A former Christian bookstore owner has paid tribute to the "the ministry of a good book" in the wake of the death of David Wilkerson—pastor and author of the 1963 best-seller The Cross and the Switchblade (Chosen Books/Baker Publishing Group).

Jackie Johnson—who along with her mother opened Sonshine House Christian Bookstore in Newark, Del., in 1986 and sold the store to Family Christian Stores in 1999—said that The Cross and the Switchblade and Wilkerson's ministry "helped shape the course of my life."

Wilkerson, 79, was killed in a car crash in East Texas on April 27. He is best known for The Cross and the Switchblade, which has sold more than 15 million copies since its original publication, introduced readers to the struggles of inner-city youth recruited by gangs and chronicled the origins of the Teen Challenge ministry.

"In 1979, a friend gave me a copy of The Cross and the Switchblade," Johnson, a teenager at the time, wrote in an email to Christian Retailing. "I was so moved by the story. Before receiving the book, I had been living my life as a reckless teenager. All I cared about was partying with friends and my own desires. And even though I was about to graduate high school, I had no real plans for the future."

Johnson said that after reading Wilkerson's story regarding how he followed the Lord's leading to go into New York City and witness to the youth, her "heart began to pound." "This is what I want to do," she recalled. "I want to reach out to youth and tell them that their life can be changed through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Johnson added that God "opened doors and provided finances" to attend World Challenge Institute of Christian Training (now called World Challenge Ministries), a school that trained people to work with young men and women with drug and alcohol addictions. "Three months after reading The Cross and the Switchblade, I was shaking hands with David Wilkerson in East Texas on the campus of World Challenge," she recounted.

While at the school, Johnson had opportunities to minister—traveling to inner cities, prisons and Teen Challenge centers in Texas and Alabama, where she saw "God work in miraculous ways" during the five-month program. When she returned home to Delaware, Johnson was able to minister at a ranch for boys aged 12-17. After owning and working in a Christian bookstore for 17 years, Johnson now volunteers for her church's youth ministry and church bookstore.

"I can honestly say as I look back over the last 30 years that my love for youth and Christian books was shaped by God and the amazing book He led me to read," Johnson said.

Click here to read Jackie Johnson's testimony regarding The Cross and the Switchblade.

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