One Of My Greatest Heroes, David Wilkerson, Has Died!

      One week ago I was preparing to teach at a Bible College on the subject of evangelism. But just moments before we had to leave, my wife Becky shared an email we had just received from a friend. It said that David Wilkerson had been killed the day before in a head on collision in East Texas. It was an enormous shock. He was 79, if he would have died in his sleep or had heart failure perhaps it would have been less of a surprise, but this news was crushing. Although tears came to my eyes the moment I heard, I quickly comforted myself imagining the glorious welcome that was his as he first saw Jesus face to face. We moved on with our day, I taught two sessions in the morning, then Becky and I had a wonderful and lengthy time of fellowship at lunch with the director and his wife both close friends, then a hectic afternoon in the office and two more sessions in the evening. I fell into bed exhausted after a long but satisfying day. The sheer busyness of my schedule kept me from absorbing the loss.

      When I woke the next morning it really hit me. There was a little more information now with some short news stories about his death. I only got to hear him speak once in person, at a conference for street preachers. And although, I never had the privilege of meeting David Wilkerson I was grieving as if a close family member had died. I wept and wept that morning, and I have been weeping all week. I realized David Wilkerson has influenced my life and my life and ministry more profoundly than anyone else. Let me explain.

      I did not grow up in church and was dramatically saved at the age of seventeen. Within a couple of months of my conversion, the very first Christian book I read other than the Bible was Run, Baby, Run by Nicky Cruz. It told the story of his life as a murderous New York gang member, all the brutality and his truly tormented soul—until one day when he encountered a skinny preacher, named David Wilkerson, standing on a park bench on a busy sidewalk preaching his heart out. He physically shoved the Pennsylvania pastor and threatened to kill him with his switchblade. Nicky was used to terrifying and intimidating people. Then, filled with the Holy Spirit, David, took courage and replied, “You can do that Nicky, you can cut me into a thousand pieces and throw them in the street and every piece will still say I love you and Jesus loves you!”

      The answer stunned Nicky and the conviction of the Holy Spirit gripped his heart. He did not immediately yield to the influence of God, but David would not give up, despite being mocked, spit on and threatened time and again by Nicky and the other gang members. Finally, after much perseverance Nicky Cruz bowed his knee to Jesus at an evangelistic rally held by David Wilkerson to reach the hardened gang members.

      The book gripped me to the core of my soul and I could not put it down. Soon I read David’s account of those same events in The Cross and the Switchblade. Shortly thereafter, I saw the film version of that same book starring Pat Boone. The scene of David Wilkerson preaching on the park bench marked my life forever. To me this demonstrated an almost unimaginable love for Jesus—to be willing to look like a fool and unashamedly declare the gospel of the Kingdom! What love. What courage. What faith!

      It would be difficult for me to convey how David Wilkerson’s example affected me as a young believer. First I saw a passionate soul winner. There was no disconnect between what the Bible teaches and David’s actions. He was not sitting around in an ivory tower theologically theorizing about the lostness of mankind and God’s plan of redemption. He actually believed people were lost in sin, dying and going to hell without the knowledge of Jesus the Savior and he was willing to look like a fool, even die so that they could hear the gospel. The sheer passion he exhibited for Jesus was seared into my young soul.

      Remember, I did not grow up in church so I had no idea what Christianity was supposed to look like, so when I saw David Wilkerson standing on a busy city sidewalk preaching to lost unchurched people I coupled it with the words of Jesus; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” I assumed that was what all preachers did. I thought if the Bible is true and people are going to hell without the message of Jesus, then as believers we would do whatever it took to tell them about Jesus. Sometime, after that first year as a believer God called me to preach at a revival with a fiery evangelist. It would literally be years before I found the courage to stand and preach open-air myself on a city sidewalk, but I aspired to do so from the moment I saw David Wilkerson do it. Now I do it on a regular basis, and I have had the privilege of seeing thousands make professions of faith in Jesus as their Savior in twenty-four countries. Where would I be without David’s example? I have no idea but I doubt I would have ever persevered without it.

      Now three decades later after reading so many of David Wilkerson’s newsletters and books I have learned what made him so extraordinary. The passion I saw in him that so inspired me came from the deep, deep commitment he had to prayer. He spent time on his face shut in with God alone, seeking His presence continually. I am a seeker of the face of God, and to this very day I hunger and thirst after righteousness. Only because of men of God like David Wilkerson who modeled that before me. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. I have had many, many great preachers who taught me valued lessons along the way, but none quite like David Wilkerson. It was strategic that God let me see him first, in that way he molded my idea of what a man of God was supposed to be. I praise God He sent such a shining example to me as new Christian.

      Today I rededicate myself fresh and new to passionately seek God in prayer and passionately tell lost people about Jesus!