Bill Bright
Another relational thought.
This was to be a part of the last post, but it got too long. At the end of “Blue Like Jazz,” Miller mentions a story involving Bill Bright. The story tells of him being asked what Jesus meant to him and his response being just weeping, unable to speak. That is the Bill Bright I remember. I had the distinct privilege of being with the man many times while I was with Campus Crusade for Christ. Working with the headquarters-based video department, I videotaped him from time to time in his office or in some far flung corner of the world. A man in love with Jesus like nobody else I have ever met. And this was not an emotional, wild eyed televangelist type fellow. Dr. Bright was a quiet, dignified, quite formal man. He almost always wore a suit and tie. Seeing him in slacks and any kind of pull-over shirt was extremely unusual. He was about as buttoned down as a man can get. He came to faith through a Presbyterian tradition. He knew and was highly respected by presidents and dignitaries and spent time with the highest social strata of countless different countries. But when he started talking about Jesus, he would get misty eyed and go on like a star-struck lover trying to be as poetic as he could but just being overcome by the thought of his beloved.
Bill Bright was a businessman before he started Campus Crusade for Christ. In the early days he supported all the staff with the proceeds of his company. But soon he realized that this would limit the potential growth of the organization so switched to everyone raising their own support, including himself. It has been said that the key to the incredible growth of Campus Crusade to tens of thousands of staff members around the world was this change in financial strategy. I can’t deny that it would not have been possible otherwise, but having been through that system, I have to say that it is badly, if not mortally broken. That is the subject of one or more books, let alone a blog post, so I’ll not go there at the moment. But today it hit me that this wasn’t the secret at all. What made Campus Crusade for Christ grow like kudzu was Bill’s love of Jesus. It was infectious and made everyone around him want to serve the Master with everything they had.
This was to be a part of the last post, but it got too long. At the end of “Blue Like Jazz,” Miller mentions a story involving Bill Bright. The story tells of him being asked what Jesus meant to him and his response being just weeping, unable to speak. That is the Bill Bright I remember. I had the distinct privilege of being with the man many times while I was with Campus Crusade for Christ. Working with the headquarters-based video department, I videotaped him from time to time in his office or in some far flung corner of the world. A man in love with Jesus like nobody else I have ever met. And this was not an emotional, wild eyed televangelist type fellow. Dr. Bright was a quiet, dignified, quite formal man. He almost always wore a suit and tie. Seeing him in slacks and any kind of pull-over shirt was extremely unusual. He was about as buttoned down as a man can get. He came to faith through a Presbyterian tradition. He knew and was highly respected by presidents and dignitaries and spent time with the highest social strata of countless different countries. But when he started talking about Jesus, he would get misty eyed and go on like a star-struck lover trying to be as poetic as he could but just being overcome by the thought of his beloved.
Bill Bright was a businessman before he started Campus Crusade for Christ. In the early days he supported all the staff with the proceeds of his company. But soon he realized that this would limit the potential growth of the organization so switched to everyone raising their own support, including himself. It has been said that the key to the incredible growth of Campus Crusade to tens of thousands of staff members around the world was this change in financial strategy. I can’t deny that it would not have been possible otherwise, but having been through that system, I have to say that it is badly, if not mortally broken. That is the subject of one or more books, let alone a blog post, so I’ll not go there at the moment. But today it hit me that this wasn’t the secret at all. What made Campus Crusade for Christ grow like kudzu was Bill’s love of Jesus. It was infectious and made everyone around him want to serve the Master with everything they had.
posted by wingman at 3:25 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, raiel, balance is huge. I think there can be such a thing as balance that is an all-encompassing "both and" and not just navigating the grey zone in between.
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