At age 12, Justin Gardner was using and selling drugs. By 14 he was homeless and roaming the streets of Sunshine.
“The only thing keeping me alive was the lust to kill one person in particular,” Mr Gardner says of this dark period in his life.
It wasn’t until he was 23 that Mr Gardner decided to make something of himself. He decided to devote his life to Christianity. Eighteen years later he’s a successful author and senior pastor of his own church, the Destiny Centre, in Hoppers Crossing.
“I’m alive because I had a fear of needles, so I never started taking the drugs that killed a lot of my friends,” he says. “Something changed in me; I started connecting with people.
“When the senior pastor here gave me the keys to the church it was the first time I’d ever been trusted by someone.”
While about 200 people attend services held by Mr Gardner every week – they’re known for the use of smoke machines and lasers to put the “wow factor back into God” – he’s hoping to reach an even wider audience with his next event. He will host the first-ever Pyjama Sunday, a church service where everyone in attendance, including himself, will be required to wear pyjamas.
“This came about because I had a most productive Sunday a couple of weeks ago and I went to bed feeling really thankful,” he said.
“Suddenly I couldn’t get the image of children in pyjamas in a cancer ward out of my head, and I couldn’t sleep because of it.”
Mr Gardner decided to turn his vision into a charity event and is hoping Pyjama Sunday will raise thousands of dollars for the Childhood Cancer Association.
For more details, visit destinycentre.org.au
