Fulfilling The Vision

Fulfilling The Vision

His mother’s prayers had far-reaching effects!

IN COWETA, Oklahoma, in 1921 a young mother prayed over her yet unborn son, dedicating him to the Lord’s service. When the baby was born, his parents named him William Bright. As a child he showed little interest in spiritual things, but his mother continued to pray for him tirelessly.

Bill Bright graduated from college in 1943 and went west to Los Angeles to seek his fortune in business. On his first evening there, he picked up a hitchhiker who invited him to spend the night at the home where he was living. The young man worked for the Navigators, an evangelical ministry, and the home happened to be that of Dawson Trotman, the founder and director of the Navigators! Bright was impressed by the hospitality and stimulating conversation of the Trotmans and the other Navigators he met that night, but he quickly forgot them as he went on his way the next morning to pursue his financial goals. Meanwhile his mother was still praying.

The business he started was Bright’s California Confections, which marketed gourmet foods in upscale shops and department stores. He was quickly achieving his dream of financial success.

After repeated invitations from his landlords, Bright began attending meetings for college students and young professionals led by Dr. Henrietta Mears at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. He was very impressed by her and other members of the group, finding them intellectually stimulating and successful yet not materialistic and selfish as he was. He began to realize that something was missing in his own life.

After a particularly challenging teaching by Dr. Mears on finding happiness at the “center of God’s will,” Bill went home yearning for this inner happiness. He later recalled:

I knelt down beside my bed that night and asked the questions which Dr. Mears had challenged us to pray, “Who art Thou, Lord? What wilt Thou have me to do?”

In a sense this was my prayer for salvation. It wasn’t very profound theologically, but God knew my heart and He interpreted what was going on inside of me. Through my study I now believed Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that He died for my sin, and that, as Dr. Mears had shared with us, if I invited Him into my life as Savior and Lord, He would come in.

Bright enrolled at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. In 1948 he married his wife, Vonette, who had also been led to Christ by Henrietta Mears. Meanwhile he was constantly torn between business, evangelism, and seminary pursuits.

Late one night in 1951 while studying for an exam, he had a powerful vision of helping to fulfill the great commission in his lifetime by evangelizing college campuses. Greatly affected by the vision, he shared it the next morning with Dr. Wilbur Smith, his professor and mentor. Smith responded, “This is of God! This is of God!” The next day Smith told him, “I believe God has given me the name for your vision—Campus Crusade for Christ.”

After much prayer Bill and Vonette decided that he should leave seminary to pursue his vision of bringing the gospel to college students and training them to evangelize their peers. Bright sold his confection business and rented a house one block from the campus of UCLA, and within a few months 250 students, including the president of the student body, the editor of the school newspaper, and several top athletes had given their lives to Jesus.

Campus Crusade quickly spread to other campuses, and on August 28, 1953, Campus Crusade for Christ was officially incorporated.

Bill Bright’s vision and ministry have shaped Campus Crusade into one of the largest interdenominational mission agencies in the world. Its most substantial mark on world missions is the JESUS film, which has been viewed by more than 4 billion people in more than 650 languages, with 121 million reported conversions since 1979!

Reflection

The prayer of Bill Bright’s mother was answered beyond her wildest imagination. Do you think God could use your life in an amazing way? Have you asked him to?

With God’s help we will do mighty things.

Psalm 60:12