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Issue 212 •
NEW LIFE NEW LIFE
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STAR’S FORMER WIFE ON HOW SHE FOUND FAITH Volunteer
julie understood!
‘I heard God’s voice in Keith Richard’s living room’ by Mark Wreford
A WOMAN who lived with the Rolling Stones and married a rock star has told how finding God saved her life. Julie Anderson tied the knot with Walker Brothers’ legend John Walker, and the couple shared a mansion with the legendary Rolling Stones in the south of France. Julie, who started mixing with the stars when she became secretary for Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, also found herself in LA with celebrities after a humble upbringing in Norwich. She said: “John met Bill Wyman and went to the South of France and all the Rolling Stones were down there. We were living in Bill’s huge rented chateau together. “John and I had one wing on the end, and we got married that summer, right after Mick Jagger married the beautiful Bianca.” It seems an odd place for a sudden change of heart, but Southern France turned out to be the site of Julie’s spiritual awakening. “From that point on I began to have a hunger
HEARING AID... Julie Anderson and, inset, her marriage to John Walker that wouldn’t stop on the inside of me,” she said. “I had many spiritual encounters there – I audibly heard the voice of God in Keith Richards’ living room.” Julie’s husband was working on a solo album, which Bill had offered to produce, and the couple soon moved from France to LA for him to continue his work. But when Julie became pregnant with their son, Jamie, the roller coaster turned downhill. She recalled: “John chose to leave us, and we did the single parent thing. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s super chal-
lenging and I have great compassion for single parents. It’s such a challenge not having a father, especially for a boy.” At this point, Julie’s search for God had become much more earnest. “I was just crying out to God, saying, ‘Who are you? What’s my life about? What’s the purpose and point?’ – all the kind of questions you ask when you are authentically seeking God and hungry for him.” Just 11 weeks after Jamie’s birth, Julie took her newborn son back to England – only to find that her
husband was living with another woman. Just after that, the Walker Brothers had a huge hit with ‘No regrets (I don’t want you back)’. This hurt Julie deeply and she returned to her hometown alone. But when Jamie was three, they headed back to the States – and God was waiting for them. “I lived in LA for about seven years,” said Julie. “And within that time I became born-again and Spiritfilled. I had some friends from England who invited me over for dinner to talk to me. “I didn’t want to hear it, but I went and it was a life-changing tipping point. “God began to prepare me inside. He was teaching me all kinds of spiritual things and then he put it on my heart to return home to England in 1983. “Within a few months I met Rod, who became my new husband. God had put me together with the love of my life, and because of my many encounters with him, I now had an incredible passion to see the whole nation come to Christ.” It was this preparation and passion that led Julie and Rod to launch Christian organisation, Prayer for the Nations. The couple hold Christian events throughout the UK.
u o y Have r u o y t go s a m t s i r h C ? t e y gifts
call to help prisoners MORE Christians need to volunteer to work with prisoners. That’s the view of the Rev Malcolm Carter, who worked as a chaplain in Walton Jail on Merseyside for two decades. As the Big Society debate continues, Rev Carter believes that the Christian message needs to be heard clearly in prisons across the country.
restore He said: “We can strengthen the Christian input by having more volunteers who are willing to go in with Prison Fellowship, which works to restore the lives of prisoners, victims and their families. “We need more Christians in the prison service because, over the years, Christianity has been pushed to the sidelines.”
Entertaining gospel talk
ONE of the UK’s top magicians visited Greenock Town Hall for an evening of gospel entertainment hosted by a local church. John Archer stopped off en-route to Las Vegas where he was due to perform alongside eccentric magician duo Penn & Teller in their live show at the Rio Hotel. Organiser Pastor Fraser Donaldson, of Greenock Elim Church, said: “John Archer is an incredibly gifted communicator as well as a first class entertainer.”
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