Evil Knievel: not so evil.

“I don’t know what in the world happened. I don’t know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just—the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! … I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, ‘Devil, Devil, you bastard you, get away from me. I cast you out of my life.’ … I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.”

Pastor Robert A. Schuller, who took over for his father last year, looked out on the church and noticed most people were sobbing. He couldn’t simply continue with the service’s script and proceed to the offering.

“I went up front, and I said, ‘I believe there is somebody who needs to be baptized here. Maybe up on that balcony or by that door or by that wall. So come forward,’” Schuller told CT. “We started singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ and I started baptizing people, baptizing them as fast as I could. I had a little candy dish of water. ‘What’s your name? Okay, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’—crying the whole time and going to the next one.”

Schuller continued this for 30 minutes, not realizing that four other pastors were baptizing the convicted just as quickly. During the second service, the response repeated itself. Together, Schuller estimates, between 500 and 800 people committed or rededicated their lives to God.

–Brad Greenberg, “Evel Overcome with Good”, Christianity Today, April 2007