As a 16-year-old youth I attended a David Wilkerson Crusade, with no idea that within a few years I would be serving on his staff in Lindale, Texas. I graduated Bible College at the age of 21 and was working as a youth pastor when the leadership team of David Wilkerson asked me to serve as a teacher in the Twin Oaks Leadership Academy, and to serve as an assistant on the David Wilkerson Crusade team. Twin Oaks was the Teen Challenge staff training facility developed by David Wilkerson. It was such a joy to work with some of the greatest leaders I had ever had the privilege of meeting.
Within weeks of becoming a staff member I was flying to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to speak to 50 pastors on how to have a David Wilkerson Crusade. David Wilkerson often placed authority on young leaders with complete confidence they would step up to the challenge. I can still remember being petrified of having to stand and speak in front of 50 pastors. I learned so much working with Brother Dave and his staff. He was such a man of prayer and faith. His commitment to time in the Word of God and reading the Puritan writers influenced my life.
On one occasion I was working late in the Crusade office and when I left the office it was totally dark outside. It was so dark that night that when I turned the office lights out I could not even see my car. I knew the general direction of where it was so I started out toward it, when out of the dark came David Wilkerson.
I hadn’t seen him coming and he really scared me. He was out on a prayer walk and when he saw me He said to me, “Jerry, this is the wood, hay, and stubble.” I said to him, “Sir?” I had just come from thinking about renting auditoriums, finance committees, public relations issues and crusade locations and I wasn’t sure what he meant at the time. Then he said to me, “Jerry, you see the crusade buildings, the warehouse, all the books, all the training materials—all of this is the wood, hay, and stubble. It will all burn up one day and is meaningless to God.” Then he said, “Jerry, what really matters is that we know Him. If we are not comfortable in the presence of the Lord down here, we will not be comfortable in the presence of the Lord up there.”
Then he walked off into the dark praying. I got into my car and just sat there for a few minutes. I realized that God was speaking to him so clearly and I had just been given some amazing spiritual advice. All that really matters in this life is that we “know Him.”
One of the joys of working with Brother Dave was knowing that you were working for someone who truly sought God for direction. Brother Dave was always spiritually focused and passionate about what he was hearing from God. The staff knew that Brother Dave had the discipline of studying late into the night and when you did see him, he would have a fresh fire in his heart from the Lord.
I believe David Wilkerson truly lived his life getting to know Jesus. He heard clearly from the Lord in his prayer closet, backstage before speaking to thousands, and standing on the street talking to gang members.
I remember one day when God spoke directly through Brother Dave while we were doing a street outreach in Union Square park in Manhattan, NY. The park was filled with gang members, drug dealers, prostitutes and onlookers who came to hear the music group 2nd Chapter of Acts. The crowd of several hundred had gathered and David Wilkerson with boldness took the microphone and delivered a message of hope in Christ. He was in his element on the street. He could connect with the crowd in seconds and preach the power of Jesus to change lives.
He looked at one woman that day in the crowd and began to speak to her about her life and the life of her son. He said, “You have spent a lifetime trying to help your son. He is a drug addict and he has broken your heart. You have done everything in your power to help him but to no avail. Jesus is going to change his life.” The woman dropped to her knees saying, “I don’t know you. How do you know these things?” With tears running down her face she began to call on the Lord. She made a commitment to Christ. Hundreds came to the altar for salvation that day.
As a young Christian leader, my life was being impacted. I saw faith in action in so many areas. I worked on a team who served our leader and who partnered in the victories at the altars each night of the crusades. I witnessed Brother Dave give vehicles to missionaries, support families who were headed out on missionary assignments and saw him manage the call of God on his life to deliver what God had called him to do.
He was humble, never sought attention from the press, “never chased headlines.” He was focused on one thing—winning people to Jesus.
When I look now at how this man of God was used over his lifetime, I can only describe it in two words: “Simple Obedience.” He simply obeyed God and lived his life to the fullest to please the Lord and to introduce others to the Lord he loved.
David Wilkerson carried the flame of the Lord and finished well. Now the responsibility passes on to you and to me.
Each of us as Teen Challenge leaders now share in the responsibility of taking what our founder modeled for us and living it out in our lives. We must carry the torch on to the next generation with the same passion for souls. We must pray and study with the same kind of intensity if we hope to make a lasting impact on our sphere of influence. The kind of impact David Wilkerson made with his life came with self-discipline, pure faith, passion, and a lot of hard work.
David Wilkerson fought the good fight of faith, he finished his course, he kept the faith. Now it is up to us. May God grant us the grace to measure up when we finish our race.
Jerry Nance, PhD., is President of Global Teen Challenge, former staff member for David Wilkerson, and former state director.
