My Testimony: Neil McBride

Hello, and welcome to the Downtown Angels website. I’m Neil McBride, the founder, and I’d love to share my personal testimony with you. This website and everything it stands for wouldn’t be possible without Jesus Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life.

Before 2012, my life was driven by the world rather than led by the Holy Spirit. As a child, I believed God existed, yet I didn’t understand His power, His love, or His purpose for me. I clung to life in the flesh, chasing anything that promised happiness but never delivered peace.

I battled alcohol addiction. I lived with disability. I struggled with a speech impairment that made me feel small and unheard. Depression wrapped around me like a darkness I couldn’t escape. I tried everything the world offered, searching for relief, but every step I took only pulled me deeper into the struggle.

I was alive but not living. I was surviving but without hope.

Hearing the Gospel

In the summer of 2012, God broke through my darkness and awakened me. He caught me in a dream and opened my eyes to the truth I had been running from. One of His servants a sister in the Lord stopped me and asked a question that pierced straight into my Spirit: “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” I couldn’t answer, but inside I knew this was my calling. My words were locked away, and the gospel was confronting me with the truth: I needed to repent. I needed to come home.

A few days later, I stepped into the Revival Fellowship, a church. The moment I walked through the doors, something within me shifted. I could see the joy on people’s faces, hear their testimonies, and feel God’s presence moving among them. They weren’t living by the flesh; they were living under the law of the Holy Spirit. Week after week, I kept returning. I had more questions than answers, but something kept pulling me back. The Holy Spirit and I were still separate, but my desire was growing. I longed for truth. I longed for change.

One day, overwhelmed and desperate for direction, I sat with my Bible and cried out to the Lord. I asked Him to reveal Himself to me, to show me the path forward. I realised that before I could receive anything, I had to surrender my attitude, humble my heart, and truly seek the Holy Spirit. So I approached the Pastor and asked to be baptised. He filled the tank with water while I sat in the meeting, my mind racing and my heart pounding. When the prayer line began, I stepped forward and sought the Holy Spirit, but still, nothing came.

Then the baptismal tank was ready.

I stepped in. The water felt cold, but my Spirit was burning.

He asked me, “Do you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”

“Yes,” I said.

He laid me back into the water, lifted me out, and, instantly, heaven opened.

From my lips came the sound of a rushing wind, and I began to speak in a new language. The words weren’t mine, but the Spirit’s. I didn’t understand them, but God did. It felt unreal and yet more real than anything I had ever known. I couldn’t stop speaking. I didn’t want to stop.

I was born again.

The power of God was alive in me.

Day one of being born-again

I remember sitting with a brother as he read scripture over me. I had read the Bible many times before, but this was the first time the words truly lived in me. My mind was spinning, but my heart was exactly where it needed to be: surrendered, renewed, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, I felt like a newborn—alive in a way I had never known, relearning life through God’s eyes. One of my first prayers was for healing from the grip alcohol had on me. For years, it had been my silent master, a cold and emotionless counsellor that offered no comfort, no guidance, no hope. Drinking was normal to me, far too normal. I didn’t stop at one or two; I could finish a whole case without thinking twice. But when the Lord stepped into that part of my life, everything changed.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the desire for alcohol was taken from me. The temptation that once felt impossible to fight dissolved. God broke the chains I could never break on my own. And the impact was immediate: my health improved, my finances strengthened, and my mind became clearer than it had been in years.

I still enjoy my coffee, but nothing controls me now.

I drink from the Lord’s cup—daily—within the body of Christ.

My strength, my peace, and my joy all flow from Him.

The signs that follow

As a child, I suffered from a disability and struggled to talk to people. When I first became a Born-Again Christian, I felt it was my duty to share the gospel. At the time, it seemed like an impossible job. How could I share the gospel when I could barely put together a few words? This part of my life I call ‘patient’ because it didn’t happen at night. I went out with others and enjoyed the fellowship, but I would find myself standing on a high street, scared to death to talk to anyone. But I felt inspired to keep on going. This was a struggle during my first 23 months of my walk, but I kept stepping out. Christ never stops giving up, so why did I give up telling people the truth? So I kept on going and refused to let the flesh have its way.

One night, I sat in a dark room with the lights turned off. I wanted to be an evangelist. I felt this was my true calling; I bent down, went to my knees, and had tears in my eyes. I prayed in the Holy Spirit.

The following day, I watched a cartoon named Lambert the Sheepish Lion. The short film was about a timid lion raised by sheep after a birth mix-up. At the end of the film, his mother is attacked by wolves, and the fear in his eyes reveals who he truly is: a mighty lion.

Up to that point, I’ve always been a sheep, but I needed to be a lion. One day, I went out for an outreach with a friend, and I struggled so much that I couldn’t stop anyone. In the morning, I was a sheep, but in the afternoon, I would become a lion. After the morning outreach, I went for some prayer time and asked for a miracle. Deep inside, the Lord has changed my attitude and focus; he removed my social anxiety in the afternoon outreach, I was on fire for the Lord, and the evangelist lions have woken up. In 2014, I became an evangelist.

Over the coming months, I kept on asking for wisdom and strength to share the good news. I was going out 3 to 4 days every week. I wanted to be used, and keep on asking to be used by Jesus Christ. In 2014, I was used three times, and three people received the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues.

A father’s love

In 2021, my daughter kept asking me questions about the Holy Spirit and baptism. Her faith was weak, but she did believe. I’ve always been mindful of how I talk to her about the gospel and Jesus Christ. It needed to be her personal choice. I can buy him the world, but I can give her the Holy Spirit. We were watching a film on YouTube, and in the clips, people were receiving the Holy Spirit and being baptised in water. He kept pausing the videos and, using the Bible, explaining what was going on. He prayed for the Holy Spirit, but it never happened, so I kept encouraging her and asked her father for it. Suddenly, the heavenly doors opened, and she received the Holy Spirit as she spoke in tongues. It was an incredible moment: the room was dark, but the Holy Spirit was pouring out, and she was brightening it. Tears were flowing from my eyes in my forty years of life; there will never be a greater moment than seeing my daughter receive the Holy Spirit. After she received the Holy Spirit, she asked me to baptise her. A few days ago, we took her to a nearby lake, and she was baptised in water.

2025, and the future

The Lord has blessed me in so many incredible ways throughout my life, and even in 2025, His miracles continue to pour into my life in ways I could never have imagined. I am filled with gratitude and excitement, yet I remain humble, knowing that every blessing comes from Him and that I must continue to walk faithfully in His light.

I truly believe that God’s love and power are available to everyone, and I have seen firsthand the incredible ways the Holy Spirit can touch our lives, heal our hearts, and bring peace in the midst of struggles. If you feel led and would like to receive prayer from the Holy Spirit, I would be honoured to pray with you. Please feel free to reach out to me via email so we can connect and pray together. No matter where you are in your journey, know that God sees you, He loves you, and He wants to move in your life. Let us come together in faith, trusting in His goodness, and watch as His miraculous work unfolds before our eyes.