I wrote last week about the passing of Tim Keller, and tributes continue to come, including this one from the Wall Street Journal. As I was reading John Stonestreet’s tribute on BreakPoint, I was struck by this sentence:

Keller was in his forties before he showed up on the public’s radar. Oddly enough, he went to Manhattan after pastoring a small-town Virginia church for nine years. Success in the Big Apple was by no means a sure thing. A theologically conservative pastor setting up shop in the “Babylon” of downtown New York City had all the makings of a fish-out-of-water story where the well-meaning parson was doomed to failure even before he set out. – Breakpoint, May 25, 2023

What got my attention was “small-town…doomed to failure…” Who else went to New York City from a small-town church, whose mission was doomed to failure? Ever hear of David Wilkerson of Cross and the Switchblade fame? In 1958, David Wilkerson was a small-town Pentecostal pastor in Pennsylvania when he read a story in Time Magazine about New York City gangs. He felt called to reach them. One of his converts was Puerto Rican gang member Nicky Cruz, about whom I’ve written before.

But compare and contrast these two men: both Tim Keller and David Wilkerson felt called to go to New York City from small-town pastorates. Tim targeted the elite. David targeted gang members. Their missions were both doomed from the start yet they both succeeded. They couldn’t have been more different theologically, preaching style, and probably personality. What did they have in common? They loved the people they were trying to reach.

Nicky Cruz: I could kill you, preach!

David Wilkerson: Yes, you could, Nicky. You could cut me up in a thousand pieces! And every piece will say ‘I love you!

The common people felt loved by Jesus, and the quote I posted from Tim Keller’s Prodigal God speaks of that. Here’s part of it:

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day…If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. – Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

God uses all kinds of people.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13.1 – 2, NIV)

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. (1 Corinthians 12.4, NIV)