Thailand is now a home away from home for Bermudian Keith Stuart.

The 58-year-old stumbled upon Pattaya, a popular seaside resort on the Eastern Gulf Coast, years ago while working as a travelling musician.

He ended up discovering his faith, meeting his Thai wife, Pui, and tapping into a new lease on life.

Mr Stuart now spends his time operating Pattaya Fellowship Church from inside his home, as well as its various community outreach programmes.

At Christmas his family helps to deliver boxes of toys to needy children and hosts a holiday meal for lonely travellers and missionaries.

This calling is drastically different from the one Mr Stuart used to live.

For years he played the bagpipes for cruise ship passengers outside of the Archie Brown building in Hamilton.

During the off-tourist season when his work dwindled away, he packed up and looked for jobs elsewhere in the world. He ended up playing in the bars in Pattaya, an area rife with poverty and prostitution.

Mr Stuart said he got caught up in a fast lifestyle of alcohol and drugs, which took its toll on his health.

“I was burned out,” he said. “I was sick and slowly dying and a doctor told me to give up my bad drug and drinking habit.

“Another person approached me during that low point and said, ‘God told me to tell you that you don’t have to die’.

“After that I started talking to God myself and said, ‘You know what God, if you want this mess that I’ve destroyed you can have it’. It was a long time to recuperate. I had to have a head and heart fix.”

Mr Stuart has found immense joy in the volunteer work he’s doing now.

“When I became a Christian my whole outlook on life changed, instead of trying to make myself happy I started serving others,” he said.

“I had been fairly successful with music, but was very dissatisfied with life. Then the Lord came along and saved my soul.”

He described Pattaya as “one of the most wicked places” he’s ever seen.

“The whole city is built on prostitution,” he explained. “I’ve seen a lot of terrible things, but since moving here my wife and I have been able to make a little difference. We built a big house and called it The Strong Tower.

“We get all sorts of people coming to stay with us — from a six-week-old baby to 60-year-olds.

“They are people who don’t have a home or a family and are desperate. We have anywhere between ten or 20 souls who live with us at a time. They wash clothes and cook and take care of the children and babies. But it’s not an orphanage, it’s really a family.”

Some of the people who come to the church are women looking to get out of a life of prostitution.

“They have no education, so over three years ago we raised enough money to send ten ladies to this Bible school,” Mr Stuart said.

“Four of them are now pastors and three work in other churches in Thailand. I’ve lost contact with three of the others, but seven out of ten is still a good success rate.”

They also helped a few young women from a village outside Pattaya get a college education.

“We met a girl called Gem and she was the second out of a population of 20,000 to get accepted into college,” he said.

“Her father didn’t want her to go because they needed her to work in the sugar cane fields.

“But we put not only her into college, we also helped pay for her other sisters to graduate from university. They were the first in their family to do that. Three of them now have their own business.”

Mr Stuart said his wife Pui has been one of his biggest sources of inspiration.

Over the years she’s helped to set up five churches throughout the Asian country. Some of these places had a small Christian community, but no Bibles or place to worship in.

He said it’s amazing to see how many lives — young and old — have since turned around.

“We have young people coming to our Friday night youth group or church who are from the slums with no positive influences in their lives, but having come to us and grown up under us for the last four years they are doing so many wonderful things,” Mr Stuart explained.

“They are constantly on the road and going out and helping out wherever there is a need.

“The teens might run camps for the children or help with construction work that needs to be done. They will help by teaching music and getting a worship team together at a new church. Most of the boys we’ve helped to raise are musicians now. They have learned with us, seeing I’m a musician that’s been my focus.”

Becoming God’s hands and feet has been a privilege for Mr Stuart. “I believe the church should be out there working,” he said. “We are not country resorts, we are the hospitals and food stations.

“These people in Pattaya are first generation Christians, so we started a pastor training school 14 years ago and it’s still running very well. We are producing leaders who can go into these remote places and speak the language to find out and meet people’s needs.”

• For more information, visit Facebook: Pattaya Fellowship Church. Anyone interested in supporting or sponsoring his charitable efforts can e-mail keith.in.thailand@gmail.com.