Certainly a great Christian passed away yesterday. David Wilkinson impacted incredible numbers through Teen Challenge and the church he began in New York, Times Square. He also was a true prophet, with a strong word to speak to America and the church.
It is interesting for me to reflect that our church here in Marlboro in some ways owes its existence to him. Wilkinson came to the Princeton college campus in 1975 and presented an evangelistic meeting (which had minimal results) . But out of that, the person who hosted the event got burdened for Princeton, and helped restart a church there. Wilkinson had a burden for the town, and supported him financially in the very beginning. It was through that church that I got going spiritually. Eventually I went on staff there as a pastor, and then came to Marlboro to start Monmouth. So if Wilkinson did not exist, our church probably would not be here.
A godly man's life has unexpected influences for good in many places.
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ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, it was Rev. David Wilkerson (described below) who died this past week, not Rev. David Wilkinson (a United Methodist and founder of SOUND BITES Ministry).
ReplyDeleteEvangelist David Wilkerson, who wrote the popular book "The Cross and the Switchblade" and founded New York's Times Square Church, died in a traffic accident Wednesday (April 27).
Wilkerson, 79, died after his car slammed into a tractor-trailer on a highway about 95 miles southeast of Dallas, according to The Associated Press. His wife, Gwen, was also injured but is expected to recover.
Wilkerson was known most for his outreach to street gangs, which he started after viewing a photo in Life magazine of New York City teens charged with murder.
He founded Teen Challenge, a ministry to young gang members and drug addicts, in New York in 1959. In 1963, he co-authored his best-selling story, which Christianity Today magazine listed in 2006 in the No. 32 spot on its "Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals."
Rev. David Wilkerson and Times Square Church is very dear to me. How I found it is interesting too and a fantastic story...here it goes. I was working in NYC and not attending any church for some time....I was uptown and walked into a tiny side street convenient market, upon entering a homeless man held out his hand (he was bent over completely, never saw his face) and gave me a tract...I said thank you (out the door he went) overturned it and saw stamped on the back: Times Square Church, the address and Pastor D. Wilkersons name underneath. I glanced over my shoulder the door swinging shut and bells ringing, signaling my stranger had just left. I was immediately excited as I had always heard of him, the church, the movie, Teen Challenge etc. but never knew where the church actually WAS. I stepped out of the store within seconds to look for the homeless man up and down the street, I looked back and forth...he was just there? How could he have disappeared so fast? he could bearly move so hunched over like that? Where did he go, the corner of the block on either end is so far away...he just vanished.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't wait for Sunday to come to go to TSC. I entered this amazing theater/church...it was so beautiful! The choir rocked and the message was so strong...and there was Rev. DW himself to deliver it.....he thundered out his sermons with such passion, hitting my heart to the core. As I sat in the balcony looking around, I couldn't shake this feeling that I had been there before...but how could that be...I had certainly never been to church here? The more I looked at the chandelier, the angels on the walls, the stage, what is going on....I have been here...but how, when? Why does this look so familiar?
Then, I read it...Times Square Church had purchased the original theater where Jesus Christ Superstar was performed in the 1970's...when I was 12yrs old, I saw that play on Broadway in that very same theater....it was my first introduction to Jesus Christ...the music, the play, that very place was were I learned about a man named Jesus..(I accepted Jesus as Lord/Savior at age 13 a year after attending the play)..and here I was all these years later (backsliden and dry) brought back to the place where it all began (through angelic intervention)...to become hungry, revived, strengthened, brought into fellowship in a cold and lonely city. I will never forget the years I spent at Times Square Church several times a week....powerful. Rev. David Wilkerson and TSC is so near to my heart...I know the earth is missing a dynamic prophet/preacher...but oh he is dancing now..God bless his dear family and Times Square Church, they are part of my history in Christ.
hi Pastor Ken, I just wanted to comment on David Wilkerson. When I moved to Brooklyn to do graduate study at Pratt, the only church around was teen challenge which was a couple of blocks away from the school. At that time it was an oasis for me in the midst of a militarized zone. I could walk there and I loved it. Even the area where the little rehab is was historic. It was where David Wilkerson met Nicky Cruz, hense the Cross and the Switch Blade.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son Ben was born too early it was a tumultuous time in our lives, and when he finally got out of the hospital we took him to the Nederlander theatre where Pastor Dave and his brother laid hands on him, his little body, and prayed healing over him, as did the whole church. My son never had any of the problems the doctors said he would have. praise God. So praise God for mighty men of God. Praise God