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David Wilkerson







David Wilkerson: The Cross, the Switchblade, and the Man who Believed by Gary Wilkerson

Many men talk about changing the world but few actually do.  In this new book called David Wilkerson: The Cross, the Switchblade, and the Man who Believed, we find the story of a man who grew up with few means and yet was on fire for the good news of Jesus Christ.  Gary Wilkerson, son of David Wilkerson and founder of World Challenge, an international mission organization tells the story of his father, his huge missionary spirit and the faith he passed on to his family. 

In the opening introduction, Gary writes about his father, “My father’s visions weren’t just about the transformation of real estate. He envisioned transformed lives.”  From the founding of schools in Africa to an amazing drug recovery program , David Wilkerson had an amazing vision that God could go into the impossible places of the city, including NYC, and change lives from the worst of sinners to the top businessmen.  Part of David’s vision was his unrelenting discipline that “forced himself to go into heroin “shooting galleries” to witness what the world turned a blind eye to: downtrodden young people knowingly killing themselves.”  David’s Youth Crusades were organized in part to stem the tide of this drug abuse and call people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Part of the ability of David Wilkerson to reach into the depths of hell into society was due to his priorities in life.  “God first, church second, and family third…My father had learned the one essential thing about the human experience – and the spiritual experience – that my grandparents had missed: that love is at the center.”  The love that compelled David to reach into urban ghettos, the seats of drug dealers, and the desolate poverty of Africa is the love of Christ that poured through every fiber of David’s life, ministry, and mission.  What was truly amazing about the ministry of David Wilkerson is that although he had every reason to see certain people as too far gone, he believed that God was willing and able to make glorious what others thought was ruinous.


Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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