I’d love to say that a classic song changed how I saw the world. The Beatles. Toto. Something timeless and universally admired.

But the song that changed my life was one by a guy named Keith Green.

“Altar Call.”

June 17, 1984.

That Sunday, Mom took me to Christian Retreat in Bradenton, Florida, for a youth week they were hosting. The speaker that night was Billy Mayo, an evangelist who used things like backwards masking to make the case that the music industry was being used to connect spiritually — in an evil way — with the youth of our nation.

I was incredibly suspicious. I even told Mom that.

But I went because she really wanted me to go, and I loved her enough to go along for one night.

That one night changed my life.

Mayo played AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” The moment may have involved some emotional manipulation. I can see that now. He told a story about a kid who had committed suicide, and when his father discovered the body, “Highway to Hell” was playing on his stereo. True or false, that story resonated with me because that kid sounded like a lot of kids I knew back then. Maybe, in some ways, he sounded like me.

Then the evangelist shifted to another story — about a man who sang songs about the Lord, songs that touched millions of hearts, and who had recently died in a tragic plane crash.

Keith Green.

Then he played “Altar Call,” and that song connected straight with my heart.

“Some people don’t find out ’til it’s too late…”

For the first time, words like that didn’t just pass through my ears. They hit me in the heart. I didn’t want to wait until it was too late. I knew I needed to make a decision for the Lord then and there.

I went to Christian Retreat for one night and ended up staying the entire week, sleeping on the sofa of the youth minister there, Jim Lundy. He and his wife were my hosts, and I had a spiritual awakening that week. I went back a month later for a second week. I also went to a weekend the Episcopal diocese hosted at its retreat center, a weekend called “Happening,” and that was, and still is, one of the most beautiful spiritual experiences of my life.

All of that played a part in my decision to move from Fort Walton Beach to Sarasota for my senior year of high school. I’m still not convinced that was the right decision. But I do believe God used it for some very good things, and I have great relationships today with people I never would have known if I hadn’t moved.

So yes, you can say it was manipulation. You can say I only chose Jesus because I was being twisted by a gifted preacher. But the truth is in the history since then. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. I can see the situation for what it was, but I can also see that the Lord was calling me.

And June 17, 1984, was my second birthday.

I celebrated it a week ago, and I have never regretted my decision.

I would make it again today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of my life.

As for books, I would point to Frank Peretti. This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness were brilliant stories that gave me insight into the spiritual world we cannot see. And The Oath was a beautiful allegory about sin that I have never forgotten.

I don’t know that I’ll ever write spiritual novels, if indeed I write more novels, as I hope to. But I fully believe the Lord gave Peretti insight into the spiritual side of things that most of us will never fully comprehend. I’m grateful for his gift of writing and for the vision it gave me of a reality God wants us — and me — to see.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.