Testimonies
Norman Amey
I
grew up in Sussex and moved to the West Country when I joined Devon and Cornwall
Police in 1981. I served in Plymouth, St. Austell, and Ilfracombe before settling
in East Devon. I have had spells on CID, Training, and Complaints Investigation
before taking my current role as Sector Inspector at Honiton.
I am married to Alison and we have three children; Tim, Bex and Matthew. We are members of Honiton Community Church and I also play a bit of golf and support youth football.
I came to the Christian faith by considering two questions: 1. Are we really just the result of a biological or chemical reaction – an accident? and 2. Why, 2000 years later, is there such a fuss over Jesus’ birth at Christmas and his death at Easter?
People ask me if there is a conflict between being a Christian and a Police Officer, but I find my Christian faith has helped put my job into perspective. It allows me to see the bigger picture of a God who loves and cares for each of us, despite the horrible things that people do to each other.
Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.” I pray that God will help me to do just that as I go about my daily life at home and at work.
Roger Bartlett
I
was born and brought up in Paignton, Devon as part of a shell fishing family
of 5 children. I joined the police at 18 years old in 1984 and served the majority
of my time in Exeter in a variety of roles after my first two years in St Austell.
I am married to Rebecca and have three WMDs Liam, Georgina and Louis and we
now live near Barnstaple. I joined the police because I wanted to make a positive
contribution to the community and because I believed God was leading me to the
profession. My enthusiasm today is as great as ever and I remain convinced that
God is not only interested in my work, but wants to do things through me at
work each day that will have an eternal impact.
Whilst the environment in which we work is pretty dark, and at times my faith is very weak and feeble, I take encouragement from the fact that in the darkest places, even the smallest glimmer of light makes a big difference. I know in my work that whilst those who have done wrong need to be accountable for their actions and be punished, I will never set eyes on a single person that God does not love absolutely, completely and intimately.
As a Police officer I am absolutely convinced, that the evidence for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming. And if that is true, the implications are mind blowing: Death is not the end. Jesus IS who he said he was; the son of God, and for everyone the hope of forgiveness and an everlasting relationship with the living God is a reality. Further more, if God has power over death, he certainly has power to break the influence that drugs, alcohol, anger and rejection in people’s lives. I have seen this miraculous power in the lives of changed addicts and can testify that, as it says in Isaiah 59 v1 ‘ The arm of the Lord is not too short to save’…anyone!
Dave MacKenzie-Clarke
Born
in 1952 to God fearing parents, my childhood was spent in London and Hertfordshire.
I was educated at Church of England schools and was drafted into the local church
choir at 7 years old. Choir practice twice a week, weddings on Saturday and
two services on a Sunday for the next 10 years of my life would have had a huge
spiritual impact on my life, or so you would think. Actually, it all passed
me by. As a Senior Chorister in the Royal School of Church Music I knew the
sung eucharist communion service so well I didn’t have to think about
what I was saying or singing. This just about sums up my early years –
good Christian family, good Christian upbringing but no understanding of faith
and no love of God.
I trained as a teacher in Physical Education and Biology at Saint Luke’s College, Exeter University and qualified in 1975. I taught for 10 years in two large comprehensives in Devon. Whilst looking for my first Senior Masters post I decided to take a huge drop in salary and status and join the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary.
God was working in my life even then and I didn’t even know it.
During this time of me dragging the Police, kicking and screaming, into the 20th Century, my marriage failed, people came into my life who would change my very being, a friend of mine tragically died at 37, I attended an ALPHA course and I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of those people to come into my life was my wife Tanya. We have 2 children, Cairistine and Robert and we are all growing in our Christian faith together with Trinity Church Exeter as our Church family. My Mission is to proclaim the Lord at work and I feel honoured that he should have put me in a position to be able to fulfil this role with the help of The Christian Police Association (CPA). I am the Headquarters representative for the CPA.
Phil Skedgell
I
was born in 1972 into a Christian family, in Plymouth. All of my immediate relatives
are also Christians, and several were local/lay preachers in the Methodist Church.
It was therefore a very supportive, and happy childhood. That said, I
wanted to ensure that what I was involved in was what I wanted for
me. I looked at other faiths, other Christian denominations, and
after some time decided that Christianity really made the most sense to
me. I went to a Billy
Graham rally in 1986 where I finally made my own decision to follow Christ.
I then went to Portsmouth University where I complete a degree in Social Policy, and became actively involved in a Christian group called the JCF (Joint Christian Forum!) It was great to worship with Catholic’s, C of E, and many Free Church and get a broader understanding of the different traditions. It was at University that I met my wife in a local youth group.
1994, I joined the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, initially working in Liskeard, Cornwall, prior to moving up to Exeter. I got married, and we now have three amazing children, Maegan, Libby and Jacob. Jacob and Libby are twins! Throughout those years it has been apparent to me that God has been supporting me and walking with me. Not because I have achieved dizzy ranks or achieved great things - infact it is more because of the things which have NOT happened! As a family we are a solid unit. My wife and I survived numerous years of only seeing each other once every five weeks after my night shift - whilst she was away studying. That was tough, but we survived. There are more examples, but not enough space to go on!
As a family we all worship at Exwick Community Church where I am always amazed at how God works and provides. I am now on the Exec of the D&C CPA, and another CPA HQ rep.
David Thubron
I write to let you know how I personally came to know God and how I eventually gave my life to him.
I
grew up in a small village in Gateshead Tyne & Wear, I had a church going
family and I was an active member of my local Methodist church. At 17yrs I joined
the Royal Marines and promptly left the church behind in favour of nights out
with the boys and enjoying myself as a Royal Marine. Having been a church member
and a senior member of the Boys Brigade I was happily ignorant that I was a
Christian and I did not need to do anything else about my faith.
However God had not left me and whilst posted in N. Devon with the Royal Marines in 1997, I met my future wife Emily who I was introduced to by a friend. I met Emily and from there started to attend her church Brookdale Evangelical Church in Ilfracombe.
A short time after meeting Emily a close friend of mine in the Royal Marines died in climbing accident, this effected me quite badly and I suddenly realised that he had not accepted Jesus into his life and was not a Christian. I questioned my own faith and with Emily’s encouragement I was able to ask Jesus into my life and ask for forgiveness. I made a commitment to Jesus and was baptised at Brookdale church. I now grew in my faith but still spent more time away with the Royal Marines. I realised that I was missing fellowship with other Christians, and I wanted to live for Christ which I felt I was not doing in the Royal Marines.
I was married to Emily in March 2000 and also drafted to Plymouth at that time. I had placed my notice to leave the Royal Marines and during this time I spoke with friends I knew in the Police who were Christians. I heard how they served the lord within the Police and felt that I would be able to do so also. I applied for the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary and was accepted in May 2002. I passed through the initial interviews and tests putting each stage to the Lord.
I am now working as a Patrol Officer at Central Sector, Charles Cross Police Station Plymouth. I really enjoy being a Police Officer and find I can witness quite freely with colleagues, whereas I had struggled in the Royal Marines. I am in regular contact with other Christian Police Officers in Plymouth. I am a member at Mutley Baptist Church in Plymouth where I am involved in Youth work and Social Outreach in the area. My faith continues to grow and I look forward to encouraging others around me in my new role.
Simon Selley
I was born and grew up in Sidmouth, Devon, before joining the Police in 1982. My contact with the church prior to that was as a choir boy but only to be able to play football in their team! I say church because I wasn’t aware that God was an integral part of it at that stage.
I joined the police as I had failed my A-levels but even in that, as I look back God had his hand on my life.
I met my wife Astrid whilst doing drugs observations in a pub in Kingsbridge (she was a police officer working with me I hasten to add!) and we now have two daughters Grace and Rachel. I gave my heart and life to Jesus just before we married and the path has at times been attached to a roller coaster. (No rose tinted glasses here, especially working in Cornwall!)
I am the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly rep for the C.P.A. and know that despite the fact it is the largest geographic BCU nationally, God is with me at all times and in all places. This is just as well as I have many experiences to support that, but that’s for another time.
Tina Ellis
My name is Tina Ellis and I work for the CPS as a Witness Care Officer in Plymouth. I came to faith after a Billy Graham type meeting at Ford Baptist Church in Plymouth back in 1968 when I was just 10 years old. Peer pressure was probably the cause of me drifting away from God in the early '70's.
A variety of jobs, 3 children and a broken marriage later, I came back to God and worshipped at St Michael's Church in Albert Road Plymouth for many years. Whilst there I held a variety of posts which included Secretary of the PCC and leader of the youth group. Aged 45 I decided to complete my education and after doing an Access course, went on to study at the College of St Mark and St John for a degree in English Literature and Sociology. I also completed a 2 year external course in Theology.
Meanwhile I believed I received a calling from God and I applied to work in the Ministry. This application was successful and together with my husband I was working toward Ordination. Just before my final interview with the Bishop of Exeter my husband told me that he had been conducting a relationship with another woman. This was very unexpected and most upsetting, we had been married 24 years.
I put the interview process on hold after consultation with the Diocese and my Prayer Partners and worked to hold my family together whilst still trying to complete my degree. A very difficult Christmas followed and although my life felt shattered I knew God's will would be done.
The start of 2007 saw me make a decision to leave the family home in an attempt to put distance between myself and the situation, I was not earning as I was still a student in my final term at university. Things did slowly improve. God blessed me with peace of mind and I found myself living back into an area of Plymouth where old church friends could nurtured me and upheld me in their prayers and worship. Work too materialised, and after a surprise call from an old boss at the Magistrates Court, I found myself slotted back into the job that I was doing before I left to study. The upshot of these two blessings (I call them miracles) was that I had the time and space to complete my degree and also earn enough to support myself.
My life has now turned around, and I have a full time job caring for victims and witnesses that is both rewarding and challenging. I am in a new and loving relationship and am worshiping again at a Church where judgement or comments on my estranged husband are not made because no one knows of the situation. My faith is still strong, despite the difficult last 3 years, and I know despite the worst that the Devil may throw at us, God is faithful and just and will provide for all his children. We may not understand his plan for our lives, but we can trust that He will save us and help us. Amen.