Testimony of Tray McGuire

From Addiction to Serving the Elderly

The youngest of 13 children, Trahern McGuire came to Durham from Atlanta, Georgia with a company involved in door-to-door sales. He was addicted to drugs and alcohol and business wasn’t going well. The company wasn’t happy with Tray’s low volume of sales, so they gave him a bus ticket and told him to go back to Atlanta. At the bus station, a man who identified himself as a “minister of God,” came up to him and asked, “Do you want to find God?” Tray’s reply was “Yes!” The man brought him to the Durham Rescue Mission. He never saw that man again, but Tray is thankful for what was obviously a divine appointment.

Shortly after arriving at the mission, Tray received Jesus Christ as his Savior and yielded his life to the Lord. He entered the Victory program where he studied the Word of God, sang in the choir, and worked at the mission. Upon completing the course work, he was placed in a temporary job through the mission’s "Temps to the Rescue" program.

After he graduated, the Lord led him to the Durham Job Link Center. With their help, he entered a Gericare education & training program in Durham with the goal of becoming a certified nursing assistant. After obtaining his certification, God blessed Tray with his first “real” career job at Rose Manor Healthcare.

Tray says “Now, I am serving God by ministering to the elderly in Durham.” Tray says his favorite verse is II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Tray says, "I thank God for Ernie and Gail Mills and the Durham Rescue Mission for being available and willing to help people like me."

Note: Tray was honored at an annual meeting of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce. Peter Anlyan, Chairman of the Chamber, introduced him and commended him for his accomplishments.