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CHANGED LIVES: THE TRUE STANDARD I have always placed more confidence in CHANGED LIVES than in altar calls, attendance numbers or exciting services. After all, I can show you a great deal from the New Testament about changed lives. Frankly, my dear, I don't recall reading ANYTHING about altar calls, attendance numbers or exciting services. Even the world says that stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That's about all that I've seen in fundamentalism for the past four decades, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of preachers screaming "Walk by faith!" while turning their churches into VISUAL productions and then claiming something that was SEEN as proof of spirituality. We used to call that HYPOCRICY. Now it's called revival. That doesn't mean that I condemn exciting services; it just means that I don't TRUST them. I trust the Book; the one that emphasizes changed lives instead of other things that can be emotionally-based instead of spiritually-based. Jesus didn't say that we'd know people by altar calls or exciting services; He said "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Mat. 7:20) Paul didn't say that if any man be in Christ, you'll see him at the altar; he said, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Cor. 5:17) Due to our lack of faith in the inner-transforming power of God's word, we've placed far too much confidence in visible things, such as altar calls and testimonies. I'm fine with having such things when I believe they can be helpful, but you will not find me saying things like, "What a great service last night! God really showed up and the altars were packed!" I am far more interested in how those lives are changed next week, next month and next year. I know that in the IFB world that makes me a very strange preacher, but I'm of the opinion that God's word will make ANYONE strange, if only they will submit to it. Unfortunately, tradition carries more weight with most Christians than the word of God. Altar calls and testimonies can sometimes be helpful, but they prove nothing and should not be trusted or emphasized. In fact, looking back over the years, I must say that most of the drama that I've witnessed in churches never amounted to much of anything in the long term, and, personally speaking, the two most important prayers of my life were not prayed in a church at all, but rather in the privacy of my home. Come to think of it, seems that I recall Jesus saying something about a prayer CLOSET? Of course, it's kind of hard to get noticed in a closet, and the numbers don't add-up much, and . . . well, never mind. Have a lovely day, and try to walk by FAITH instead of sight.