July (Web-only) 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

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This article originally appeared in the June 9, 1972 issue of Christianity Today.

"As the head of a large, international movement I am involved with thousands of others in a `conspiracy to overthrow the world.' Each year we train tens of thousands of high school and college students from more than half of the major countries of the world in the art of revolution, and daily these `revolutionists' are at work around the globe, spreading our philosophy and strengthening rind broadening our influence."

These words come not from a Communist party chairman but from Bill Bright, founder and president of the growing Campus Crusade for Christ organization. The revolution he mentions is a spiritual one, for Bright and his workers are out to evangelize the world by 1980.

It is no empty vow. Crusade's full-time staff now numbers more than 3,000, up from 250 ten years ago. And already hundreds of thousands of persons worldwide can trace their spiritual ancestry to Crusade. (Crusade grew out of a ministry Bright and his wife beamed to University of Los Angeles students in 1951 when he was a businessman-turned-seminarian.)

Crusade is no longer confined to campus. More than 100,000 laymen are trained each year in lay institutes, says Bright. These range from small interchurch groups to large denominational gatherings. Special divisions work with pastors, missionaries. blacks, American Indians, Spanish—peaking people, and military personnel.

Nor is crusade confined any longer to America. Its international staffers work in more than fifty countries. Fewer than 100 of these workers are Americans; over 400 are nationals. (Most of the national leaders were converted and recruited while they were college students here. Some are former Communists.) ...