Dr. William R. ("Bill") Bright was born in Coweta, Oklahoma, on Oct. 19, 1921. He graduated from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and a minor in sociology. While a student, Dr. Bright served as editor of the university yearbook, was student body president, was chosen as a member of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities, and was selected by students and faculty as the year's outstanding graduate. After graduation, he joined the extension faculty of Oklahoma State University. He later moved to Los Angeles where he launched a successful business career.
While in California, Dr. Bright attended the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. Largely through the influence of his mother's prayers and that church, he became a Christian in 1945 and then began an intensive study of the Bible. His studies led him to almost five years of graduate work at Princeton and Fuller theological seminaries, while still continuing his business interests. It was while a seminary student at Fuller that the young Bright felt the call of God to help fulfill Christ's Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). He began by sharing Christ with students on campus at UCLA, an activity that soon became a full-time calling, and which gave birth to the present worldwide ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International.
From a small beginning in 1951, the organization he began and still directs now has, in January 1, 2002, more than 25,000 full-time staff and over 553,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. What began as a campus ministry now covers almost every segment of society with more than 70 special ministries and projects which reach out to students, inner cities, governments, prisons, families, the military, executives, musicians, athletes, and many others.
Each ministry is designed to help fulfill the Great Commission, Christ's command to carry the gospel to the entire world. The film, JESUS, which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely viewed film ever produced. It has been translated into more than 730 languages and viewed by more than 4.5 billion people in 234 countries, with 300 additional languages currently being translated. More than 148 million people have indicated making salvation decisions for Christ after viewing it live. Additional tens of millions are believed to have made simi
