On October 27, 2023, the Gibson Southern High School student body was on a normal schedule. But, as students went to C lunch, something was different for sophomore Denver Clark. During the middle of C lunch, Clark stood up on a table and started to preach the Gospel. His preaching went on for about five minutes before staff told him to get down off the table. Clark said he had no intention to preach, but he felt like the Lord was speaking to him.
“It was really the Holy Spirit,” Clark said. “I wanted to glorify Jesus, and I felt like I was getting complacent in my faith, like I wasn’t sharing it like I should have been. So, I have been wanting to do something like that for a while, but I felt like I didn’t have the strength to. Like I said, I felt like I was getting complacent. I didn’t even know what I was doing until [C lunch] and then I just did it. It felt so worldly because I have never done anything like that.”
The student body had mixed reactions to his preaching: some enjoyed it and some just ignored it. Clark is satisfied with the main message he got out.
“I think some people were put off by it,” Clark said. “In hindsight, I wish I would have put a more loving spin on it. I wish I had told people the reason that Jesus calls people to repentance in faith in Him is because He loves them. He loves them so much. By repenting and turning away from your sins, you get to abide in that love, you get to live inside of it in a real, actual way.”
Some people, like Fellowship of Christian Athletes leaders senior Kennedy Ping and Courtney Heldt, didn’t know what Clark did until other people told them, or they saw a video going around social media.
“I wasn’t there when it happened, but when I heard about it, my first reaction was, ‘Oh, I kind of never heard anyone doing that in my life that is someone my age,’” Heldt said. “It was pretty cool that he actually did that.”
Clark is one of the leaders of FCA. Senior Kennedy Pink asked Clark if he wanted to be a leader, and he happily agreed to accept the role. His preaching was not affiliated with FCA – it was a personal choice for him. Ping hopes that no one is taking his preaching negatively but instead taking it as a positive.
“I can not judge what Denver has done because I don’t have the courage to do that,” Ping said. “Who am I to judge to stand up and start preaching Jesus. So, I hope nobody would take this as an ill will and not attend FCA, but that is between them and the Lord.”
Ping was uplifted by what Clark did.
“For me, it is very encouraging, let alone someone two years younger than me is openly preaching the Gospel and not really caring about what people think about him, and that is the most important thing,” Ping said. “Jesus didn’t care about what other people were thinking about him, so why should we?”
Clark had the bravery that not a lot of people, let alone teemagers, would have to stand up and preach the Gospel to a crowded area.
“A couple of people congratulated my boldness,” Clark said. “I asked if they knew Jesus and if they wanted me to pray with them, and I did.”
Ping echoed the sentiments of Clark’s courage to stand up and preach.
“I was kind of taken back because he has a lot of courage and a lot of passion for the Lord,” Ping said. “So, I have never heard anybody nor any student that has done that before. I was really proud of his courage to just stand up and to start preaching.”
Ping explained how not a lot of people see this happening when teenagers or anyone preaches on the streets or for Clark’s sake, in the lunchroom.
“In church, we are always told to go out and preach the Gospel,” Ping said. “But as teenagers, we are very quiet, and we are nervous [about what] other people would think about us. It is just a game of we don’t want people to think that we are ‘Jesus Freaks’ by us preaching the Gospel.”
Clark does not know if he will do this again, but he is glad that he did and was able to preach for as long as he did. Clark wants to be remembered as the guy who loves Jesus.
“I just want to say that Jesus loves everyone so much, and He just wants you to turn to Him,” Clark said. “He wants you to repent to Him and go after Him with your whole life.”
