Meet Lawrence Doughty, Minister and resident of Barrow County
Lawrence has a story to tell after making a decision to change the direction of his life. He has now dedicated his life to ministry and mentoring young people. We’d like to thank Lawrence very much for sitting down with us to discuss his experience living and learning in Barrow County.
Enjoy our interview with Lawrence
Let’s start with where are you from?
My name is Lawrence Doughty and I’m from Winder. I’ve been here since elementary school.
When I was in Winder High School as a freshman, I got into some trouble with the law. That was a time of my life where I didn’t know my identity. I didn’t know who I was and I found myself in some trouble in Barrow County.
I was actually told that I would never be allowed to set foot back onto the campus again.
And then at the age of 17, I got out of trouble and I gave my life to Christ. I had to isolate some friends that I grew up with as my calling in life was now with the Ministry. I went back to school, graduated, and went to college.
I got ordained as a full time minister at 19 and I’m now 27. I’ve been going strong for the Lord ever since. I’m engaged now to get married and I’m a working man.
And after that process, I was actually asked to come back to the High School and speak about my journey which is crazy after I was told that I’d never step foot on the campus again.
Now I was there preaching the gospel. I spoke about David and how God had a calling of the light.
A lot of times we don’t understand the call and what we’re going through at times. But we’ve just got to allow certain things to happen so that he can get your attention and then the attention of others.
I consider Barrow County to be my mission field.
I preach and speak at a lot of engagements and a lot of young people gravitate to me because of my life story. I just know what you can do with your life and Barrow County has been a place where I went through this battle but I’m still here.
People can change their life too. I look at myself as a public figure to our generation and that change is possible. You first have to change yourself.
What’s a good lesson that you would talk about when speaking to kids that are maybe young and haven’t quite figured out their direction yet?
One thing I usually try to tell people is to be yourself. Because if you’re not being yourself, you’ll end up having a false identity and try to mix with groups that don’t fit with your true self. You are easily led if you don’t know who you are.
I usually preach understanding your value. You are important so don’t limit your life. You have to understand your value that God created and it’s definitely something I try to get people to understand. If you understand that, you won’t put yourself in certain situations.
I understand my value now, so there are certain things that I wouldn’t do. I have a family now and need to make choices for them also. One bad decision can affect not only yourself, but the people around you so can ultimately end up hurting everyone.
Understanding your value is so important.
So you mentioned that you went through your troubles in Barrow County and you’re still here. What does that mean to you?
To me personally, it means a lot. I could easily leave and go to live somewhere else, but this is home for me. I like driving through the neighbourhoods or visiting businesses and you see people you know. It means something when people say hi because they know my story and where I’ve been to where I am now. They are inspired by it and it gives them hope.
There’s a lot of public figures here that inspire. They’re great mentors. Like Jud for instance. He’s been around for many years and comes to speak to our youth. It’s in us. You don’t want to leave because you feel like you’re at home if that makes sense.
What recommendations would you give to people who have the same passion about this community that you do and want to bring on change?
It’s all about getting involved in the community. A lot of times people want to get involved, but they don’t know how to do it, or how to connect.
When I saw what you’re doing with Faces of Barrow County I thought it was such a good thing to give people an outlet and to think of how they can be an asset to the community.
Ask yourself how can I give back and how can I serve my time. We need more of that in the community, people coming together as a community to serve others.
I know it’s a big area but what do you think young people should be doing or how can we help direct their energy?
I feel like leadership programs are great. When I was growing up we didn’t have those sort of opportunities. But even if you can get 10 people to come along to that program, from different backgrounds, to share their stories, it would be of great value to the young people and Barrow County.
It’s like Jesus and his disciples, you can create a kind of ripple effect. It doesn’t have to be a mass of people you are targeting, but if you can get 10 people in these programs to take in the knowledge and apply it to their lives, it could affect generations right here.
Who would you nominate as one of the Faces of Barrow County?
The first person I think of is Dr. Darby. Even after my incident, he reached out to me and gave me his number and told me to give him a call anytime. He’s a good mentor and he’s been around in the high school for years so he understands the challenges that our young people face. I think he’d be a good candidate.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Lawrence and his story.
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