The Biggest Altar Call…
“Why The Greatest Altar Call?”
I have spent many of life’s most important moments at the altar of a church.
It was at the altar of a Methodist Church that I made my profession of faith in Christ.
It was at an altar that I was ordained into Christian ministry.
It was the altar of Hughes Auditorium that was the turning-place in the never-to-be-forgotten Great Revival at Asbury College in 1970.
It was at the altar of a Methodist church that I made my sacred vows of marriage.
And in United Methodist Churches throughout my ministry, I presided over the vows of marriage that others made at the altar.
It was at the altar of United Methodist churches where my daughters were baptized.
And at the altars of United Methodist churches were my five grandchildren were baptized.
I have stood at the altar to baptize babies, young people and adults.
It was at the altar of the church that I confirmed young people to faith in Christ.
I have called people to come and pray at the altar countless times—invitations for commitments either first-time or, more often, a fuller commitment to God.
I have gone to the altar many times myself-- often privately as well as in worship services, camp meetings and revivals. The altar has been home-base for prayer and rededication and repentance and strengthening time and time again.
I have stood at the altar and commended the souls of many faithful to the arms of God.
It was to the chancel of a United Methodist Church that we brought the bodies of our mother and father to commit them to the Lord for eternity.
The altar has been my place of sacred commitment.
And the altar call was the opportunity to invite people to the life-changing difference that Christ can make.
There is something deeply holy about an altar call—whether I am making it or hearing it myself.
And now, the Christian faith that raised me is at the biggest altar call of my lifetime –
--an altar call to remember essential commitments
--an altar call to practice what we preach
--an altar call to repent from the ways that what is known today as evangelical faith is a betrayal of Christian faith 101.
The “biggest altar call” is inescapable for evangelicals and whether or not we answer with faithfulness will determine the future of the faith.
It is the “biggest” altar call because, whether or not the church will exist in coming decades, depends on the willingness of the evangelical church to return to its core roots of integrity, selflessness and devotion to God alone.
It is the “biggest” because, too often now, evangelical faith has sold out its values and is indistinguishable from a political agenda which, in many cases, is the opposite of the Gospel.
It is the “biggest” altar call because the demise and moral death of evangelical Christianity is an incalculable loss to me and to the broader culture.
It is the “biggest” altar call because I want a church that honorably passes vital, sustaining faith on to my grandchildren and their grandchildren—and right now, younger generations look at the pervasive hypocrisy and arrogance and downright meanness they see in the church and understandably say, “No thank you.”
It is the “biggest” altar call because we will not get this chance again.
It is the “biggest” for me because, as my years of active ministry come to an end, I want to pass on the rich treasures that (uncorrupted) evangelical faith have given to me. The debt of gratitude I have is immense. The danger I see taking place all around is overwhelming. The heart and soul of all the goodness I have experienced hangs in the balance.
The church is facing the biggest altar call of my lifetime. I am – with all my heart—hoping and writing and praying that this is, truly, a come-to-Jesus time.
That’s the “why” behind “The Greatest Altar Call…”