THE MOVIE ABOUT HIS MINISTRY (STARRING PAT BOONE and ERIC ESTRADA )
Posted on 04/28/2011 8:10:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
At 13, Justin Franich was smoking pot, cigarettes, and drinking alcohol. By 15, the pastor’s kid had already moved from cocaine to the highly addictive amphetamine called “crystal meth.” Today, Franich wants to pay tribute to the late David Wilkerson, the evangelical pastor and founder of the Christian recovery program Teen Challenge, for giving him a second chance at life.
“I am definitely forever grateful for the work that he did because without his obedience, I would have been one of those thousands upon thousands who wouldn’t be here today,” said Franich, now program director of Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge, Inc. in Mt. Jackson, Va., to The Christian Post on Thursday.
Although Franich has never personally met Wilkerson, who died in a car accident Wednesday at the age of 79, he heard him preach at a Teen Challenge national celebration a few years ago, read his bestselling book The Cross and the Switchblade, and watched the 1970 film adaptation several times – in both the capacity as a drug addict and now as someone helping addicts break their drug dependency.
Franich – now 25, married, and expecting a second child – recalled when he enrolled in Teen Challenge seven years ago.
“That time I had burned all my bridges. I was just at the end of my ropes. God really used that ministry to give me hope,” said Franich, who was intravenously using crystal meth when he received help. “It (drug use) consumed my life. It took over my entire life.”
“I had dropped out of high school and had nothing left. Teen Challenge was there to reach out to me.”
In 1958, David Wilkerson along with his youngest brother Don established the first Teen Challenge center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Don Wilkerson, 71, told The Christian Post in an interview today that he and his brother had initially planned to minister to gang members, not drug addicts.
“The gang members became drug addicts. The same young men we knew as gang members, we started to know them as drug addicts,” explained Wilkerson, who still directs Teen Challenge Brooklyn.
So the Wilkerson brothers and their ministry team turned the building they had used to house staff workers at the time into a residential center for men struggling with drug addictions, and from there Teen Challenge was formed.
A half a century later, Franich is one of the thousands of drug addicts that David Wilkerson and his ministry have impacted.
Ironically, in the case of Franich, he became a drug addict despite his father being a pastor and moreover the director of Teen Challenge. He said his father was involved in the Teen Challenge ministry the whole time he was using drugs.
“I was curious with what else was out there. I think at first I was under the impression that the party life, the drug addiction, was something that I could control,” explained the former crystal meth user. “I thought I would do this for a phase and once I got off my partying phase I would go to college and do everything else.”
“Little did I know at that time that by the time I was 15 it would turn into a full blown addiction.”
The Franichs now minister as a family to those struggling with addictions. His mother, Novella, his father, John, and his wife are all involved in the 53-year-old ministry.
“It all goes back to 50 years ago. One man’s obedience to go to New York and preach to some kids on the streets that nobody cared about,” said Franich of the late Wilkerson.
Wilkerson died Wednesday afternoon in East Texas when he crashed his car into an 18-wheeler. His wife, Gwendolyn Wilkerson, was injured but is said to be in fair condition. Don Wilkerson told The Christian Post that he heard his brother David had taken his wife out to dinner before they got into the fatal car accident.
Teen Challenge has 233 locations in the United States and 1,181 centers in total worldwide.
On April 27, 2011, while driving east on US Route 175 in Texas, Wilkerson crossed into the westbound lane and collided head-on with a tractor trailer. He was reportedly not wearing his seat belt, and was pronounced dead on the scene. His wife was wearing a seat belt, and was injured.
Actually, THIS April.
As in...YESTERDAY.
There is always hope for the drug addict. So often we assume there is no turning back. But there is, even for the most serious addict.
One of the dangers of driving in Texas is the long, flat, vast stretches of nothing, makes it very easy for highway hypnosis to set in and then nod off.
More here :
http://www.californiality.com/2011/04/david-wilkerson-killed.html
David Wilkerson, the legendary Christian evangelist, author of the best-seller The Cross and the Switchblade, founder of Teen Challenge and pastor of New York’s Times Square Church has been killed in Texas.
My television broadcasting colleagues at KETK-TV (NBC) in Tyler, Texas have informed me that Pastor Wilkerson, 79, was hit by a big rig while driving with his wife on Highway 175 at the Neches River bridge.
Wilkerson was pronounced dead. Mrs. Gwen Wilkerson was taken to ETMC Tyler, TX and is in critical condition.
The 18-wheeler went off the bridge into the riverbed below and the driver of the big rig was taken to ETMC Jacksonville, TX.
Texas state troopers on the scene said that the Wilkersons were hit head-on by a tractor trailer that moved into their lane. The truck driver saw their car and attempted to avoid the collision.
The accident scene was so severe that local Texas authorities expect the Neches River bridge to require reconstruction due to the heavy damage.
Upon hearing the news of the Wilkerson tragedy, countless Christian believers are in utter shock at the violence of David Wilkerson’s death, with most praying immediately for the lives of both Mrs. Wilkerson and the truck driver.
I personally know the quality of care at the East Texas Medical Center facilities and am confident that both survivors are receiving the best care possible. Tyler is the largest city in East Texas and the health care technology is very advanced.
“It is with deepest of sadness that we have to inform you of the sudden passing of Reverend David Wilkerson, our founding pastor,” Times Square Church Senior Pastor Carter Conlon announced from New York.
David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade was made into a major motion picture, released in 1970. The movie starred legendary Hollywood actors Pat Boone and Erik Estrada.
Both Boone and Estrada are both expressing shock and sadness, as are Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson, Paul and Jan Crouch, Kenneth Copeland, Rod Parsley, Benny Hinn, Brian and Bobbie Houston, Robert Schuller and many other pastors and evangelists around the world.
In California, where more than one million teenagers were saved at David Wilkerson’s Christian rallies and Teen Challenge events , there is an outpouring of tears, prayers and gratitude.
“I quit prostitution and drugs after seeing The Cross and the Switchblade and hearing David Wilkerson speak,” said Lydia Hernandez of Los Angeles.
“I would have been dead years ago. I know that Pastor Wilkerson is with The Lord, but I’m still so sad about his death. I’m praying for his wife, but I don’t know what else to say,” declared Hernandez in tears.
Christians worldwide are being urged to immediately pray for Mrs. Gwen Wilkerson and the driver of the big rig. Many prayer vigils are happening throughout the night.
I have attended David Wilkerson events, read The Cross and the Switchblade, saw the movie numerous times, and am a regular reader of his blog. Wilkerson is one of the great figures in the history of Christianity. His impact was enormous.
Wilkerson’s last words on his blog, which he posted just minutes before he was killed, made me cry:
Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail—his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world.
Heaven has gained a spiritual heavyweight as millions here on Earth mourn the death of David Wilkerson.
Oh no!
He was often on the local Christian radio station and The Cross And The Switchblade is one of the best books, ever.
How sad!
I have seen him preach. I believe he was a very beautiful caring christian. I am in shock in how he died. He would weigh his words so not offend the Lord not man when he preached. I thought when I visited NY, I might see him preach again. I know people who were transformed for Christ because of this great christian. I am truly humbled. I believe even in death he will still change people by his witness. AMEN!!!
Thank you Lord and may God continue to bless you my son. I'm so very proud of you. Dad
OMG, I didn’t know this. May he rest in peace with the Lord. I’ve followed his career for years. He was one of the greats.
He probably never knew a thing. I’ve been in major car accidents, you often don’t feel anything at first, severe traumatic injury is such a shock.
They say he “drifted over” into an oncoming truck. He probably fell asleep or had highway hypnosis. He probably never woke up and left this earth almost immediately.
Wow.
Really sorry to hear this.
I saw the movie and read several of his books.
No doubt he is in heaven.
After 15 years of being in the porn cycle of remorse, resolves and failure, I heard Dave's message to flee temptation, not to drive where the stuff is, and to tell my wife (putting to death the temptation) I was finally free and have been for 16 years.
It's like the drunk or the drug addict saying the same. The key was taking in the right scripture, prayer and right application. It was amazing how quickly, I had been freed!
I have the feeling, many could testify the great effects of Dave's ministry and I can only say that I look forward to meeting him in heaven and shaking his hand!
May our Lord bless and keep David who died just after the celebration of the Resurrection -- may the Lord bring David to Him.
I testify that he was used of God and believe that Dave, with all the rest of the saints will cast down their crowns at Christ's feet saying 'You have done it all', 'To you alone be the glory'.
The Scriptures say that God does his Good Works "through us" and I believe, for the believer, this can be either with our co-operation or without. In Dave's case, I believe it was with :)
Thank you again for posting this and sharing about the life of this good man, a hero for Christians after of course Our Lord and God Jesus Christ
The cross seems to have met the switchblade today. May God hold David in His hands.
True, there is always hope -- ours is a loving God.
Ezekiel 33:12-17
| 12 “Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing.And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. 14 And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. |
Our God loves us and is the very heart of love and forgiveness. We humans may give up on a person, but God doesn't
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