I didn’t want to go. In 1982, New York City, especially Manhattan, was the armpit of the country. Crime, drugs, gangs, and prostitution were everywhere. And don’t forget the Mafia! It would be a few years before Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor and cleaned up the Big Apple. I tried every excuse I could think of not to go.
You have to be of a certain age and spiritual leaning to know who David Wilkerson was. In 1958, as a 25-year-old pastor, Wilkerson went to the mean streets of New York to preach the Gospel to “the least of these.” He started a ministry for the violent teen gangs, prostitutes, and addicts. Through his efforts, Teen Challenge was born. His book The Cross and the Switchblade was written, and it has now been read by millions of people around the world.
I had been a Teen Challenge director for just over four years when the invitation came to join Wilkerson for a two-week-long outreach across the five boroughs. I didn’t want to go, but … David Wilkerson! His life, ministry, books, and movie had inspired me to start Teen Challenge centers across the Midwest. He was a hero to me.
After every expense for the trip was miraculously provided for, I couldn’t say no. That first night, after we were checked into our sparse accommodations in Midtown, the phone in our room rang. Another Teen Challenge graduate and one of Wilkerson’s staffers called. “Would you like to go on the streets tonight with Brother Dave?” my friend asked. Go witnessing with one of my heroes? Absolutely!
Wilkerson was a pretty intense man. There was no “meet and greet,” no “glad to see you,” no “thanks for coming.” We were given a bag with several dozen booklets written for this outreach. Dave took off, and we scrambled to keep up. He turned on 8th Avenue, heading for the Port Authority (bus station). He had gone just a few steps when he saw two men standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
The young man facing us had deep burn scars on the entire left side of his body. He looked at Wilkerson and said, “What’s your problem? Haven’t you ever seen a freak before?” Dave walked up to him face-to-face and said, “You’re not a freak! I’m a man of God and I love you!” Then he threw his arms around this drug addict. In minutes, the young man was sobbing as David prayed for him to give his heart to Jesus. David gave him a card for Teen Challenge and told him to go there if he wanted to “get clean.” He entered Teen Challenge the next day.
We started walking again when I saw a tall hulk of a man across the street watching the whole event. As we moved down the sidewalk, the man followed on the other side of the street and began to cross, intending to intercept Wilkerson.
“Hey man,” he yelled over and over until David stopped and looked his way. Not sure of his intentions, I stood closer to Wilkerson. The man came up; it was obvious he was an addict and appeared agitated. “I saw what you did for that dude back there,” he said. “That was pretty cool, man.” Wilkerson began talking to him and asked where he was from. He definitely was not a New Yorker. He informed David that he had moved to New York from San Francisco, particularly the “Tenderloin” district.
He went on to say, “We had a bunch of religious fanatics come into our neighborhood last year, telling everyone about Jesus. They were passing out books, and it really made me mad, so I moved here.”
Wilkerson reached into his bag and pulled out a copy of his booklet Two of Me, written for the outreach in San Francisco.
“You mean this book?” Wilkerson asked, holding it up to him.
“Yeah, man, that’s it,” the man responded. “How did you know?”
“Because I wrote it,” David replied.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Talking to you!” said David.
Dave shared the power of the Gospel with him and, after only a few minutes, knelt on the hot concrete sidewalk and led the man to Christ. You can try to run from God, but you end up running right into Him.
The actual outreach hadn’t even started yet! What more can possibly happen? I thought.
Something to pray about!
Semper Fidelis
