David Wilkerson

The month of April saw the lost of one of the churches greatest pioneers in deliverance ministry.  David Wilkerson was the author of the first book I read as a christian, "The Cross and the Switchblade".  On frequent trips to New York city, I find myself in his church every Sunday.  You would think that it would be oozing with Teen Challenge, but I found something wonderful.  His church was an ecumenical church with room for everyone.  He had mastered the art of changing lives so that they looked like the undiscernable masses that attend church on a daily basis.  I have been in some form of deliverance ministry my entire life.  Sometimes, I felt like I was in church.  Sometimes, I felt I was in one big rehab.  The ministry of the church dominated the flavor of the church so that it was all you tasted.  David Wilkerson's church, set in a renovated theatre, showed me the true end result to all ministry.  It is that they may blend in with the rest of the body of Christ and no longer appear like what they were.  They become viable community members and productive members of the body of Christ.  They have been delivered from their evils so well, that you would not be able to tell that the enemy had the upper hand at all.