As a student at Fuller Theological Seminary, studying late one night for a Greek exam, Bill Bright receives a unique impression from God to invest his life in helping reach the entire world, starting with college students. A professor friend suggests “Campus Crusade for Christ” as the name of the new ministry. In the fall, Bill and his wife, Vonette, start Campus Crusade (now known as Cru in the U.S.) at UCLA with the backing of a 24-hour prayer chain.
More than 250 UCLA students receive Christ, including the student-body president, campus-newspaper editor, and many athletes, like Rafer Johnson, later an Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon. Cru spreads to other schools, and to meet the need, the Brights accept their first six staff members.
Bill Bright writes “God’s Plan for Your Life.” This 20-minute evangelistic presentation, required memorization for staff members, sets the tone for the development of Cru’s revolutionary training in evangelism and discipleship.
Cru becomes international as Dr. Joon Gon Kim launches the work in South Korea. Over the next 40 years, South Korea moves from being a missionary-receiving nation to one that sends them, with 271 Korean Campus Crusade for Christ staff members and disciples serving in 23 other countries around the world today.
The first Lay Institute for Evangelism takes the evangelism and discipleship training from the campus ministry and adapts it to a church context.
At the eleventh hour, God provides every last penny for the purchase of Arrowhead Springs. The resort complex in San Bernardino, California, becomes Cru’s headquarters for the next three decades.
André Kole becomes a Cru staff member and develops an evangelistic illusion show. The André Kole Ministry becomes Cru’s first “special ministry,” preceding such divisions as Athletes in Action, Student Venture, Josh McDowell Ministry and FamilyLife.
Bill Bright takes what he describes as “the distilled essence of the gospel” and writes a booklet called “Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?” Today the booklet has been translated into more than 200 languages, and more than 2.5 billion copies have been distributed worldwide.
With contemporary music lyrics gaining significance in youth culture through performers like the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Cru develops its own life-changing music group. The New Folk help lead many to a personal relationship with Christ through carefully designed concerts incorporating secular music.
Cru staff members and 600 students converge on the University of California, Berkeley for one week of confronting the hotbed of radical campus activism with the radical message of the gospel. More than 700 students and faculty members receive Christ. The “Berkeley Blitz” ends with Billy Graham preaching at the campus Greek Theatre.
Cru staff members and others converge at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for EXPLO ’72. This landmark conference features evangelism and discipleship training, contemporary music concerts, and lots of rain.
More than 300,000 delegates attend EXPLO ’74 in Seoul, South Korea. Police officially estimate a crowd of 1.5 million at one of the evening meetings; 323,000 of them indicate decisions to receive Christ.
From 1976 to 1980, approximately 85% of Americans receive some exposure to the “I Found It!” campaign, which mobilizes more than 300,000 Christians from 15,000 churches in 246 cities for organized evangelism.
Athletes in Action, Cru’s sports ministry, makes national news when its men’s basketball team crushes collegiate powers Nevada-Las Vegas and San Francisco. UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, referring to AIA’s evangelistic presentations at halftime, quips, “They beat you up in the first half, pray for you at halftime, then beat you up in the second half.”
“JESUS,” a film account of the life of Christ, premieres in 250 theaters. Based on the Gospel of Luke, “JESUS” was filmed at 202 locations in Israel, incorporating a cast of more than 5,000. The film becomes the most translated motion picture in history, with 1,750 languages, 8.1 billion views and more than 572 million indicated decisions for Christ as of March 2019.
Cru sends its first team of students to the Soviet Union. Under the code name “Northstar,” this summer mission project marked an influx of covert ministry activity in Eastern Europe, which accelerated openly after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
More than 17,000 college students, Cru staff members and exhibitors, as well as Billy Graham, brave arctic conditions and icy roads to meet in Kansas City, Missouri, for KC ’83, an evangelism and discipleship training conference.
EXPLO ’85, a worldwide video conference, links an estimated 300,000 delegates at 98 conference sites on five continents with the help of 18 satellites. Bill Bright defies jet lag while spending one day on each continent.
Cru launches New Life 2000. This initiative brings Cru ministries under one umbrella in cooperation with Christians worldwide with a goal of helping lead at least 1 billion people to Christ.
Vonette introduces the legislation that President Ronald Reagan signs to officially declare the first Thursday in May the National Day of Prayer. Vonette Bright serves as co-chairwoman in its first year. Cru later turned over leadership of the event to Shirley Dobson and Focus on the Family.
Representatives from 102 countries converge on Manila over six months. During the New Life 2000: Manila project, more than 5,000 people (only 11% of them Americans) present the gospel to 3.3 million Filipinos, with 447,000 indicating decisions to receive Christ.
Cru’s world headquarters moves from California to Florida. After 30 years at Arrowhead Springs in San Bernardino, the ministry relocates to Orlando.
The CoMission unites more than 60 Christian organizations, including Cru, in the pursuit of making the most of the newfound spiritual openness in the former Soviet Union. The CoMission foreshadows the explosion of cooperative efforts in the church at large, such as the Macedonian Project and Mission America.
Bill Bright fasts for 40 days and issues a call for prayer and fasting for revival in the United States. More than 600 Christian leaders meet in Orlando, Florida, for the first Prayer and Fasting Conference. In 1998, thousands join the conference through 4,100 satellite downlinks.
Cru’s U.S. National Staff Conference becomes a world staff conference as staff members representing 171 other nations attend and find their faith inspired.
Bill Bright announces Steve Douglass, executive vice president and director of U.S. Ministries, as his successor, effective August 2001.
In response to the September 11 attacks, Cru produces the evangelistic magazine “Fallen but Not Forgotten.” The 16-page remembrance piece was distributed to more than 10 million people by hundreds of churches and Christian organizations.
Operation Sunrise Africa mobilizes Christians in 22 African countries. Believers from India, the Philippines, Singapore, France and the United States join thousands of Africans in the strategy to proclaim the gospel in 50 cities in 50 days. Sixty-four million people hear the gospel, 1.7 million indicate decisions to receive Christ, and 81 new churches are planted.
Fifty-two years after founding what would become the world’s largest Christian ministry, Bill Bright dies at age 81.
Many of Josh McDowell’s books have been translated into 65 languages. It takes just 30 languages to reach three-quarters of the world’s population.
During Spring Break, at least 10,000 students participate in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans and Pass Christian, Mississippi.
The evangelistic website EveryStudent.com is translated into 27 languages and more than 5 million visitors, with 400 indicating decisions for Christ per day.
Jesus Film Project releases “Magdalena: Released From Shame,” the story of Jesus told from the perspective of Mary Magdalene. It has now been shown in 34 countries, eight of which have aired it on national television.
The City division of Cru is launched to serve those beyond the campus with a focus on the top 50 cities in the United States.
Campus Crusade for Christ becomes Cru in the U.S.
Nearly 1,500 Cru staff members and volunteers from more than 30 countries participate in the Heartbeat Tallinn event in Estonia’s capital city. By the end, some 15,000 Estonians hear the message of God’s love for them.
Jesus Film Project has reached 10 million views of their films digitally and more than 100,000 installs of the Jesus Film Media app between iPhone and Android.
The “JESUS” film is remastered in HD with new music and effects.
Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International, dies at age 89.
Athletes in Action celebrates its 50th anniversary; FamilyLife celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Dennis Rainey, former president of FamilyLife, appoints David Robbins as the new president and CEO.
Inner City names Milton Massie as its director, the first African American to lead the ministry.
Global Aid Network (GAiN), the humanitarian ministry of Cru, changes its name to Unto™ in order to more clearly convey their pursuit to serve people in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity and revealing the hope of Jesus.
“Be Still,” a worldwide call to prayer in the midst of a global pandemic, attracts tens of thousands of people around the world.
EveryStudent.com attracts over 60,000,000 visitors, with over 900,000 indicating decisions for Christ.
Steve Sellers is appointed as the new president of Cru, succeeding Steve Douglass, who had served in the role since 2001.
President
Steve Sellers
Year Established
1951, by Bill and Vonette Bright on the UCLA campus as “Campus Crusade for Christ”
International Presence
Ministry presence in 191 countries
501(c)(3) Certification
Charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Cru (U.S. Ministry)
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Campus Crusade for Christ International
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