Ex-nightclub bouncer seesthe light in move to church

Just six years ago Paul McMichael, 36, was tasked with maintaining order at nightclubs along Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow’s city centre and ejecting unruly, drunk revellers.

But he heard the call of the Lord and decided to devote his time to the Good Book.

Paul, who moved to 1066 Country last month to become senior minister for Elim Church in Elphinstone Avenue, went to Regent Theological College in Nantwich, Cheshire.

After completing his training, gaining a degree in Theology, he became a youth pastor in Stafford and moved to pastures new to undertake a similar role at the Lakeside Christian Centre in Southport in Lancashire.

He was there for four years before moving to Hastings four weeks ago.

Paul said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the rough and tumble of working as a bouncer. I did have to eject unruly people.

“Thankfully the whole time I worked as a bouncer I was never injured or got caught up in fights. There were times that you had to be harsh and stick up for yourself and we were trained to restrain people.

“But I always felt I would make the change in my life and eventually felt it was the right time to become a minister.

“It was really God who led me. I did not go into training to be a minister for the money.”

Paul, who grew up in Glasgow and left school aged 15, confessed that he did not enjoy it very much and left in 1993 with few qualifications.

At one point he trained as an apprentice car mechanic and later worked as a sales executive and sales manager.

While working in sales he was employed as a bouncer from 2001 to 2008.

Paul said: “My mother and father were involved in church leadership. My father, who passed away in my second year at Bible college, was a church deacon. They both looked after a number of churches in Scotland.

“When I was a teenager I rebelled against it all though, insomuch as I wasn’t interested in the church.

“I was brought up in a good home and we lived comfortably but I became a bit of a ‘bad lad’ at school and drank a bit during those rebellious years.

“When I was 19 I was asked to go to my sister’s baptism and it was there I made the decision to become a Christian so I stopped being the rebel.

“I got my life sorted and realised what my mum and dad were telling me was real.”

Paul was invited to an interview in Hastings to become senior minister at Elim Pentecostal Church and told the

He said: “Elim Pentecostal Church has around 600 churches across the UK. After four years in Southport I decided I wanted to leave.

“I was invited for an interview in Hastings and felt this was the place I was being led to.

“I had an overwhelming feeling Hastings was the right move for me.”