Bikie to Baptism

“Guns, drugs, women, money… I got mixed up in a bikie club,” he says. “It was pretty hectic, crime every day, drugs every day. I’d go to church every now and then, and battle all that stuff.

“I knew where I needed to be, but I didn’t know how to get there,” Matt says. 

While in prison, Matt says he was sick of trying to do everything on his own strength. “I spent a day in solitary confinement, cried out to God and asked for help. I said ‘you really need to help me.’”

During his time in prison, Matt spent a great deal of time with a Prison Fellowship volunteer, who visited him regularly. 

“It was an accidental meeting, but we just clicked straight away!” The two men spent time together, praying and talking. 

Three months later, Matt is out of prison, and walking a new path. “It’s been an amazing three months, let me tell you!” he says. A week after he was released, Matt was baptised. When asked if anyone from his ‘old life’ came, he says, “Not from my past life, no. I didn’t want any of them there. I just wanted to do it for me and my journey.” 

Matt’s life is completely different now. He thanks God for full time work in a job he loves, a place to live, and quality community. “It’s a good life. What I have now I could never have asked for. I have happiness, which I never had before.” 

“Thank people for all their hard work and prayers,” he says. “I want my story to help people. If I can do it, anyone can.” 

Praise God for his grace available in every situation!! 

– Joanna Mann, Staff Writer