MIRACLE at a High School
MIRACLE at a High School . . . by Ken Simmons
More than forty years ago God miraculously opened the high schools in Central Florida to my team. We had been invited to share our testimonies in voluntary school assemblies in the schools’ auditoriums. Our team consisted of former dopers and drug pushers and their stories were very effective in these assemblies. When we arrived at one high school in Dade City we were completely unprepared for what was about to happen . . .
Typically an assembly was scheduled for one hour. The school’s classes were closed and students were free to mill around the campus, or they could go to the voluntary assembly. When we entered the auditorium there were a few standing at the back of the auditorium in a standing room only crowd. Danny led off, sharing his testimony about his involvement with drugs, and his scrapes with the law landing him in jail, and Wayne was the last to speak. Wayne, in his late teens, had been a major drug dealer in Central Florida, and upon his arrest, the newspaper headlines read: “Drug Kingpin Busted.”
Wayne shared his powerful and moving story, telling of how he had decided to put a gun to his head and pull the trigger. He faced a long list of felony charges against him, and if convicted he could end up spending the rest of his life in prison. But then he remembered what someone had told him during his last time in lockup. The man said to him, “What if there is one chance in a million that heaven and hell are real?” When he got out of jail he surrendered to the Lord on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Needless to say, Wayne did not spend the rest of his life in prison. God has a strange way of dealing with judges when it fits His purposes.
When the hour long assembly was over I wrapped things up by telling the students about “The Dove,” our Christian coffee house, and how they could reach us if they wanted to get involved. Not being aware that the school principal was a Christian, when the bell rang indicating the hour was up I was surprised when he motioned to me -- “keep going, keep going.”
By this time more students had arrived and the back of the auditorium as well as the side walls were lined with several more in the standing room only auditorium. Since I had the go ahead from the principal I shared my story and spoke of the love of Jesus for another hour – all while more students continued to arrive.
During this time I sensed that the Holy Spirit was moving over the crowd in a powerful way, and I was uncertain what to do about it. I knew that an “altar call,” as is often used at the end of a church service, was out of the question. Anything of that sort would mean the doors of the schools would be suddenly closed to us and we would be permanently uninvited.
While speaking I sensed the Holy Spirit saying to me -- “Be quiet and pray.” At first I was uncertain if it was truly the Lord speaking to me, or if it was simply my imagination, so I continued, until I heard it again -- “Be quiet and pray.”
Stopping mid-sentence, I said to the crowd of students, “God’s doing something special right now . . . I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but I don’t think God’s finished yet. He wants me to stop what I’m doing and pray, so I’m simply going to obey God. You do whatever you want to do . . . but I’m going to pray.”
Bowing my head I began to pray silently. At first the feeling was quite awkward because for the longest time nothing was happening. Had I really heard from God, I asked myself? Still nothing. Here I was, standing alone in the middle of this big and otherwise empty stage, and still more students had been quietly filing in, standing in the back and up against the walls in the standing room only auditorium.
What was probably only a minute or two seemed like an eternity of silence. This was awkward—really awkward! Again I questioned if I had really heard God about stopping to pray, or was it just my imagination?
The silence penetrated the entire auditorium -- but then something began to happen. In a faraway part of the room I heard someone begin to weep . . . then another . . . and soon others were crying, and it began to sound like half the student body was in tears, weeping.
This continued for a while, and then I looked up and saw an amazing sight -- without my saying another word dozens of young people were rushing, some running, toward the front of the auditorium . . . weeping! And when they reached the front, many fell to their knees and began to cry openly. Within minutes the front of the auditorium was filled with tearful high school students on their knees, surrendering their lives to Jesus.
Each time I relive that event tears come to my own eyes. It is a scene I will never forget.
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(PUBLICIST’S NOTE: This is just one example of the many miracles that took place in Ken Simmons’ true life story, “The Prodigal Diaries,” available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, iTunes, and Kobo. If you would like for Ken to speak to your church or organization he can be contacted at [email protected]. You can also read many more of his articles on his website at www.kensimmonsministries.com)