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Scripture for this chapter
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luke 15:4 KJV
At a glance
Behind bars, Wilkerson meets the boys from the photograph and begins to see them as individuals.
The absence of an immediate, dramatic result is presented honestly rather than smoothed over.
UECF.NET summary
With the needed permissions secured, Wilkerson is finally able to sit face to face with several of the teenagers awaiting trial in the Farmer case — the very boys whose photograph had started the whole journey. The chapter deliberately slows down here, letting each boy emerge as a distinct person with a specific home life, fears, and reasons for being where he is, rather than as an interchangeable statistic in a crime story.
Wilkerson does not try to argue anyone into a decision. Instead he reads Scripture, prays, and listens, treating the encounter as the beginning of a relationship rather than a single evangelistic pitch. The chapter closes on the ambiguity of these first jailhouse visits: no dramatic conversions yet, only the sense that something has been planted.
Key points
- The chapter turns the boys from a news story into individuals with names and histories.
- Wilkerson's approach is relational and patient rather than a single high-pressure appeal.
- The absence of an immediate, dramatic result is presented honestly rather than smoothed over.
Related Scripture
For reflection and discussion
- Why might it matter that Wilkerson resists the urge to “close the deal” in a single visit?
- How easy is it for you to see a person behind a label — “gang member,” “addict,” “offender” — rather than the label itself?
- What does patient, relational evangelism look like in a setting where you have influence?
This page is an original UECF.NET study companion. It does not reproduce any text from The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson (with John Sherrill and Elizabeth Sherrill), which remains under copyright. Read the full chapter in a legally available edition of the book — see Further Reading & Legal Editions — or borrow the original 1963 edition via Internet Archive’s Open Library controlled digital lending.