The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
Week 4: Chapter 4 — The First Breakthrough
Read Chapter 4 of The Cross and the Switchblade.
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After weeks of failure and rejection, God begins to open doors — and Wilkerson's first real breakthrough with a gang member reveals how the Holy Spirit moves in ways that no strategy or program could have manufactured.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Wilkerson's early relational breakthroughs with gang members often happen not because of a polished sermon or a clever program, but because of an unexpected moment of vulnerability or prayer. What does this pattern suggest about the primary 'tools' of authentic gospel ministry?
2.When Wilkerson is able to pray with or for a gang member for the first time, he often describes an almost tangible sense of the Holy Spirit's presence in the room. How do you personally process those kinds of accounts?
a.Do you find them easy to believe, difficult to believe, or somewhere in between? Why?
b.What is the danger of being too quick to believe every report of supernatural activity? What is the danger of being too skeptical?
3.Wilkerson is repeatedly struck by the fact that the gang members he meets are spiritually hungry — they are looking for something real, something true, something worth living and dying for. How does this spiritual hunger in such an unexpected place reframe your understanding of where God is already at work in the world?
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