The Officers’ Christian Union (the predecessor of today’s Armed Forces’ Christian Union) started to hold house parties during the Keswick Convention during the early 1930’s. The then Travelling Secretary of the OCU, Capt ‘Mac’ McCormack MC persuaded another Captain, Leslie Wright, a gunner, to go to Keswick with him.
Leslie got off to a bad start by organising bets with his fellow officers at Woolwich that he would not get converted whilst at Keswick – he was not religious, never had been and did not intend to be. This proved to be a costly mistake as he had to honour those bets in due course.
On the train to Keswick, things got worse when he was surrounded by hordes of hymn singing Christians. One elderly lady objected to him lighting his pipe, but he pointed to the ‘Smoking’ sign, saying, “Madam, this is a smoking compartment, and I intend to do just that,” and puffed away, regardless of the embarrassment he was causing.
Leslie Wright was like a fish out of water at Keswick and determined to leave early. The OCU members were praying that God would intervene. Leslie agreed to go to one meeting before he left. He was not impressed by the sight of the speaker. He said, “A long black coat, a long neck, the longest collar I have ever seen on any man, and I am sure that he will be very long-winded!”
But the speaker was God’s choice for the night. The Rev Graham Scroggie DD took as his text, ‘I will make you fishers of men’ and concentrated on the first four words, ‘I will make you.’ During the course of his talk to the 3,000 people present, he paused and said, “I cannot but feel that somewhere in this vast audience is a young man or woman who will hear this challenge of Christ saying, ‘I will make you’. If that be right, let that person now stand up”.
To the utter amazement of those who knew him, Leslie Wright stood up. Scroggie looked at him and said, “All right, young man, He will make you. Now sit down again.”
Afterwards, Leslie said, “I know that what I did must have given you a bit of a shock, Dr Scroggie was quite right. I know how much I need re-making. By God’s grace, Jesus Christ will re-make me.”
Leslie Wright went on to become the next Travelling Secretary of the OCU and visited members all round the world. He was later ordained and eventually became an RAF chaplain. He was appointed Chaplain-in-Chief in 1949 and served in that capacity until 1953. Quite a change for the one-time gambling gunner, changed by the prayers of a few OCU members.
*Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/@tu-n-nguy-n-van-2158117329