Wilkerson Family Gathers for Texas Funeral
The Wilkerson family on Monday is holding a private funeral for David Wilkerson, 79, in Tyler, Texas. The service will be held at 3 p.m. CT at the Rose Heights Church of God.
“Due to limited seating at the church we have to restrict the funeral to family and ministry associates. We encourage you to attend the memorial service being held at Times Square Church in New York City,” the family said in a statement.
According to the Tyler Morning Telegraph, a burial will follow in Lindale City Cemetery under the direction of Caudle-Rutledge Funeral Home. The paper reported that the Wilkersons received family and friends at the Lindale funeral home on Sunday. Charisma Publisher Steve Strang is attending the services and will be reporting from Tyler later today. The Wilkerson family says Wilkerson’s wife, Gwen, is still in the hospital under observation but is expected to recover.
In lieu of flowers and gifts, the Wilkerson family has asked that people give a donation to World Challenge’s Please Pass the Bread program. As Gary Wilkerson noted in a recent tribute to his father, Please Pass the Brad was Wilkerson’s last heartfelt endeavor to reach the poor.
A public memorial for Wilkerson is scheduled for Saturday, May 14 at 2 p.m. at Times Square Church at 237 West 51st street in Manhattan. Wilkerson founded the church in 1987. Simultaneous translation will be available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The memorial service will be streamed live on the Times Square Church web site.
Wilkerson, founder of World Challenge Ministries, was killed Wednesday in a car accident in East Texas on April 27. Wilkerson was killed in a head-on collision with a tractor trailer while traveling east on U.S. 175. Read more about Wilkerson’s life and ministry.
