THERE ARE two remarkable things about Simeon Alexander Michael Dexter Clive Derrick Logan Morgan. One is that he has a very long name. (He's just Simeon to his friends).

The other is that he's risen out of what some may see as an unpromising background (wrong end of town, never knew his dad, poor results at school) to live sold out for a positive cause.

Simeon, along with about 30 others, lives at New Creation Farm, one of the Christian Community houses that are part of the Jesus Fellowship. Money and possessions are shared and members of the community live a life of committed Christian brotherhood, loving and serving others - including many who are in need. Simeon is no directionless drifter. But how did this 18-year-old lad come to be so given to such a constructive lifestyle?

Simeon first met the Jesus Fellowship one day in his summer holidays when he'd been drinking with his friends in town. Two young people from the Jesus Fellowship approached him and invited him to RAW, a Christian youth event the Jesus Fellowship were running that weekend. The next day he turned up and chatted with a few people.

This wasn't Simeon's first encounter with God. Simeon was brought up by just his mum, but his grandma, a Christian, was also a big influence on his life. "My grandma instilled a belief in me," he explains. When Simeon was just 13, he tore the work from an old school exercise book, wrote "Dear God" on the front and filled the book with letters and prayers to God.

Despite this spiritual side, God was very much a "background figure" in Simeon's life - which revolved around computer games more than anything else. Simeon got his first games console at just four years old and gaming became his major preoccupation. When Simeon turned 17 he decided to move out of home "to find some freedom" - but with nowhere to go he found himself sleeping on his school steps. It didn't take long for the staff at the school to find out about this. They were concerned and helped Simeon to get into a hostel. It was around about this time that he popped into RAW.

But it was some time later that Simeon went to a "parkour" (free running) night at Northampton Jesus Centre. Here he met a youth leader from the Jesus Fellowship, who listened to Simeon's story. At the end of the night they exchanged numbers. Simeon thought little of it and didn't expect to hear from him again. The next week Simeon received a call from the youth leader inviting him to a "cell group": a little gathering of some of his Christian friends. Simeon went along and enjoyed it - so decided to keep going.

The next week the dam burst. During the cell group Simeon burst into tears. It was completely unexpected as far as he was concerned. But years of uncertainty were bursting out.

"I saw a real friendship there," explains Simeon: "friendship that asked for nothing in return." This was something Simeon had longed for, for years.

After that night Simeon couldn't keep away, he started coming to more and more that the church was doing. "I fell in love with it," he enthuses.

Simeon says: "I realised I didn't want to be a part of today's society with its alcoholism and its love of money. I realised 'There has to be more'."

The more Simeon came to things around the church, the more he felt the "buzz", the life of it all. "I knew it was God," he says.

A few months later, when Simeon had to move out of his hostel, it was obvious to him what he should do: he dived in, moving into New Creation Farm.

"The rest is history," says Simeon, and it is indeed his story.

"It can be hard work, giving up all the negative things from my past," he concludes, "but I know it's worth it because I've found a friendship not just with the people in the church - but with God."

What's being said