Times Square Pastor Remembered as Charismatic and Charitable

This is a couple of weeks old but I just saw it today. (New York Times)

While many speakers at the memorial service for the Rev. David Wilkerson on Saturday spoke of how many lives his ministry had touched, one clergyman spoke from very personal experience.

A video interview of Mr. Wilkerson played while people watched the service in the overflow area on 51st Street.

“Even when it seemed like no one else was there, he was there,” Pastor William Carrol said, describing how he was homeless for more than three years, sleeping in parks and subway cars, before someone convinced him to attend a service at the Times Square Church, which Mr. Wilkerson founded in 1987 and where the memorial service was held. “The witness in me said this man knows what he’s preaching,” Mr. Carrol said, explaining that he was compelled to enter Mr. Wilkerson’s fold.

Mr. Wilkerson, 79, who was killed in an automobile accident near his home in Tyler, Tex., on April 27, had gained some notoriety for his dire predictions of riots, fires and an “earth-shattering calamity” about to befall the planet. Those who spoke at his service, however, chose to focus on his unwavering religious convictions, charismatic appeal and charitable nature.

More here-

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/times-square-pastor-remembered-as-charismatic-and-charitable/?partner=rss&emc=rss