The gangster pulled a gun from his jeans pocket and, pointing it at the missionary, coldly stated: “I’m going to kill you.”
Greatly shocked yet full of courage, Blackpool-born Duncan Dyason responded: “If you are going to kill me, I would like one minute of your time.”
Getting to the point as quick as he could, he told the man how an encounter with God had radically changed his life, giving him a peace, hope and love he could never have imagined. And this was why he had come to Guatemala to share God’s good news with the street children there who were being exploited and abused, as he had first learnt from a BBC Everyman documentary.
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The man, who had been full of menace, had noticeably softened in that “minute”, at the end of which he placed his hand on Duncan’s shoulder promising that, instead of killing him, he would henceforth watch his back in that particularly dangerous part of Guatemala City.
The fact of God’s involvement also explained the mystery of why three earlier attempts to shoot the missionary had failed as the gun refused to go off — it had never happened before during his many violent escapades. “Now I know why my gun failed,” he admitted. “It is because God is with you.”
And it reminded Duncan of the word from a stranger that he was not to fear, for God was with him and would protect him.
Duncan’s close shave with death was how he came to know Jesus in the first place. As a 21-year-old, feeling lost and alone and without purpose in life, he was going to end it all when he was prompted to pray, asking God if he was really there. “God, if you are there, help me!” he cried.
To his great surprise, he got an answer, telling him: “Go to Tunbridge Wells (in Kent) and seek me there.” Once there, with no money or job, he miraculously found work and a bedsit.
Though he had no Christian background, the ringing of church bells prompted him to go to church, where he believed God lived. (Indeed, that was true, though he lived among his people, not just in a building).
But it was not until he watched the movie Ben Hur on TV that he understood what Jesus had done for him by dying on the cross for his sins so he could be forgiven. Duncan cried buckets of tears at this realisation of God’s great love for him.
It was the beginning of a life of great adventure dedicated to spreading the love of Christ wherever the Lord sent him. This included taking Bibles and medical supplies behind the Iron Curtain (in the mid-1980s) with the help of famous Bible smuggler Brother Andrew from the Netherlands.
Following God’s call eventually led him to Guatemala to reach out to children caught up in poverty, sexual abuse and violence, fulfilling a word given to him that he would become “a father to the fatherless”. He and other volunteers loved and cared for them, taught them about Jesus and built a special rescue centre to set them on their feet.
Duncan says: “Our ministry flourished as the favour of the Lord rested upon us all. We witnessed God transforming lives and turning around the most seemingly impossible situations. There is a hurting world around us, desperate to know these truths and witness God’s love and power firsthand.”
And to readers he adds: “I pray that God will remind you of how deeply you are loved and reveal his purpose for your life.”
Duncan’s story is featured as one of eight dramatic faith stories in Simon Guillebaud’s book Inspired, published in 2025 by 10Publishing. However, he has also written a book himself, Miracle Children published by Hodder & Stoughton, which became Christian Book of the Year 1998. A second, The Last Child, is expected to be out early next year.
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