NEW YORK, NY (ANS) -- I was once robbed in Times Square, New York, by a young thug who roughly manhandled me into a doorway, held out a switchblade and told me to open my wallet. Fortunately there was only about $20 in it, so he snatched the cash, threw the wallet to the floor and ran off, leaving me shaking like a leaf.

Book cover

That was in the days before David Wilkerson, whose amazing story was told in The Cross and the Switchblade (written with John and Elizabeth Sherill), had returned to the city where his ministry with drug addicts and gang members had begun, and where he found that the Times Square area was known as a center of X-rated films, strip clubs, prostitution, and drug addiction.

So in 1987 the preacher founded the Times Square Church, in response to what he described as "the physically destitute and spiritually dead people" he saw among the pimps, runaways and crack dealers who populated the area.

The Times Square Church briefly held its services in The Town Hall on 43rd Street in Manhattan and then in the Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street. In 1989 the church moved to the former Mark Hellinger Theatre, its current location on 51st Street and is packed for each service with people from some 100 nations.

Gwen and David Wilkerson

Since 2002, David Wilkerson entrusted the senior pastorate to Carter Conlon, formerly an evangelical pastor from eastern Canada and associate pastor at Times Square Church from 1994-2002. Then tragically Wilkerson, 79, was killed in April 2011, in a head-on collision in Texas. His wife Gwen survived but the accident left her temporarily wheelchair-bound, and after several battles with cancer she died in July of this year, aged 81.

So knowing at firsthand what this area was once like, it was fascinating for me to learn that Carter Conlon, has written a book Fear Not: Living Courageously in Uncertain Times. (I could have done with it at the time I was robbed).

A news release announcing the book says that “We live in a time of uncertainty when we are inundated with disturbing news about our struggling economy, rising unemployment, the disintegration of marriage and family, the attack on faith and the realization that no place is truly safe from random acts of violence.”

As a result, it continued, we are either gripped with fear or we find reassurance in the freedom of God’s command to “fear not” (Gen. 26:24).

In his new book, Pastor Conlon traces the roots of spiritual darkness associated fear, the origin of fear in our minds and our ability to free ourselves from fear.

Pastor Conlon preaching

I have discovered that Pastor Conlon understands personally the trauma that fear can have on a person’s life after struggling with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks from childhood. Pastor Conlon says, it was through a love for others that God gave him that he was able to overcome his fear and eventually become the pastor of one of largest churches in the country and lead a ministry that included preaching in a country torn by ethnic conflict (Burundi).

“A heart of faith never lets fear determine action. Although the world’s culture is quickly spinning out of our control, we can be thankful that it’s never out of God’s control,” says Pastor Conlon. “We must let faith, not fear, lead us through uncertainty so that God is able to show He is faithful to us.”

Fear Not examines how God’s love casts out every fear through biblical and practical examples that include:

* Fear: A Powerful Weapon: The devil is the author of fear but he has no power to stop the work of God in our lives; his reign and all his power were cancelled on Calvary. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by our own strength that we are able to dispel fear and overcome whatever difficulties lie ahead. If we forget that the battle is the Lord’s, Satan will be able to successfully wield his weapon of fear against us.

* When Fear Takes Control: A heart of faith never lets fear determine action. Trust is not something that develops in us when things are going well. We have to learn to trust God when things do not look like they are going well, when we come to a place of impossibility and fear begins to overcome us.

* Choose to Follow God: We cannot just casually come to the things of God. We must be fully given to His work on the earth which means total surrender and total giving of one’s self. A casual encounter with Christ or a mere form of religion will not give us strength we need, nor will it bring freedom from fear.

Memorial service for David Wilkerson

In Fear Not, Pastor Carter Conlon exposes the tactics of Satan who attempts to wield his weapon of fear, as well as the destructive outcomes of a life led by fear. Pastor Conlon believes that once we choose to follow God, face our enemies in His power, understand that God loves us unconditionally and demonstrate that same love to other people, then all fear will be gone.

Pastor Conlon offers biblical examples of those God used for His will even though they struggled with fear including Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 12: 18-19), the children of Israel (Exod. 14:11-12), David (Ps. 53:5), Joshua and Caleb (Num. 14: 7-9), and Peter (Luke 1:73-75).

Fear Not is a relevant resource for the Church during a time when Pastor Conlon believes authentic followers of Christ need to face their fears with courage and the love of Christ and stand against the enemy who seeks to destroy our generation, our families, our marriages and our personal faith in God.

About the Author: Carter Conlon is Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in New York City, an inter-denominational church with more than 8,000 people representing over 100 nationalities. He receives many invitations to speak at conferences and evangelistic rallies throughout the world and is the author of The 180 Christian. www.tscnyc.org

Note: To see an excellent three—part documentary on the church, please go to: www.tscnyc.org/media_center.php?pg=videos

Product Details: Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Regal; 240 edition (September 1, 2012) ISBN-10: 0830763910 ISBN-13: 978-0830763917 List Price: $14.99

For more information, please contact:
Ben Laurro, Pure Publicity
818.753.4056 or Ben@purepublicity.com 

Dan Wooding, 71, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 49 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. Dan recently received two top media awards -- the “Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is “Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s.” To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 .