testimony
ministering a small community in
the peaceful town of Phillipsburg,
PA. Neither of the two could foresee
how much their lives would change
when David heard the Lord’s voice
after reading the court trial of seven
minors, all of them members of a
New York City gang. “Go to New
York and help these kids.” God’s task
for David seemed almost surreal.
How was he supposed to help these
youngsters from the big city while he
was already the pastor of a church
far away from New York, with a
wife and kids to provide for? And
yet, the voice persisted. God’s plan
was quite real, and it was going to
change David’s life forever.
That is the beginning of a series
of amazing events – many of them
could even be called “miracles”
– that unfolds into a tremendous
odyssey of evangelism. The reader
is brought to the “Big Apple” of the
60’s – already a metropolis divided
and withered by poverty, discrimi-
nation, violence, and above all, by
drugs. David Wilkerson goes on a
true crusade against the plague of
substance abuse and the youth crime
that comes from it, armed not with
a sword but with love and faith. It is
this faith so firm and unshakable that
leads David to conquer the hearts
of several teenagers connected to
addiction and gang violence, sharing
with them the message of hope and
unconditional love that can only be
found in Jesus and bringing many to
know the Christ Redeemer.
After some years of ministering
in the New York City’s most impo-
verished neighborhoods, Wilkerson
founded the first Teen Challenge
center, a place where all teenagers,
independently of gang affiliations
or substance abuse problems, were
welcome. The center soon became
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10 ISSUE #9