John G. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831854
- eISBN:
- 9781469604756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889107_turner.5
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter focuses on the story of William Rohl Bright, or Bill Bright, who was born to parents Forrest Dale and Mary Lee Rohl Bright. As a child, Bill's main activities were ranching and reading. ...
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This chapter focuses on the story of William Rohl Bright, or Bill Bright, who was born to parents Forrest Dale and Mary Lee Rohl Bright. As a child, Bill's main activities were ranching and reading. Bill's first chores were collecting eggs and gathering dry corncobs and wood to heat the family's stove. Throughout Bill's entire childhood, the ranch did not have electricity, but running water was provided by a windmill that pumped water into an elevated tank, from which it was fed by gravity into the house. As he grew older, Bill “took his place alongside his four brothers and other hired men in milking the cows, feeding the hogs, caring for the horses and cattle, working in the fields, plowing, cultivating, harvesting, threshing the grain, and baling hay for the cattle.”Less
This chapter focuses on the story of William Rohl Bright, or Bill Bright, who was born to parents Forrest Dale and Mary Lee Rohl Bright. As a child, Bill's main activities were ranching and reading. Bill's first chores were collecting eggs and gathering dry corncobs and wood to heat the family's stove. Throughout Bill's entire childhood, the ranch did not have electricity, but running water was provided by a windmill that pumped water into an elevated tank, from which it was fed by gravity into the house. As he grew older, Bill “took his place alongside his four brothers and other hired men in milking the cows, feeding the hogs, caring for the horses and cattle, working in the fields, plowing, cultivating, harvesting, threshing the grain, and baling hay for the cattle.”
John G. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831854
- eISBN:
- 9781469604756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889107_turner.10
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter focuses on Bill Bright's support of Christian Citizen, which provides an early example of evangelical political activism. Evangelical political efforts in the mid-1970s, however, became ...
More
This chapter focuses on Bill Bright's support of Christian Citizen, which provides an early example of evangelical political activism. Evangelical political efforts in the mid-1970s, however, became far more influential and noteworthy. One simple yet often overlooked reason for evangelicals' newfound political significance was the dramatic growth of evangelical institutions. In the 1960s, few evangelical leaders commanded large and visible institutions that held the potential for political influence. By the mid-1970s, the evangelical universe seemed crowded with a new generation of stars: Robertson, Rex Humbard, and Jim Bakker were all notable television personalities with large audiences. Campus Crusade had, by the early 1970s, evolved into a ministry of several thousand staff members. Politicians took note of these personalities and institutions, and identified them as vehicles through which they could court an emerging constituency.Less
This chapter focuses on Bill Bright's support of Christian Citizen, which provides an early example of evangelical political activism. Evangelical political efforts in the mid-1970s, however, became far more influential and noteworthy. One simple yet often overlooked reason for evangelicals' newfound political significance was the dramatic growth of evangelical institutions. In the 1960s, few evangelical leaders commanded large and visible institutions that held the potential for political influence. By the mid-1970s, the evangelical universe seemed crowded with a new generation of stars: Robertson, Rex Humbard, and Jim Bakker were all notable television personalities with large audiences. Campus Crusade had, by the early 1970s, evolved into a ministry of several thousand staff members. Politicians took note of these personalities and institutions, and identified them as vehicles through which they could court an emerging constituency.
John G. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831854
- eISBN:
- 9781469604756
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889107_turner
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. ...
More
Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. Nondenominational organizations such as Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these “parachurch” organizations, states this book, historians have largely ignored them. The book offers a history of Campus Crusade and its founder, Bill Bright, whose marketing and fund-raising acumen transformed the organization into an international evangelical empire. Drawing on archival materials and more than one hundred interviews, it challenges the dominant narrative of the secularization of higher education, demonstrating how Campus Crusade helped reestablish evangelical Christianity as a visible subculture on American campuses. Beyond the campus, Bright expanded evangelicalism's influence in the worlds of business and politics. As the book demonstrates, the story of Campus Crusade reflects the halting movement of evangelicalism into mainstream American society: its awkward marriage with conservative politics, its hesitancy over gender roles and sexuality, and its growing affluence.Less
Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. Nondenominational organizations such as Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these “parachurch” organizations, states this book, historians have largely ignored them. The book offers a history of Campus Crusade and its founder, Bill Bright, whose marketing and fund-raising acumen transformed the organization into an international evangelical empire. Drawing on archival materials and more than one hundred interviews, it challenges the dominant narrative of the secularization of higher education, demonstrating how Campus Crusade helped reestablish evangelical Christianity as a visible subculture on American campuses. Beyond the campus, Bright expanded evangelicalism's influence in the worlds of business and politics. As the book demonstrates, the story of Campus Crusade reflects the halting movement of evangelicalism into mainstream American society: its awkward marriage with conservative politics, its hesitancy over gender roles and sexuality, and its growing affluence.
John G. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831854
- eISBN:
- 9781469604756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889107_turner.13
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This book concludes with a discussion of the Crusade's 2003 staff conference, which marked an indelible turning point in the organization's history. Shortly before the end of the conference, Bill ...
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This book concludes with a discussion of the Crusade's 2003 staff conference, which marked an indelible turning point in the organization's history. Shortly before the end of the conference, Bill Bright died in his Orlando condominium. Over the last decade of his life, he gradually evidenced his mortality, starting with treatment for prostate cancer in 1993. In 2000, beginning to lose his energy, Bright was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable disease that slowly diminishes lung capacity. Unlike Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and Oral Roberts, he did not groom one of his sons as his handpicked successor, instead turning over Crusade's presidency to Steve Douglass in 2001. Over his last two decades at the helm of Campus Crusade, Bright became an evangelical elder statesman.Less
This book concludes with a discussion of the Crusade's 2003 staff conference, which marked an indelible turning point in the organization's history. Shortly before the end of the conference, Bill Bright died in his Orlando condominium. Over the last decade of his life, he gradually evidenced his mortality, starting with treatment for prostate cancer in 1993. In 2000, beginning to lose his energy, Bright was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable disease that slowly diminishes lung capacity. Unlike Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and Oral Roberts, he did not groom one of his sons as his handpicked successor, instead turning over Crusade's presidency to Steve Douglass in 2001. Over his last two decades at the helm of Campus Crusade, Bright became an evangelical elder statesman.
John G. Turner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807831854
- eISBN:
- 9781469604756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807889107_turner.4
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This book presents the history of Campus Crusade for Christ as a window into the world of American evangelicalism since 1945. Campus Crusade, founded by Bill Bright at the University of California at ...
More
This book presents the history of Campus Crusade for Christ as a window into the world of American evangelicalism since 1945. Campus Crusade, founded by Bill Bright at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1951, had, by the century's end, grown into a global evangelical empire. The ministry's staff talked about Jesus Christ at fraternity meetings, evangelized students from Daytona to Balboa on spring break trips, organized evangelistic advertising campaigns in American cities, brought a film about Jesus to remote overseas villages, and hosted conferences designed to “rekindle the fire” of Christian marriages. Alongside Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, Bright was one of the most influential evangelical power brokers of the late twentieth century, able to mobilize large coalitions of conservative Christians for both evangelistic and partisan ends.Less
This book presents the history of Campus Crusade for Christ as a window into the world of American evangelicalism since 1945. Campus Crusade, founded by Bill Bright at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1951, had, by the century's end, grown into a global evangelical empire. The ministry's staff talked about Jesus Christ at fraternity meetings, evangelized students from Daytona to Balboa on spring break trips, organized evangelistic advertising campaigns in American cities, brought a film about Jesus to remote overseas villages, and hosted conferences designed to “rekindle the fire” of Christian marriages. Alongside Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, Bright was one of the most influential evangelical power brokers of the late twentieth century, able to mobilize large coalitions of conservative Christians for both evangelistic and partisan ends.
