A play adaptation of the book by David Wilkerson. Set in 1958, The Cross and the Switchblade follows the true story of Wilkerson as a young pastor led by God into the dangerous tenements of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York City, an area even the police were afraid to enter because of the viciousness of the rival gangs who ruled their 'turf' with ruthless violence.The story unfolds as the naive but dedicated young man faces his fears, confronting death threats with compassion and honesty, eventually gaining the respect and friendship of formerly unreachable gangsters and drug addicts.