Hamish Powell Testimonial

“I’ve always believed in God and been surrounded by faithful, intelligent, and loving Christians.

I grew up in a Pentecostal church. I attend Calvin Christian School. I have loads of friends there who are also good Christians.

I made the decision to be baptised when I just turned 16. After my baptism, I started to have a real thirst for knowledge and I wanted to know more about my faith: Why am I a Christian? Why do I follow the bible?

We had some family troubles. In need of a home, mum and I moved into the basement of my pastor and his wife’s house, and that was a good opportunity for me because I would go upstairs and talk lots of theology with him. A pivotal moment was when I was on a school trip with my friends and we were all staying in a cabin, and it was late at night, and we were all from different beliefs. We debated everything from predestination to salvation. Everyone had different views.

I’ve always had a passion for filmmaking, so after that night I came up with the idea to make a documentary exploring the differing stances within the Christian religion. One of my best friends, Max, and the rest of the Bradley family took me to their local Catholic church to interview the people there.

I’d done some study on the Catholic Church but when I actually went there and met the people, it really surprised me how logical the answers I got were. I spent hours questioning Rachel – Mrs Bradley – debating various points of theology, and I started to realise how much the Catholic faith made sense.

The one question that got me was where did our Bible come from? The only answer I could give was that if we really trust the Bible, then we must trust the community that actually gave it to us.

I made the big mistake of looking at Church history (and I realised it was very much Catholic), I listened to debates and theology videos online, I read books by Scott Hahn, and I read the Catechism.

The last turning point in my journey was the Easter Vigil when I went for the first time into adoration. I could tell there was something different about this, something very special.  I really felt a sense of peace sitting in front of the Eucharist. And that’s when I knew where God wanted me to be. He wanted me to become a Catholic. So I talked to my pastor about it. We prayed about it – that just made me more convicted.

Many people gave their reasons as to why Catholic doctrine is false, but none of the answers really satisfied me, because I knew deep down the Catholics were right.

I had preparation time with the Sisters of the Immaculata and I spent lots of time talking to the Little Eucharistic Brothers of Divine Will. And the Bradley family, they were lots of help. Luckily, my mum was supportive of me, and so was my girlfriend. On Sunday the 23rd of September 2018, I became a Catholic and I received my First Communion, which was truly a life-changing experience.

What I’ve noticed is that the way I view things has been totally transformed. I’ve gone to a deeper level of understanding Christ’s sacrifice. Not just intellectually – it’s gone into the heart. I find I want to be more loving, more caring towards people. I want to share the Gospel with more people.

Right up before receiving my First Communion, I was still feeling doubts. But then when I received the Eucharist for the first time, the doubts went away.”