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August 22, 2013

Title: Alter Call Popularized by Attorney Charles Finney
Topic: Charles Finney

Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)

Part 1 of 3

A 29-year old attorney, Charles Finney, saw so many Scripture references in Blackstone’s Law Commentaries that he bought a Bible and went into the woods to either find God or never come out.

The next morning at his law office, a church deacon suing a follow-church member asked Finney about his case. Finney replied, “I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause and cannot plead yours.” Then he became a preacher. What happened next?

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Title: Part 2 of 3
Topic: Charles Finney

Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)

Charles Finney, an attorney turned preacher, began preaching and presenting the Gospel with a convincing lawyer’s argument and praying in a common, colloquial language.

He began the tradition of an ‘altar call’ in his 1830 revival in Rochester, New York.

Finney stated, “I had found … with the higher classes especially … the greatest obstacle to be overcome was … they were too proud…” So Finney abandoned the use of the “anxious seat” for the ‘alter call’.

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Title: Part 3 of 3
Topic: Charles Finney

Discussed by Bill Federer
with American Minute (www.AmericanMinute.com)

Why the ‘alter call’? Finney once stated, “Something was needed, o make the impression on them that they were expected at once to give up their hearts … something what would call them to act, and act as publicly before the world, as they had in their sins … something that would commit them publicly to the service of Christ…”

He began the tradition of an ‘altar call’ in his 1830 revival in Rochester, New York.

Charles Finney inspired George Williams to found the YMCA; William and Catherine Booth to found the Salvation Army; and his Benevolent Empire, an organization to help the poor and aged had a budget rivaling the Federal Government.

“Every member must work or quit. No honorary members,” he said. No wonder America experienced the Second Great Awakening.

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