“Teenage gangs were running riot. They had just declared war on the police and anarchy was about to break out. Murder was commonplace. Drugs were rife. And into the midst of all this stepped country preacher David Wilkerson, armed only with a Bible and the message of God’s love.
From the beginning, miracles started to happen. And what seemed at first like the biggest mistake of his life, turned into a story that has changed and inspired the lives of millions.”
That’s the book cover description for a book titled ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’; which begs the question “What’s that got to do with BSYW?”
In 1961 David Wilkerson bought a huge mansion and opened a Christian Centre in Brooklyn, the roughest part of New York, where young people, mostly gang members and drug addicts, would be invited, accepted, helped and rehabilitated in an atmosphere of God’s love. The centre was called The Teen Challenge Centre.
Many years later a group of young men who had been through the rehab centre formed a choir and went on tour around the UK. In 1989 they came to Blackpool and did a tour of local churches, recruiting volunteers for street evangelism and visiting schools with Bible based, Christian assemblies.
There were about 15 volunteers who came together, and we called ourselves The Light Brigade. We rocked up to schools wearing bright coloured shell suits, with instruments, microphones and amplifiers. We were loud in every sense of the word and really hyped the children up, which resulted in one member of staff saying, “We have to teach these children after you’ve gone!” We took the hint and calmed things down from then on.
In 1995 Teen Challenge moved on and the charity Blackpool Schools and Youth Work (BSYW) was born. Over the years our net has widened to cover not just Blackpool, but Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Over Wyre, St Anne’s and Lytham too.
Today, as at the beginning of the story, the BSYW Team visit local schools armed only with a Bible and the message of God’s love.