Alter Call

If you are a fan of Christian literature, you will recognize the names C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. You probably know that Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings. You may not know that both men were professors and close friends at Oxford University in 1931. It was September of that year when Lewis converted to Christianity. He wrote that Tolkien and Professor Hugo Dyson, “were the immediate human causes of my conversion.” Tolkien and Dyson planted the seeds on a late night walks on the Oxford campus. Lewis would accept Christ as his Lord and Savior during a motorcycle ride to a zoo! (The Question of God, Dr. Armond M Nicholi, Jr., 2002, pages 91-92)  

An alter call does not have to be during an evangelism meeting, after Sunday service or at church summer camp. The alter call can be anywhere. I have had the privilege of being the “immediate human cause” of praying with people to accept Christ in my living room, the weight room of a police department, in front of a court house and even in a police car. The key is to be ready to ask and pray when the Holy Spirit prompts your heart to speak. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6 to put on the full armor of God. This includes, “your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”(v. 15) Readiness means you are trained to act.

On one particular day, the date escapes me, I was working as a day watch patrol officer and got assigned a reserve officer partner. Chris was a good guy and I could trust him to make good decisions as a backup officer. We would work together for 10 hours. Day watch was not particularly busy and we had some time to chat as we drove around out beat. The conversation turned to faith, imagine that! We got around to talking about the doctrine of creation in between a drunk in public arrest, writing speeding tickets and car burglary investigations. It turned out that what held Chris back from accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior was evolution versus creationism.

“I believe in God,” he told me, “I just believe he created the world through evolution.”

“So the only thing holding you back from becoming a Christian is that you want to believe God created the world through evolution?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Ok, I will agree with you that God created the world through evolution. The key is that God created the world. Do you want to pray to accept Jesus?”

“Ok.”

I pulled the car to the curb and Chris became a Christian.

We all have opportunities to be the immediate human cause of someone’s conversion.  The alter call might be on a motorcycle ride to the zoo, on the way to jail with a drunk in public arrest or anywhere the Spirit moves a lost soul to respond to the free gift of salvation. You don’t have to be an Oxford professor or a police officer. You can ask for the world, they can say yes!