Moray Life Challenge Outreach began through the work of J Coppard during his time as Pastor at Riverside Christian Church. Today, the outreach continues under the care of Portgordon Community Church as part of the church’s wider mission to support people facing addiction, hardship, and difficult life circumstances.
This ministry is all about meeting people where they are, offering compassion, conversation, and hope without judgement. We understand that life can be challenging, and sometimes the most important thing is simply having someone willing to listen. Through Moray Life Challenge Outreach, we aim to be a caring presence for those who may be struggling with addiction, emotional pain, isolation, or other life issues.
Our outreach bus is parked in Newlands Lane every Friday from 1pm to 4pm, creating a safe and approachable place where anyone can come for a chat. Whether you need encouragement, prayer, support, or simply a friendly face and a listening ear, you are always welcome. No appointment is needed, and there is no pressure, just a space where people can come as they are.
At Portgordon Community Church, we believe no one should have to face life’s battles alone. Moray Life Challenge Outreach is here to remind people that there is always hope, always support, and always someone who cares.
Michael’s Story
My name is Michael. I’m here to share a bit of my testimony. I grew up in a small town called Shotts in North Lanarkshire with my mum and two sisters, and had a good upbringing. My mum worked a lot to support the family, as my dad was not around, so my big sister and my Gran watched us a lot. My mum worked every hour she could to give us what we needed. Then I started Primary School. I loved school, and I had a really good friend, but my mum always knew that there was something up with me as I could not read or write, so she fought very hard to get me the help I needed.
By primary seven, they told me I had dyslexia and global learning difficulties. When I went to 1st year at high school I had a personal assistant who sat next to me writing everything down for me and reading everything for me, I was grateful for the help but hated it at the same time as it was just a normal school, so by second year I started to dog the school that’s when I started smoking hash and that’s is where my drug addiction started. By the end of the second year, I was put out of that school and then to another school, the same happened again, I had someone sitting next to me helping me. So I found friends that didn’t want to go to school and started dogging it again, then stealing. By this time, I was getting known and a reputation with the police, and everything seemed to be going wrong.
My mum and family were trying their hardest to support me; it was difficult for them. By this point, I was smoking, drinking, stealing and dogging the school, so I got put out of that school, and I went to the seven-day centre, which was in Wishaw, and it was fixing cars. It was there that I was keen to train as a mechanic, and I loved that. I was far from perfect, but I went every day, and it gave me the notion to find what I wanted to do when I left. I left there at 15, and they got a job as an apprentice joiner, and I love that. I got a wage for the first time, which came with its own problems, as I had money about my fingers, and that’s when cocaine, Things started to get bad at this point, and then that’s when it started to go from bad to worse.
During this time, my mum got my dad back because I was blaming everything on my dad because he was never around, so he came back, and everything seemed to be good, and it was good for a while. It was good to have him around, but it did not feel right, and my little sister hated the fact that he was around. My big sister and I liked it, but he had never been there, so he was around for about a year, then left again, so that was a challenge.
By the age of 16, I was really known by the police at this point and ended up in prison three months after my birthday. I didn’t spend long in jail, and I was back out again. I had a jail number, and that was the start of my present life in and out of jobs. At the age of 17, I got my first jail sentence, which was nine months, so I spent my 18th in prison, then from there on, I was in and out, and the drug addiction was just getting worse. By the age of 20. I met a woman, and not long after meeting her, she fell pregnant, and that was a big game changer for me.
At this point, I was selling drugs and on the run from the police. To make things worse, I was not sure if it was my baby. I did take responsibility for the baby, cleaned myself up, handed myself in and got out of a prison sentence, then the baby was born in February 2014, and that was a big change in my life, so I had settled down. I was still smoking hash, I managed to get a job, and life was quite good. I had got my license, everything was going well, but I started using cocaine again.
There was a lot of lying on both sides of our relationship, drinking, taking cocaine and smoking hash. Missing work is becoming a problem, so the relationship broke down both sides were to blame. I ended up getting the jail in 2017, and that was me in and out till 2022. I did a few big sentences and stopped seeing the kids. I found out Alfie wasn’t mine. That was my first kid. I still wanted to see him, but he was told he was not mine, and that made him hate me, so life just was out of control.
I got out of jail in 2022 and started smoking crack, and that’s when I didn’t know who I was. It took over my life so fast lost everything, family didn’t want me no more, and that was hard. I was fighting a losing battle; all I wanted was crack cocaine, and I was going and doing anything to get money to get it.
It was two years in madness, then my cousin told me about the team challenge. My little sister is getting married and was not allowed to go to the wedding unless I sorted myself out, so I moved up to Buckie to stay with my cousin, and he introduced me to a pastor, Willie Aitken, who then filled out my forms with me and applied for Teen Challenge.
In August 2024 made my sister‘s wedding in September and got into Teen Challenge Sunnybrae in October, and that was a challenge on its own. When I got there, everybody was happy, and I couldn’t understand it as we were all in rehab, but that was the power of God. On New Year’s Eve at King’s Church, I had my first breakthrough, where the tears were coming out of my eyes. It was all down to testimonies of what God’s done in people’s lives. My hands were high during worship, whereas that never happened before, and I did not know what was going on with my body because the whole spirit had to interrupt me; that’s everything that changed that night. I didn’t want to leave Teen Challenge even after I had finished my program. I wanted to be a trainee support worker and help other people get their lives back on track and their relationships. My family members grow stronger and stronger, and life is good. I have kept going with my program. My relationship with God is getting stronger. I have had hard days and good days, but the hard days made me a better man graduated from my program on the 14th of September 2025.
