the mirror. One week was so bad that I considered suicide – in my mind, that was my only way out. Instead, I decided to answer one of the messages I had been ignoring for what felt like a lifetime. I reached back out to Sam and my youth pastor and arranged a time to meet up with them, even though everything in me was telling me to shut them out.

“I was dreading it, I was expecting loads of questions. To my shock, there were none… They just seemed happy to see me. It was not what I was expecting but it was nice, and I was the most at peace I had felt in a long time.

“I went back to my old youth group and Elevate. It felt weird at times but I needed to go, and I started to enjoy it again. I had one especially bad week, and it was the first time I asked for prayer. It worked for everyone else. Why couldn’t it work for me?

“I asked for prayer, and about three people laid a hand on me and just started praying. I didn’t quite know what was going on but just stood there and tried to open myself up to anything. Then I felt a fourth person come and lay a hand on me. I opened my eyes a little bit to see who that person was and there was no-one. This scared me a little, but something inside of me clicked and I just knew that Jesus was there and He was watching over me. This was a huge wakeup call; I knew there was something and that something loves me for who I am and not what I have done.

“There was a huge change in me. It didn’t happen overnight, but over time I noticed I had no desire to drink or do anything that would harm me. I even started going along to the Sunday morning service, which I found inspiring – this was a place full of so many amazing people who had a real heart for others and God!

“These people coached me through so many rough parts of my life and have taught me so much about the Bible, and it’s grown to be more than just words to me. It’s a guide to life, a book full of hardships with the solution always being to rely on God and obey His commands, not because we are told to, but because we love Him!

“The Spirit nurtured that flame inside of me and turned it into this burning hot fire, a fire that burned for just one person – God! This led to me getting baptised. I knew that I was being called to this life, and there is someone, ‘The Father,’ that loves me – amazing stuff!”

A hunger for God among Gen Z

Levi is a member of Gen Z, a generation made up of teens and young adults. As he’s shared the gospel with other young people, he’s discovered a deep curiosity for spiritual things harboured by many Gen Z-ers.

“I find there is a HUGE openness to anything spiritual, and there are now many who will listen out of curiosity. A lot of young people don’t know what the Bible teaches about Christ. They are often shocked about what He can do, what he has done, and what He will continue to do until the end of time!

“I see such an interest in people when I specifically talk about how Jesus knows about every sin, and how He died not just for ‘perfect’ people – but He died for anyone who comes to Him and everyone that loves Him. Not many young people know this. A few are genuinely shocked and a lot end up digging deeper and want to know more!

“We are all incredibly blessed with the Spirit of God, and through His power we can witness to anyone that we can. We need to all prepare and go and make disciples of all nations, whether this is family or friends. There is no greater family than an eternal family in the greatest place in the universe, heaven. We should all aspire to be there, because with God, nothing is impossible!”