Feb. 25, 2008 - Wicked
Our 15th wedding anniversary was New Year's Eve. To celebrate, my sweet husband surprised me with a trip to NYC. You can read all about it in a previous post. Anyway, while we were there we unknowingly stumbled into Times Square Church. We had just come out of the Gershwin Theatre where we saw the hit musical Wicked ( a funny prequel story about the relationship the between Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North from the Wizard of OZ). So, we were wandering around in the rain, trying to figure out where we should go eat, when we heard worship music coming from what looked like a movie theatre. We went in and found ourselves in a beautiful gold and white theatre, packed with people from every imaginable ethnic background all gathered to worship and have their Sunday night service. We stayed and loved it! The feeling in the room was warm; we really were packed in there tightly, but everyone I came into contact with seemed so kind and welcoming. It was a sort of refuge from the cold, busy city bustling outside.
That worship service was one of the highlights of our trip to NYC. I loved seeing all those different "kinds" of people worshipping Jesus. It makes me wonder if that's what heaven will look like. People from every tribe and every nation worshipping together. (Rev.7:9,10)
Anyway, when I started telling friends about our trip, I was shocked to hear over and over again comments like, "Oh Yeah, that's David Wilkerson's church." Or, " Yeah, that pastor who wrote The Cross and the Switchblade started that church." It seems that most people read this book in High School. Who? What? Huh? Apparently, due to my misspent youth, I had missed out on yet another classic book and a story of redemption!
So, now I am reading this old classic book The Cross and the Switchblade written by David Wilkerson, founder of NYC's Times Square Church, which tells about his life and his call to ministry from the mountains of Pennsylvania to the streets of NYC. It tells of how God miraculously guided him to young teens who were involved in horrible gangs. These kids were drug addicts, murderers and seemingly hopeless, but God used this pastor (and others) to reach their hard hearts and change them. Many of them. The story focuses on one kid in particular, named Nicky Cruz, who was one of the toughest, meanest gang members around, and how God touched him and changed him forever. It is powerful! Nicky Cruz wrote an autobiography, too, called Run, Baby, Run! It is on my nightstand waiting to be read.
So, friends, if you are like me and somehow missed these stories, I recommend them. It is very inspiring to read of how God speaks, and moves His people to love and minister to the lost and the truly wicked. Not green - pretend - Land of Oz wicked - but really wicked people that do terrible things! It is sometimes easy to forget that God loves them, too.
*Update: Tuesday Feb.26
Well, I finished the book this morning. It was very interesting to read in the last part of the book how the Lord guided and protected these missionaries as they tried to reach these violent and lost kids. I was scared and apalled just reading some of these stories, I can't imagine being in the midst of it all!
The author is from a pentecostal background, and although the Church in Times Square and his Teen Challenge ministry are considered non-denominational, the pentecostal theology is very evident throughout the last chapters of the book.
Very interesting. Food for thought.
Comments
Feb. 25, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by StillHisGirl
Wow! That sounds fascinating. The name sounds vaguely familiar but I've never read the book, either. I"ll have to check it out! :)
You know I'm slightly jealous of your NYC time. And to see Wicked there?!?! Wow. We're still singing the soundtrack here every day. :)
I love the picture of all those people worshiping. Beautiful!
Feb. 27, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by skdenfeld
Hi Deb-
I don't know how I missed your last few entries. I have been browsing my 'friends' list lately to view new entries and somehow I did not see yours. I'm glad you had such a good trip. It really does sound amazing. Have you been to New York before? It is one of those places I think I need to go at least once. School friend of my husband and I live there now. After September 11th they came home and worked at the same local school for a while, but thought it was too stressful; they never saw eachother, so they moved back to New York. This was really funny to me since one had worked for Saturday Night Live before that, and the other wrote for the NY Times.
PS. I loved your Valentine's day story too.
