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Apart from the miraculous power of God, it is hard to imagine that a movement as far reaching as Campus Crusade for Christ was once a group of eight young people meeting at a dining table in Los Angeles. Today it is an international movement of thousands of Christians in over 150 countries using every technological and vocational means possible to bring people into an abundant, fruitful life in Christ.

When Dr. Bill Bright was a student in his last year of studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, he led groups to jails, urban outreach centres, hospitals and other institutions to minister. He saw that, while many Christians were presenting the Gospel in these places, few were witnessing on the university campus or to top executives in the business world. He was impressed that many leaders in society were going through life without a vital relationship with the Lord.

This was in 1951, just a few years after Bill and his wife, Vonette, had become Christians. They became increasingly aware that living for Christ and serving Him was their major goal in life. As a result they decided to sign a contract with the Lord. Before becoming Christians they had both been very ambitious and materialistic. But now they decided to turn their back on those things and to commit themselves to 1) living holy, Spirit filled lives, 2) becoming effective witnesses, and 3) helping to fulfil the Great Commission in their generation.

After Bill Bright made this commitment God was pleased to entrust to him the vision of CCC. One evening about midnight while Bill was studying for a Greek exam, he sensed the presence of God in a special way. He suddenly had the overwhelming impression that the Lord had filled his mind with His plan for his life. Bill was to invest his life in helping to fulfil the Great Commission through winning and discipling students of the world for Christ.

In the next few days, Bill prayed and sought the counsel and confirmation of several mature Christians. When he told his beloved professor, Dr. Wilbur Smith, the professor confirmed that this was indeed of God. The next day God used Dr. Smith to provide the name for this new organization, Campus Crusade for Christ.

Things happened quickly after that. Bill chose not to be ordained thereby having more instant rapport with students and laymen. Soon a board of directors was formed; Godly men and women who recognized Campus Crusade as a new facet of God's strategy. The Brights asked God where He wanted them to begin. Increasingly, the University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) became the focus of their attention. It was a difficult place to begin, but if this venture succeeded there, it would likely succeed on any campus. God's confirmation came by providing a large house for them very close to the campus for less than half the rent.

The Brights sensed the urgency and timeliness of this call and organized a 24 hour prayer chain. God brought Christian students to them, eager to be trained to witness. He opened the way for teams to share Christ in dormitories (student housing) and greek houses (private housing for student leaders). He obviously had prepared the hearts of hundreds of students. After the first sorority (clubs for women leaders) team meeting, interested women waited for a chance to talk personally with someone about knowing Christ and starting a new life. Over half the women present received Christ that night. The days that followed demonstrated again and again the fact that God's hand was upon them and upon the ministry. In meeting after meeting in fraternities (clubs for men leaders), sororities, dormitories and with student leaders the phenomenal response was the same as that at the first meeting. In the course of a few months, more than 250 students at UCLA including the student body president, the editor of the newspaper and a number of the top athletes committed their lives to Christ.

By this time the news of what God was doing at UCLA had spread to other campuses, and students, faculty, laymen and pastors in various parts of the country were asking, will you help us? We would like to start Campus Crusade at our school.

The work at UCLA was extremely satisfying, and the Brights became close friends with the 250 students who were discipled. It would have been easy to stay at UCLA forever, but God had bigger plans. Requests for Campus Crusade movements on other campuses led to the decision to recruit and train full time staff.

The Brights prayed for direction and soon agreed that Campus Crusade staff should have three major qualifications: a college degree, a teachable attitude and the willingness to learn how to introduce others to Christ. Six young men were the first staff members. They and the Brights talked and ate together and underwent training around the dining room table.

These men did not come for the salary, for it was low. They did not come because Campus Crusade was a well known, well established organization, for it was not. They came because God had brought them.

He put in them a desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. He had given them the desire to help change the world.

In a matter of months, the ministry expanded to five other university campuses. As the number of interested students increased, God kept providing larger homes to live in. Miraculously a retreat centre was given to CCC in Mound, Minnesota, where summer training could be held. Already God was opening doors and sparking ideas for effective training. This was to become a major mark of Campus Crusade's ministry.

In the next few years God seemed to emphasize more and more the priority of training people to be spiritual multipliers. He also stressed the need for simplicity. The basic concepts of the Christian life needed to be able to be easily transferred to others. God gave this direction through many people and circumstances.

One summer at staff training in Mound, Minnesota, a guest speaker who was an outstanding sales consultant stated that any effective Christian or ministry had a sales talk; a basic message that was conveyed to any audience in any situation. Bill was disturbed by this. He felt that he was led by the Holy Spirit in such a way that he was original with each presentation of the Gospel. But later as he wrote out what he usually shared in any witnessing encounter, he found that he usually did say nearly the same thing each time.

What he wrote came to be called, "God's Plan for Your Life." It was a simple 20 minute presentation of the Gospel. Bill required all Campus Crusade staff to memorize it and use it as the basis of their presentations to groups or individuals. When people were confronted with the basic claims of Christ and when they were told how to become Christians, most chose to live for Christ. The ministry was multiplied one hundred fold during the next year.

Later, the need for a shorter version of "God's Plan" caused Bill to condense "God's Plan" into the Four Spiritual Laws. The staff memorized the Four Spiritual Laws and wrote out the laws and diagrams in every witnessing situation. Eventually the Four Laws were printed in a booklet. When individuals were given the uncluttered truth, many readily committed their lives to Christ.

It became obvious that God had put a hunger for Himself in people's hearts. He entrusted Christians with the responsibility of telling the Gospel as clearly and simply as possible. Through the use of the Four Laws, a person was shown how to become a Christian as well as how to tell the Gospel to someone else.

Bill Bright had an understanding that the power for an abundant, fruitful life came from one source: the Holy Spirit. But the practical concepts of how to have a consistent Spirit filled life were not clear. Bill read volumes about the Holy Spirit, fasted and prayed. God honoured Bill's search at an unexpected time.

The Brights were on a much needed vacation. The first night, however, instead of sleeping, Bill found his mind suddenly flooded with truths, the simple concepts of how to live the Spirit filled life.

He turned on the light and wrote furiously on the only paper he could find. Eventually these simple truths became the core of Campus Crusade's training on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now there was a way to understand God's provision of power and present it to others simply.

God's original call to the Brights was to help reach the entire world. As the details of this call unfolded, Campus Crusade began to see that God had given many other individuals the same desire to mobilize for a full time, all out thrust to reach the world with the God's love and forgiveness.

In 1958 CCC established its first international ministry in Korea. Today CCC has ministries in over 150 countries.

Through the years, God faithfully worked miracles, regularly demonstrating that this was a movement of God, not man. He provided Arrowhead Springs, California, for the international training and administration centre. He mobilized gifted and godly men and women in other nations to begin Campus Crusade movements in their own countries. Through the talents of hundreds of staff, a comprehensive, systematic training ministry emerged. God permeated thousands of churches throughout the world with this training through major events like explo '72, Explo '74, Here's Life, World and Explo '85.

As Campus Crusade for Christ grew, movements among high school students, military personnel, prison inmates, government officials and executives were developed. Ministries began to utilize mass media, drama, music and athletics to tell millions of people about Jesus Christ. Each ministry has a story of its own.

During all of this God has abundantly provided financial and prayer support through Christians around the world. He has never led Campus Crusade into another facet of ministry without miraculously providing the money and manpower needed to obey His directions.

God will do anything in keeping with His word and character to reach the world. He is still the Creator, and through the availability of thousands associated with Campus Crusade through the years, He has created new ways of reaching and discipling people.

In this brief consideration of Campus Crusade's history, our emphasis has been on God and His aggressive compassion for the world. We hasten to say that Campus Crusade is not the only movement through which God is actively revealing His love and offering new life through His Son, the Lord Jesus. A great spiritual awakening is happening everywhere, and God is using many organizations and churches. Awakening is the priority of God today and we are His agents.