Ex-"Angel" on Mission from God

Former Bikie "Pastor Wayne Thomas" From life as a bikie to a life with the Bible, Wayne Thomas' world has been turned upside down.

In the mid '70s, he was riding high as a president in the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Now his euphoria revolves around life as a pastor with the Auckland Revival Centre.

His move from the gang to the gospel came after a former bikie talked him into looking at a Christian way of life.

"This bloke said he loved me and at first I thought he'd gone queer," the pastor recalled.

"Then there were only three of us on the outside and I was struggling with alcohol and dissatisfied with gang life."

"The things that convinced me were the miracles."

Pastor Thomas said his friend was a cured drug addict and he also saw a woman Angel member cured of leukae­mia.

When he took the plunge and was bap­tised at Whangaparaoa, he said his stomach ulcer disappeared and he began to speak in tongues.

Now 36 and married with two children, Mr. Kool, as he was known in the gang, is out­spoken as he moves around the coun­try preaching to his congregations.

He often refers to his chequered past in his sermons. He believes some may be attracted out of curiosity, or because of similar experiences, but says most al­ready have some faith.

Prayer visits to hospitals and prisons have often reunited him with his former bikie mates.

He has no desire to go back but says he can easily appreciate the gang brother­hood.

"If I wasn't a pastor, I'd be a bikie. They are the only two things that have really mattered to me."

Wynne Gray

Source: Auckland Newspaper, 18.1.87