Preacher to talk on how Jesus helped save his life

Preacher to talk on how Jesus helped save his life

18 October 2023

AN evangelical preacher will be in Seaforde from today until Friday to spread the message of “how precious you are to the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Ken Davidson will be at The Shed located at the Newcastle Road at 8pm each evening, sharing how his life has been completely changed from despair to hope by Jesus Christ.

He grew up on the Shore Road in Belfast and explained it was his father who put the emphasis on him not falling into the wrong crowd.

Ken said he became involved in martial arts which instilled discipline in him and he competed in several championships across the UK and Ireland.

“Unfortunately due to injuries, I could no longer compete in martial arts events, so I started to become more active in the gym and became a doorman for various bars around Belfast,” he explained.

“A lot of the people I worked with were on steroids and they kept urging me to take them. I kept on saying ‘no’ but then I started to notice they were getting better results in the gym and I became slightly envious.

“I went from saying, ‘no’ to thinking, ‘What harm could it do’,” which Ken admitted resulted in a downward spiral for him, admitting he became “hooked on drugs, and a life of excess and partying”.

Ken continued: “I was the type of guy who’d be the first to arrive at the party, the last one to leave and I’d find somewhere else to go and drink once the party was over. It was the expense of my health – I’d constantly fall ill from drinking far too much.”

Ken’s addictions to alcohol and drugs resulted in him registering as homeless twice and it also had detrimental effects on his health, leaving him suffering from pneumonia.

“I was really hurting and depressed,” Ken recalled. “I was walking home with my brother from a party and said to him not to mess up his life as I had.

“He thought I was sad because we were both drunk and he didn’t take much notice, but by that stage I had lost so much weight, I was so ill and really felt I had no strength left to carry on.”

The next morning, Ken woke up at a friend’s house he had gone to after saying goodbye to his brother.

Much to his confusion, he was surrounded by a group of Christians which proved to be a turning point in his life and Ken now runs his own church ministry called Christ Encounters Tabernacle in Gilford.

“I remember coming around and hearing voices murmuring and opened my eyes to find two people who happened to be devout Christians standing over me,” Ken recalled.

“They took me to a church meeting at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on the Shore Road and for a while I was looking to find ways to leave, but they kept saying that I was there now so I may as well stay until the end.

“So I stayed and listened to the message that Jesus loves us and that he died out of his love for us. That really resonated with me and it’s a message that has stayed with me.”

Now sober for 27 years, Ken said he has never looked back and that going to the Shore Road church saved his life.

“I want people to know that the Gospel is for everyone and I want everyone to come along and tell them about the love of Christ. I fell into a life of addiction unknowingly and it was the love of the Lord that changed my life for the better.”

Event organiser, David Croskery, said it is for Christians of every denomination to come and listen to Ken’s story and testimony about how much hope there is in the Lord.

He added: “The event is free for everyone to come and listen to the power of Jesus’ love.”