What were the early steps that put Teen Challenge on the path to effectively helping youth and adults who were so damaged by drug addiction and other serious problems? When you read in The Cross and the Switchblade of how at 26 years of age David Wilkerson became the pioneer of this ministry, you see that one thing stands out—small steps of obedience to what God asked him to do.
The first prompting came when God planted that startling but simple thought in his heart one night, “Go help those boys”—the 7 teens who were on trial for the murder of Michael Farmer in New York City.
If you have read the book, you know that Dave Wilkerson was not successful in helping those boys, but instead was thrown out of court. His public humiliation could have been the “sign” he used to determine that he had missed God’s will, and returned to the church he was pastoring in Pennsylvania, vowing never to go back to that big city again.
But instead he used that “failure” as a lesson to keep on listening to God’s direction for his life, and within days he was headed back to New York City—one more small step of obedience.
Radical obedience
There was no grand vision from heaven of the great expansion of Teen Challenge ministries that would take place over the next 50+ years—now over 1,000 ministries in 94 nations. But his small steps of obedience took him down a path that required more steps of obedience—radical steps of obedience!
Radical obedience takes you to a place where you no longer care what others think—family, friends, even other Teen Challenge workers. Your passion to obey God and do what he has called you to do surpasses all other concerns.
What do we need today?
The path of a pioneer is to go where others have not gone—and that has characterized not only Dave Wilkerson, but many other ordinary people who helped to pioneer Teen Challenge ministries in other cities and nations. Today, there are 32 nations on a waiting list, asking for their first Teen Challenge. What is needed? People who are willing to take small steps of obedience—radical steps of obedience—and see a new ministry birthed in each of these nations.
Even if you are working today in a well-established Teen Challenge ministry, with many years of history, you face the same challenge. Will you choose to take small steps of obedience to God’s calling as you fulfill your daily responsibilities? You can fill your day full of all kinds of busy activities—but are you taking the steps of obedience God desires?
There are lots of new challenges in every community where people in need are still trapped in spiritual darkness. We need leaders—young and old—who are willing to look at the people trapped in these problems and find new creative ways to bring the truth and the healing touch of Jesus into their lives so they can experience all that Jesus has for them.
The world today in waiting for those who will take small steps of obedience, responding to God’s direction—ordinary people who are willing to do extraordinary things through the power of the Holy Spirit.