HE roamed the streets and dabbled in soft drugs as a teenager but has now turned his life around to become a full-time youth pastor.
Lee Whitecross is responsible for nurturing young people at Gillespie Memorial Church in Dunfermline, Fife and reaching out to others in the town.
When coronavirus restrictions are eventually lifted, it is the 25-year-old hope that he will be able to visit high schools and engage with young people in all the different places where they hang out.
Read more: Meet the couple behind Glasgow firm producing new health drink along with rebrand
He makes no secret of going off the rails in his teens and says he only found true purpose in life after he found God.
The former Starbucks barista grew up in Wester Hailes in Edinburgh and spent a lot of time as a hanging around the streets with his friends experimenting with cannabis.
His life was turned around after he attended a Youth Alpha course when he was 16.
Mr Whitecross, who took up newly created post earlier this month and has been working online, said: “Before the course I did not have much purpose or drive and did not know who I was.
“I was trying to figure things out and had a lot of questions because I was curious and searching a lot. Although I was close to my pals I was always wondering if there was more to life and I found purpose in God.”
Lee Whitecross, with wife Ashley, is looking forward to new role
Mr Whitecross, who is married to Ashley and lives in the Stenhouse area of Edinburgh, said he is passionate about sharing his outlook on the world through what is his first full-time ministry role.
“Life can be hard when you are a teenager and I want to pass my experience on to young people and be very honest and real in my faith,” he explained.
“I do not want to be fake and plan to show them the reality of who Jesus is and help them realise their full value and worth. I believe all young people have great potential and talent that should be celebrated and encouraged.”
Read more: Limited edition whisky to mark Aberfeldy group's covid response released today
Mr Whitecross has nearly 10 years of voluntary youth experience and his last full-time job was as a facilities assistant at Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre at Heriot-Watt University on Edinburgh.
He added: “In a way I am surprised that I am in this position now because I don’t come from a Christian background and didn’t give religion any thought before the Alpha course.
“So looking back it is very strange that I am now working for a church."
Rev Mike Weaver, minister of Gillespie Memorial Church, said he believes Mr Whitecross will reach out to bring young people together with initiatives.
He said: "Hopefully we can have a positive impact on their lives, not least their mental health."
Former London nightclub owner, Mr Weaver said the church was ready to recruit the 38-hour a week post last year but the process was delayed due to the pandemic. He has been conducting online services for the past 10 months and said more young people have been tuning in to the on-line youth group than usually walked through the front door on most Sundays.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel