The Cross and the Switchblade - Softcover

"Go to New York City and help those boys."

When David Wilkerson heard those words in his heart late one night as he glanced at a picture in Life magazine, he was dumbfounded. The boys in question were members of a violent gang and on trial for murder. He, on the other hand, was a country preacher settled comfortably in a little mountain church in Pennsylvania. What could God possibly expect him to accomplish--in New York City, of all places?

But the thought would not let him go--and his life and the lives of countless despairing teens were changed forever on account of it.

This is the riveting story of the founding of Teen Challenge, an inner-city ministry that today maintains residential and crisis counseling centers around the globe. But even more, it is a story of how the most unlikely people can hear--and follow--God's call to do the impossible.

This 45th anniversary edition includes a brand-new foreword by Charles Colson and two new epilogues celebrating Teen Challenge and reflecting on fifty years of following God's lead.

"David's story will touch your life in a way few books can."--from the foreword by Charles W. Colson

David Wilkerson (1931-2011) was the founder of Teen Challenge and World Challenge and longtime senior pastor of Times Square Church. He authored more than thirty books, including the bestselling The Cross and the Switchblade and Knowing God by Name. He ministered to people worldwide, and on the day of his death, he was still ministering.

David Wilkerson (1931–2011) was a renowned Christian evangelist, the founder of the addiction recovery program Teen Challenge, and the senior pastor of the nondenominational Times Square Church in New York. He wrote more than 30 books, including the bestselling The Cross and the Switchblade and Knowing God by Name.