IMPRINTED BY A MAN NAMED DAVID

Recently I read an article about the The July 20th, 1969 moon landing and of Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon. It said because there is no wind on the moon  the footprints will stay for one million years.  I’m not sure how they know that, but that’s what it said. A million years seems like a long time but it is like the blink of an eye compared to forever or eternity.

I then thought of another man, who never walked on the moon but whose footprints will last forever and not just a measly one million years.  He died in a car accident the other day at the age of 79 but his impact, his imprint will last forever.  And I am here today because of this man’s imprint on my life.

The man I’m talking about is David Wilkerson the founder of Teen Challenge, the world wide Christ centered addiction recovery program, the author of numerous books including the author of the 15 million seller The Cross and the Switchblade, the founder of World Challenge and the founder of Time Square Church.  But let me go back almost 40 years and tell you how this man’s obedience to God was instrumental in my coming to Christ as Savior.

It was on June 29th, 1971 that I found myself with a friend on a highway somewhere in Ohio.  We had been hitchhiking across the country having left the Boston area a couple of weeks earlier.  We had very little money, slept mostly on the side of the roads, had been threatened several times by men who didn’t think that males should have long hair, and held by the police a few times because we were hitchhiking on the highway.

We really didn’t have a plan, we were just going wherever the next ride would take us.  I remember being, on the side of the road  for hours somewhere in Missouri and not one person stopped to give us a ride.  So eventually we crossed the highway, stuck out our thumbs and the first car that came by stopped and off we went.  I see now how God had His hand on each ride as He was moving us to the  spot on the side of a highway in Ohio on June 29th, where He had a black man name Larry in a yellow Volkswagen Bug stop and give us a ride.

He started talking about Jesus and how he used to be a drug addict but God changed him.  He asked if we wanted to go to church and we both said, “No.” But then he said, “Listen after church come to my house for a shower, food, and a bed to sleep on.” We both said, “We’ll go to church.” Believe me hitch hiking across the country is overrated, especially if you have little money to buy food or pay for a clean, dry place to sleep.

Growing up Catholic did not prepare me for this church where the people clapped their hands, sang with enthusiasm, prayed loudly, and even lifted their hands when they prayed.  But we could handle it because after church we would get food, shower, and a bed to sleep in.

After the singing several guys stood up and said that they used to be drug addicts but Jesus had changed their lives.  Although I was an active drug user I didn’t see a need to change and was just waiting for church to get over because waiting for me was food, shower, and a bed.

But God knew how to get my attention. The preacher then began to talk.  He said that he was an alcoholic for years but Jesus changed his life.  Boom, I began to listen because I grew up in a family with an alcoholic parent.  The speaker’s  name was Jerry Wilkerson, the brother of David Wilkerson, the founder of Teen Challenge.  I had been brought not only to a church but to a church service being run by the Christ centered drug rehab program Teen Challenge.

Then after he spoke he asked those that wanted to change, but couldn’t,  to come up to the front of the church for prayer.  And then, this is what he did.  He pointed at me and my friend and said do you two guys right there have the courage to come up and pray to Jesus.  I turned around and there were no other guys behind us.  And on that night in a church somewhere in Ohio where we were brought by a Teen Challenge graduate we went up to the altar.  I told God that I was messed up and asked Him to help me and I asked Jesus Christ into my life.  I left that church and immediately entered Teen Challenge, the Christ centered drug rehab program started by David Wilkerson.  My friend left after three days. I spent a year in the program, growing in Christ and getting off of drugs.  And almost 4o years later I am still drug free and still in love with Jesus and still being changed by Jesus.

David Wilkerson’s footprints may never be seen on the moon for the next million years, but his imprint is on the lives of tens of thousands that have gone through Teen Challenge and untold thousands whose lives have been touched by the Teen Challenge family.  His imprint can be seen on the lives here in Haiti that are being touched by Heartline.  And this imprint will still be seen forever, through eternity, in the lives of many that will find Heaven their eternal home largely because of the obedience of  a man named David Wilkerson.

John McHoul