Bill Bright

William R. Bright (October 19, 1921 – July 19, 2003) was an American evangelist.

Bill Bright was born in Coweta, Oklahoma, on October 19, 1921.

He was the sixth child and fifth son of Forrest Dale and Mary Lee Rohl Bright.

His father Forrest Dale was a cattle rancher while his mother Mary Lee was a school teacher prior to marrying Forrest.

Bill's father Forrest was actively involved in the Oklahoma Republican Party with Bill remaining a staunch Republican throughout his life.

Bill studied economics at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

As a student at Northeastern State University, he was initiated into the Zeta chapter of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, and has subsequently been granted honorable alumnus status to the Alpha Gamma Omega Christ-Centered Fraternity.

During the 1940s, Bill attended the First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood where he became an evangelical Christian.

Bright was influenced by Henrietta Mears, who served as the Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church, and Billy Graham, who later became a prominent American evangelical leader.

In 1942, Bill enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve but did not see combat service due to a burst eardrum from playing football during high school.

While in his early 20s he moved to Los Angeles, California, and founded a company called "Bright's California Confections."

In 1946, Bill Bright quit his candy business to pursue Biblical studies and theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary.

According to the historian John G. Turner, Bright struggled with his academic studies and did not complete his degree at either institution.

While studying at Fuller seminary, Bright felt what he regarded as the call of God to reach out to university students and abandoned his academic studies.

Before starting his campus ministry, Bright sold off his confections company and settled a financial dispute with his former business partners, the Taylor family.

The two had been engaged to marry since the spring of 1946.

Bill Bright married Vonette Bright on December 30, 1948.

However, Bill at the prompting of Zachary's parents agreed to delay the wedding until her impending 1948 graduation from Texas State College for Women.

During the 1950s, Bill and Vonette adopted two boys named Brad and Zachary Bright.

In 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles, he founded Campus Crusade for Christ as a ministry for university students.

In 1951, after recruiting several volunteers from Fuller Seminary and Hollywood Presbyterian, Bright started Campus Crusade's first chapter at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

According to Turner, Campus Crusade was also inspired by Bright's desire to combat Communist influence in US universities including UCLA, which was then regarded as a hotbed of student radicalism.

In 1952 he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws.

By 1952, Bright's Campus Crusade had reportedly converted 250 students at UCLA including the student body president, campus newspaper editor, and several athletes including African American decathlete and future Olympian Rafer Johnson.

While Bill and his colleagues focused on the male students, Vonette focused on reaching out to the female students.

In 1953, Campus Crusade established its headquarters in Los Angeles' Westwood Boulevard.

Bright's campus outreach was also aided by his Hollywood Presbyterian mentor Henrietta Mears, who allowed the Brights to share her Bel Air home and spoke at several Crusade functions.

Bright's success at UCLA led him to establish Campus Crusade branches at several other US universities.

Campus Crusade's expansion across several US campuses created friction with other Christian campus groups including InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and liberal campus chaplains, who disagreed with the evangelistic tone of Bright's ministry.

In 1956, Bright wrote a 20–minute evangelistic presentation called "God's Plan for Your Life", which set the tone for Campus Crusade's evangelism and discipleship program.

In 1965, Bright wrote The Four Spiritual Laws, an evangelistic Christian tract.

In the booklet he outlines his view of the essentials of the Christian faith concerning salvation.

It is summarized as four spiritual laws or principles that govern what he sees as human beings' relationship with God.

The booklet ends with a prayer of repentance.

Bright had initially planned to produce an evangelical film called "The Great Adventure" but abandoned the project due to a lack of funding.

Though Bright had initially considered partnering with other churches, his disenchantment with their ability to mentor new Christian converts led him to start Campus Crusade for Christ as a parachurch organization.

In 1979 he produced the film Jesus.

In 1996 Bill Bright was awarded the $1.1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, and donated the money to promote the spiritual benefits of fasting and prayer.

In 2001 he stepped down as leader of the organization and Steve Douglass became president.

He died in 2003.