Monday, December 15, 2008
Campus Crusade Part 24
1976 was a pivotal year in many ways. It was the year of the U.S.
Bi-centennial as well as a major Presidential election with
Gerald Ford against Jimmy Carter. This was the first time I
got involved in a political campaign. Ronald Reagan who
had been California governor since my coming to the
Golden State was running a strong primary challenge
to the two year incumbent President Ford. My friend and
house mate Steve Bradshaw volunteered an a local San
Bernardino Reagan for President phone center to get out
the vote for the Gipper. Reagan defeated Ford in the Calif.
Primary but lost to the President at the Convention. This
was a disappointment but I knew it was an uphill fight to
dislodge a sitting president for the nomination. Reagan
actually came fairly close but when the smoke cleared
Ford went against Carter and lost to the Georgia governor
in the general election. It was not quite time for Reagan.
1976 was also Campus Crusade's ultimate U.S. evangelistic
campaign. Here are excerpts from my January
1977 prayer letter.
"For the past nearly two years we at the headquarters
of Campus Crusade have been hearing, working on and
preparing for implementation a strategy, a movement
to saturate this country with the claims of Christ. This
movement has become known as Here's Life America.
In November a mass media campaign (with exposure on
Television, radio, billboards, newspapers, bumper stickers,
buttons, etc.) was launched emphasizing the phrase
"I found it!" I found new life in Christ! During this media
campaign trained workers from local churches manned
neighborhood phone centers in a systematic effort to contact
every household in the city to find out the response to the
campaign and to have an opportunity to share the love of
Christ with them.
"RESULTS NATIONALLY: The results are truly mind
boggling. 11,826 churches were involved and 258,085
laymen from these churches were trained in personal
evangelism and discipleship. Of these 212,651 worked
in the campaign. The media campaign exposed
64,743,000 people to the "I found it! message and
51,760,000 learned that "I found it!" referred to a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Over 500,000
people prayed to receive Christ personally and 60,474
enrolled in follow-up Bible Studies. All praise to God.
(from Worldwide Challenge February 1977)
"PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT: My own involvement
(other that a small contribution to the making of the
Mediated Training as I discussed in a previous letter)
was with a telephone center that we had set up at
Arrowhead Springs. I telephoned on Monday nights
and my biggest problem that night was we were
competing with Monday Night Football on television!
Seriously though it was a very good experience and I
had the opportunity to speak with many people and
explain God's love as shown through Jesus Christ to
a number of them. I did have the privilege of "seeing"
one older lady pray to receive Christ. On the firs night
one of my friends had two individuals pray to receive
Christ over the phone. These were the first ever to
have responded to his witness. This is certainly one
of the most exciting things about Here's Life. Many
Christians for the first time in their lives are seeing
people respond positively to their witness to Christ.
"Over the past two years I have felt the need to be
here working in the areas I have been assigned to
because of the importance of the work (Here's Life
America, etc.). This is the primary reason I have
not been back to the Northwest (especially Bellingham)
to visit and talk to all of you who have been involved
in my life and work." I mentioned I was planning on
being back during the month of June (1977).
During New Years 1977 I flew back to Bellingham
to be with my father. This proved to be the last time
we as a family got together during my father's life.
Elvin, Russ, LeRoy and there families were all there.
Dad's cancer had progress to the point where we
knew that his time was short. As I boarded the plane
to fly back to California I realized that this was the
last time I'd see my father alive on this earth.
Bi-centennial as well as a major Presidential election with
Gerald Ford against Jimmy Carter. This was the first time I
got involved in a political campaign. Ronald Reagan who
had been California governor since my coming to the
Golden State was running a strong primary challenge
to the two year incumbent President Ford. My friend and
house mate Steve Bradshaw volunteered an a local San
Bernardino Reagan for President phone center to get out
the vote for the Gipper. Reagan defeated Ford in the Calif.
Primary but lost to the President at the Convention. This
was a disappointment but I knew it was an uphill fight to
dislodge a sitting president for the nomination. Reagan
actually came fairly close but when the smoke cleared
Ford went against Carter and lost to the Georgia governor
in the general election. It was not quite time for Reagan.
1976 was also Campus Crusade's ultimate U.S. evangelistic
campaign. Here are excerpts from my January
1977 prayer letter.
"For the past nearly two years we at the headquarters
of Campus Crusade have been hearing, working on and
preparing for implementation a strategy, a movement
to saturate this country with the claims of Christ. This
movement has become known as Here's Life America.
In November a mass media campaign (with exposure on
Television, radio, billboards, newspapers, bumper stickers,
buttons, etc.) was launched emphasizing the phrase
"I found it!" I found new life in Christ! During this media
campaign trained workers from local churches manned
neighborhood phone centers in a systematic effort to contact
every household in the city to find out the response to the
campaign and to have an opportunity to share the love of
Christ with them.
"RESULTS NATIONALLY: The results are truly mind
boggling. 11,826 churches were involved and 258,085
laymen from these churches were trained in personal
evangelism and discipleship. Of these 212,651 worked
in the campaign. The media campaign exposed
64,743,000 people to the "I found it! message and
51,760,000 learned that "I found it!" referred to a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Over 500,000
people prayed to receive Christ personally and 60,474
enrolled in follow-up Bible Studies. All praise to God.
(from Worldwide Challenge February 1977)
"PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT: My own involvement
(other that a small contribution to the making of the
Mediated Training as I discussed in a previous letter)
was with a telephone center that we had set up at
Arrowhead Springs. I telephoned on Monday nights
and my biggest problem that night was we were
competing with Monday Night Football on television!
Seriously though it was a very good experience and I
had the opportunity to speak with many people and
explain God's love as shown through Jesus Christ to
a number of them. I did have the privilege of "seeing"
one older lady pray to receive Christ. On the firs night
one of my friends had two individuals pray to receive
Christ over the phone. These were the first ever to
have responded to his witness. This is certainly one
of the most exciting things about Here's Life. Many
Christians for the first time in their lives are seeing
people respond positively to their witness to Christ.
"Over the past two years I have felt the need to be
here working in the areas I have been assigned to
because of the importance of the work (Here's Life
America, etc.). This is the primary reason I have
not been back to the Northwest (especially Bellingham)
to visit and talk to all of you who have been involved
in my life and work." I mentioned I was planning on
being back during the month of June (1977).
During New Years 1977 I flew back to Bellingham
to be with my father. This proved to be the last time
we as a family got together during my father's life.
Elvin, Russ, LeRoy and there families were all there.
Dad's cancer had progress to the point where we
knew that his time was short. As I boarded the plane
to fly back to California I realized that this was the
last time I'd see my father alive on this earth.
# posted by Dino Don @ 9:21 AM 
