Stories From Past Guests

‘The God Who Changes Lives’ is a book containing more detailed stories from past guests. Available in four volumes from the Alpha Publications Hotline.

Kim Santino
Derby

Bodybuilder and karate black belt Kim Santino, 46, from Derby, ran his own gym, drove a Porsche and had a beautiful wife and daughter. But in 1998 his life fell apart after he had an affair with the wife of afriend. His marriage broke up and he became suicidal.
He moved to Tenerife and there, with his new girlfriend, Emma, went to an Easter Sunday service in 2002. They were both moved by the service and decided to continue attending. Kim comments, ‘They were really nice people at the church - real people.’
Friends of theirs from the church started an Alpha course and invited them along, they went and things began to change. On week eight Kim gave his life to Christ and with support from the Church his faith came alive and continued to grow, ‘It wasn’t Harry Potter. It was real. God was real. He is real’.
In 2003 Kim and Emma returned home to Derby to be closer to their families and to attend a church they had come to know. Before long they were invited on a Marriage Course and despite being initially reluctant and still scared of marriage, Kim eventually agreed to go.
On week six of the course Kim asked Emma to marry him. ‘We feel that we are being blessed every day,… when it’s a dull day and people are looking down we say to each other that we can look beyond the clouds and know that the Lord is there.

Kim Johnson
London

Kim Johnson, 19, had always dreamed of becoming a model.
At 16 her dream became a reality when she discovered the London model agencies were eager to take her onto their books. When she found herself on Channel Four’s TV programme, Model Behaviour, her modelling career took off and soon she was travelling to Paris for assignments, where she met Tom. She told him about the Alpha course, which she’d learnt about through a school friend and was surprised to find that Tom was keen to attend the course and so rather reluctantly she agreed to go with him. They attended Alpha at Holy Trinity Brompton. Kim says, ‘For the first two weeks I sat back to observe and watch to see whether they were all weirdos!’
Soon after completing the course she gave her life to Christ. She says,
‘I have found it really difficult at some points, being a Christian and a model.
The two do conflict sometimes and it’s a struggle, but I’m working with it.’
In 2005 Kim appeared in Alpha’s new cinema advertisement – seen by more than two and a half million people in the autumn.
She says, ‘I realise that Jesus is a real person and that he’s here now. He’s completely alive in my life and he’s with me every minute of every day. I feel like he’s looking after me.

Simon Hymer
Middlesborough

Simon Hymer, 28, from Middlesbrough, had been a drug addict and part-time dealer for more than eight years when a friend at work invited him to Alpha. He agreed only after he was told there would be free food. On the fifth week of the course Simon asked some people from the church to pray for him to stop taking drugs. From then on he stopped. After that Simon decided to become a Christian. "I am a different person" he said, "before I was a Christian Jesus was just somebody who died on a cross. I didn't know why. Now I know why he was a put there - to pay for my sins. He's my best friend. He's always there when I need him. Jesus is the one and only. God has turned my life completely around".

Ian Batty
East Yorkshire

Hospital porter Ian Batty, 36, who lives in East Yorkshire with his wife Julie, was addicted to an adulterous lifestyle.
After one failed marriage due to his adultery, he got his new girlfriend (Julie) pregnant. This didn’t stop him from sleeping with numerous other women, including prostitutes, but each time Julie took him back again.

When Julie decided to get their second child Helen christened, she asked the vicar about Alpha.
He invited her on the next course and she really enjoyed it. Ian comments, ‘Every week Julie would come back from Alpha and she used to be all hyper and jolly about what she had done’. Julie gave her life to Christ at the Holy Spirit weekend and upon her return home said to Ian, ‘I forgive you for everything you’ve done.
After what’s happened to me this weekend I now have the power and strength to forgive you.’
Ian was overwhelmed and went on the next course. As the weeks progressed Ian began to open up and at the weekend away his vicar prayed for him. During that time Ian gave his life to the Lord.
Ian recalls, ‘From then on my life changed. I found the rest of the course brilliant. I opened up a lot more and we started to go to church every Sunday.’ Ian has since helped and led in an Alpha group, he is on his church’s PCC and helps in other ways. Ian concludes, ‘I am appalled at how I lived my last life - I do feel forgiven though. Life is really exciting now. It’s worth getting up for.’

Vanessa Rayne
London

Vanessa Rayne, 32, from London, had been angry with her father for many years since he had uprooted his family from their South African home and moved to Scotland. A couple of friends recommended the Alpha course to her and she went along – but her first reaction wasn’t what she expected,… ‘Gosh, this is better than speed dating – I had never seen so many good-looking men in my life!’ After that first evening of Alpha she woke up feeling great and as the weeks went by she made some great friends. At the Alpha weekend she committed her life to the Lord and over time has laid to rest a lot of the anger she had stored up from her past and made peace with her father. After a recent trip home she chatted with him for hours, commenting, ‘I felt this most amazing love and respect for my dad. I’m so pleased that I’ve made peace with God.'

Martin Seymour
London

London cab driver Martin Seymour was filled with anger when his wife became a Christian – and he showed it by trying to make her life miserable. Then he was invited to an Alpha course by her pastor – and he decided to go along and ruin the event for everyone in his small group. He said, ‘I was a real bully.’ At the end of that course Martin decided to attend Alpha again. ‘I felt I hadn’t completed the job,’ he said. During the second Alpha course Martin’s attitude began to change and on the Alpha weekend he decided to become a Christian. ‘I used to look at Jesus as a historical figure but because of the resurrection I now know that Jesus is the Son of God. I experience Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in my life everyday.’