altars of worship

“Iappeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).

I must have been about eight or nine years old when I first responded to an altar call. For those who don’t know, the term refers to the practice of asking people to make some sort of public decision at the end of a worship service. It often means coming to the front and talking to the pastor while the congregation sings a song. If you have ever watched Billy Graham preach in stadium and then invite people to come forward at the end of his sermon, you have seen an altar call. It simply means to invite people to make a definite personal response to the message they have just heard. I can remember a very moving campfire service on Word of Life Island where Jack Wyrtzen led us in singing, “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” as teenagers came forward to signify their dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. That same summer I saw Dr. Viggo Olson, a gifted surgeon serving as a medical missionary in Bangladesh, hold up a scalpel as a way of challenging us to become instruments fit for the Master’s use. That stuck in my mind because my father was a surgeon too. That night I responded to the altar call.