Q: Donnie, tell us a bit about yourself.
A: My full title is Donald John Morrison, Donnie for short or Domhnall Iain in Gaelic. I can still just about speak it even after 12 years on the Mainland.
I am one of five, I have four sisters all younger than me, so I never did a stroke of work in the house growing up, my wife Katie will testify that nothing has changed there. My mother and father are still fit and well and living in the small village where I was brought up, called Crossbost in the Parish of Lochs. It has just about 200 people I think and is located 10 miles south of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
I am married to Katie who is from a very, very small village called Cluer (about 10 people!) on the Isle of Harris. We don’t have any family ourselves, except for two Beagle dogs called Amy and Louis. We are both Christians and attend Smithton Free Church in Inverness. Katie was converted three years ago and two years ago for me. Although brought up in an extended Christian family, prior to seeking the Lord about 5 years ago I led a very materialistic and worldly life.
I went to the Nicolson Institute then Lews Castle College both in Stornoway where I did an HND in business studies then onto Robert Gordon’s University in Aberdeen where I finished up with a B.A in the subject.
I just sort of fell into sales, it paid well and there was usually some travel involved which I also quite liked. Sales are usually the best paid job in a company and I was very driven by money in previous employments. I always had the best car and a top salary. I’ve sold Training Services, Insurance, Lawn mowers, Engineering services, Lobster pots and for the last 12 years capital equipment for Aquaculture: anchors, chains, ropes and feed barges.
But after conversion my focus on life changed and I felt ill at ease in the “money is king” environment that I was in, but could not possibly see how my only talent (selling) could be put to the Lord's work. Until that is I saw this post advertised. A Prayer was truly answered.
Q: Do you have a favorite Christian book or author?
A: My favourite book tended to be the last one, or the one I am reading at the moment (but I am reading about four at a time since starting at Christian Focus). But I do like Tim Keller and his book A Reason For God. The “Christian Pockets Guide to- “ are a series that I had been following long before coming to Christian Focus, because I found them informative and easy to read, offering a basic understanding of both issues in Christianity and some understanding of other peoples beliefs without having to trawl through huge tomes. There were so many things that happened recently in my life that just seem to have led me to this point and this post that I knew that this job was for me as soon as I saw the advert. I pray that I can be a faithful servant to the Lord in it and an asset to CFP and I would like to thank William and Willie for giving me this opportunity.
We'll close the interview with a few interesting facts about Donnie:
- I support Glasgow Celtic F.C but have been to watch both Ross County and Caley Thistle and want them to do well.
- Love hats of all kinds from baseball caps to Fedoras, I have many and wear them when Katie will let me.
- Don’t have a lucky number as there is no such thing.
- Interested in Scottish history
- Like the colour red