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2009 Christianity Today Book Award for History and Biography! Bill Bright founded Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) in the early 1950s and later developed the 'Four Spiritual Laws' that has been arguably the most influential visible representation of the Gospel in the last 50 years. Perhaps more than anyone, Bright popularized the phrase "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life", the first of his 'Spiritual Laws', and one of the most misused and misaprporiated phrases in evangelism. This book outlines the origins of CCC, tracing Bright's life from his childhood and schooling in rural Oklahoma to his conversion and subsequent worldwide ministry, ending with events surrounding his passing in 2003. Bright was a steady fixture of the Christian scene in the sixties and seventies as the ministry continued to grow (reaching peaks in 1972's Explo '72 at the Cotton Bowl, and the cinematic release of the Jesus film in 1979) and extended to hundreds of college campuses. John Turner documents all of this in depth, while addressing Bright's and CCC's influence on how Christianity was being experienced at the time as well as the impact they have had on modern 21st century Christianity. While avoiding Bright's late life confession that de-emphasizing the reality of hell in evangelistic presentations is the equivalent of spiritual treason, Turner portrays Bright's journey through the late 20th century Christian landscape as that of an influential pacesetter in modern evangelism.
John G. Turner is assistant professor of history at the University of South Alabama.
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 like Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these "parachurch" organizations, says John Turner, historians have largely ignored them.
Turner offers an accessible and colorful 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, Turner 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 Turner 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.
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