Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America

301 Pages·2008·2.52 MB·English

by  John G. Turner

Bill Bright &
Campus Crusade for Christ
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JOHN G. TURNER
Bill Brighht &&
Campus
The Renewal of
Crusade
Evangelicalism in
for Christ
Postwar America
The University of
North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
© 2008 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by Heidi Perov
Set in Bembo
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Turner, John G.
Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ : the renewal of
evangelicalism in postwar America / John G. Turner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3185-4 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8078-5873-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Bright, Bill. 2. Campus Crusade for Christ—History.
3. Evangelicalism—United States—History. 4. United
States—Religious life and customs. I. Title.
BV3785.B73T87 2008
267'.61—dc22 2007035930
cloth 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
paper 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 God May Choose a Country Boy 13
2 Campus Ministry at America’s “Trojan Horse” 41
3 Sibling Rivalries 69
4 The Conservative Impulses of the Early 1960s 93
5 The Jesus Revolution from Berkeley to Dallas 119
6 The Evangelical Bicentennial 147
7 America and the World for Jesus 173
8 Kingdoms at War 199
Conclusion 227
Notes 237
Bibliography 263
Index 279
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Illustrations
Bill Bright at Northeastern State College, 1942 17
Henrietta Mears, director of Christian Education at the
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, ca. 1945 21
Bill Bright and Vonette Zachary at the 1948 College
Briefing Conference 32
Bill Bright and Billy Graham at Forest Home, ca. 1950 35
Judy Kifer getting a response to Campus Crusade’s
questionnaire at the University of Texas, 1963 54
Dianne Ross and Shirley Milligan, 1962 56
Bill, Brad, Zachary, and Vonette Bright at Forest
Home, 1962 58
Billy Graham receiving an honorary degree at Bob Jones
University, 1948 76
Bill Bright outlining his strategy for the “Great
Commission,” ca. 1961 96
Bill Bright and Bob Kendall, ca. 1965 98
Witnessing with the Four Spiritual Laws, 1970 101
Campus Crusade’s new Arrowhead Springs headquarters,
ca. 1967 115
Campus Crusaders telephone students during the
“Berkeley Blitz,” January 1967 122
Jon Braun delivering his “Sex, Love, and Marriage”
lecture, 1966 124
Campus Crusade event featuring Josh McDowell, fall 1970 128
Paul Eshleman, Billy Graham, and Bill Bright at Explo ’72,
June 1972 142
Johnny Cash performs at the Explo ’72 Jesus Music Festival 143
Bill Bright and Joon Gon Kim at Explo ’74, August 1974 153
Vonette Bright, ca. 1974 157
FamilyLife’s Dennis Rainey at the 2004 “Mayday for Marriage”
rally 216
[viii] ILLUSTRATIONS
Acknowledgments
That this book carries the name of a single author obscures
the fact that its successful completion has depended on in-
numerable archivists, librarians, and readers. For searching
their collections and sending me valuable documents, I am
grateful to the helpful staff at the John Vaughan Library of
Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma; the
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center of the Assemblies of
God in Springfield, Missouri; the United Methodist Church
Archives in Madison, New Jersey; the Hoover Institution
Library in Stanford, California; the National Archives and
Records Administration in College Park, Maryland; the
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia; the
Ockenga Institute in South Hamilton, Massachusetts; the
City of San Diego (California) Archives; and the University
of Notre Dame Archives in Notre Dame, Indiana. Several
institutions and individuals displayed particular hospitality
and devoted considerable time to this project: Bob Shuster,
Paul Ericksen, and Wayne Weber at the Billy Graham Cen-
ter Archives in Wheaton, Illinois; Mike Knox at the Campus
Crusade for Christ headquarters in Orlando, Florida; Christie
Deming and Robert Benedetto at the Princeton Theological
Seminary Archives in Princeton, New Jersey; David Bundy
at the Fuller Theological Seminary Archives in Pasadena,
California; Mark Sidwell at the Bob Jones University Fun-
damentalism File in Greenville, South Carolina; Janna Ber-
ezkina at the Gospel Light Archives in Ventura, California;
Mark Roberts at the Holy Spirit Research Center in Tulsa,
Oklahoma; and Robert Krapohl at the Trinity International
University Archives in Deerfield, Illinois. A number of indi-