I first met Fernando when he was working for the London City Mission in Bermondsey.
Currently he is a student pastor at Holy Trinity, Brompton, whilst training for the ordained ministry of the Church of England - as part of which he is currently doing a placement at St James. In the summer, God willing, he will be ordained at St Paul's Cathedral.
Today Fernando told us his story. When he was born his mother was in prison for drugs offences. As a teenager he got into drugs himself, and drug dealing himelf, and spent some time in prison.
It was the man who came up to him and said 'Fernando, God loves you and has a plan for your life' that set him on a journey that involved rehab, some relapses along the way, and a growing understanding of who Jesus was and what he had done for him, that changed his life.
Fernando knows what it is to be a criminal in the dock facing a judge. Every criminal hopes the judge will be lenient but the judge has to be just, said Fernando. He discovered that Jesus is the judge who stands in the place of criminals (all of us) and bears our punishment, giving us new life.
That's why Fernando wants to give his life telling others about the amazing love of Jesus that transformed his life and can transform any life.
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