A former self-proclaimed drug addict, Allan Scott, claims to have found his way to a sober lifestyle through religion and music after spending time in a jail cell.

Scott and his Christian rock ‘n’ roll band are to play 8 p.m. Friday in the Whalley Memorial Chapel.

A band representative sent The Advocate a six-page testimony in which Scott details some of his life struggles from an early age.

“I was born on a military base near Seattle, Washington. Both my younger brother and I were the result of an affair that my mother had,” Scott wrote.

“Right from the beginning, I could recall fighting and instability at home.

“Although my home life was quite dysfunctional, my mother did instill faith and the knowledge of who God was in me at an early age. Later in life, when I was running from the Lord, I always knew who I was running from and who to run back to.”

Scott said he and his family moved to Pennsylvania when he was 4 years old.

“Eventually, my parents separated. My stepfather had custody over my younger brother and I, and my mom had us on the weekends,” he said, adding that his stepfather moved back to the West Coast when he was 8 years old.

“One weekend while we were visiting my mom, she told us that we were not going to see our (step)father again. At the time, in my 8-year-old world, I was devastated,” he said.

 “I remember screaming and trying to get to the telephone to call my (step)father. The earliest emotion that I remember identifying clearly was rejection.”

Scott said he began to experiment with drugs in his early teenage years.

“I was expelled from my private school for drug and alcohol use. I then entered the public school system (and) immediately took a nosedive. In the public school system, I was free to do what I wanted, (so) I partied harder than I ever had before,” he said, adding that he dropped out in his senior year.

“This was a low point for me, but I was not finished yet. One night, myself and an acquaintance stole a large quantity of drugs, money and a car from a drug dealer. We drove to a nearby city, sold the drugs and took a train to Dallas.

“I remember being told that the dealer had later come for me with pistols and knives. I know it is by the grace of God that I am alive today. I became homeless and would sleep on the couches of people I met.

“Eventually, I moved back to Pennsylvania and tried to get my act together. I enrolled at Penn State and joined a fraternity.

“Obviously, fraternities are not a place where positive life change typically occur, but I thought this was the answer,” Scott said.

“It wasn’t long before I had dropped out of college and had been kicked out of my fraternity.

“I had been running from the police for some time by this point. It was in my darkest time when I cried out to Jesus to save me.

 “God’s answer came in the form of an arrest. It was my 19th day in jail before I actually realized that God was providing a way out for me.

“Toward the end of my addiction, my mother had been praying very intensely for me. In rehab, my counselor turned out to be a Godly man that was on fire for the Lord.

“He would take me to his church on Sundays. I remember during one of those services that God really began to speak to me.

“I stayed in the sanctuary crying for about 45 minutes after the service. That was in 2001. By the power and grace of God, I have been completely free ever since.”

The Allan Scott Band’s campus performance is free and open to the public.