Jesus in a shop doorway

Mick Fleming turned to drugs to numb the trauma of a childhood shaped by violence and fear. What followed was a life of escalating crime — one that pulled him further from himself and those around him.

Then, in the midst of committing a serious offence, Mick experienced something he still struggles to explain: a sudden, overwhelming light that stopped him in his tracks. That moment marked the beginning of a profound turning point. What followed was not an instant transformation, but a long and difficult journey — one that eventually led him to faith and offered a way through a past he had never been able to face.

In this edition of Heart and Soul, BBC World Service reporter Shiroma Silva travels to Burnley in the north of England to meet a man whose extraordinary life story challenges easy assumptions about redemption and belief. She joins Mick on the road as he reflects on the faith journey that took him from addiction and crime to the priesthood — and later to becoming a bishop.

Despite his senior position, Mick has rejected many of the privileges that come with high office. Instead, he has chosen to work closely with people on the margins — addicts, the homeless, and those society often overlooks. He draws inspiration from his own lowest point, when the kindness that sustained him did not come from within the church, but from a homeless man sleeping in a shop doorway.
It was there, Mick says, that he first encountered Jesus — not in a pew, but on the street.

[Photo description: Mick Fleming outside Church on the Street. Photo Credit: Shiroma Silva]

Presented by Shiroma Silva
Executive Producer Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno