Once a druggie, burglar and mugger, he’s now a disciple of the church – rubbing shoulders with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

He is Nat Moody, 35, a youth and families minister for the last five years at Holy Cross Church, Bearsted.

And his day is never short of Christian activities – either going into prisons to spread the word of God to inmates, addressing school groups, youth clubs and even delivering sermons at church weddings.

The Rev John Corbyn, of Bearsted’s Holy Cross Church, said: “The way in which his encounter with God transformed his life speaks very powerfully to all, especially the young, which makes the Christian faith so relevant. With Nat it’s not a matter of theory but of real experience.”

It’s all a far cry from when Mr Moody was a teenager in Bristol.

“To say I was on the wrong side, is the politest way of putting it,” Mr Moody told the KM.

“Drugs came first, and the crime to fuel it followed.”

“It was in the late Eighties and early Nineties when illegal raves hit the West Country.

“I was selling ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine. It was escapism from a rudderless life. You name it, I did it – credit card fraud and handling stolen and counterfeit money.

“I burgled dozens of houses and mugged other youngsters for their trainers, always in a gang. They were a lot older than me and I looked up to them – they were a kind of family, and they led me.

“It was a very selfish existence, humanity had no value – only material things.”

Mr Moody says his defining moment of change came when his parents invited him to church on June 24, 1993. He was going on 16.

“It had nothing to do with the preacher, just a few closing words of a hymn we sang: ‘Purify my Heart, cleanse me from my sin deep within.’

“That opened a pandora’s box of emotions. I began to weep and feel I wanted to give my life to God. I thought, if you are real I will accept you into my life. It was an overwhelming sense of peace I felt, and at 17, I started working for the church.

“My message to youngsters? Your current circumstances do not determine your outcomes. Find a life of passion, purpose and hope, especially hope which is the motivation for change.

“There is another road.”