This is a site designed to provide materials, ideas and hope for Christian Leaders. It is pastoral care for church planters, missional leaders, pastors and missionaries and all those who want to be more effective and more Christ-centered in their lives and ministry. Working with Standing Stone Ministry, I meet with pastors on a regular basis who are hurting and discouraged in their ministry of caring for the flock of God. All leaders face challenges that test their vision, their call, their passion for the task. Pastors in particular can face withering criticism for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they or their family members do and say.
It goes without saying that some leaders deserve the criticism they get. They act in unbiblical ways; they unrepentant when confronted for sin; they scandalize the gospel and defame the name of Christ with their behavior; they teach falsehood—these kind of leaders should be censured. But most of the criticism that leaders face unrelated to any of these things. .
Dr. Bill Bright, was the founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU). He was such an admirable leader in so many ways. Not a perfect leader, but a man who consistently trusted Christ in midst of great challenges and turmoil. Bill was a leader who was always learning, but driven by one singular goal — making Jesus known to the world. The ministry was founded in 1951 by Bill and Vonette Bright but in 1969 a group of senior leadership started meeting secretly to force a coup of the organization. They wanted Dr. Bright to resign. They wanted to take the ministry in a new direction. They wanted Campus Crusade to become a church, a new denomination.
Years ago, I talked to some of the leadership that supported Dr. Bright against them. Then in the late 70’s, I read an internal investigation of some of the details. The investigation was done by Spiritual Counterfeits Project. Today I ran across this video. As soon as I saw Dr. Ted Martin (one of my seminary professors), on the video, I had to watch. [Side note, Dr. Martin was part of the team that worked on the original New American Standard translation and on the 1995 update. He was also a man of great personal integrity and a warm heart for Christ.]
As I watched the video, I couldn’t help but think that the lessons in this video of how Dr. Bright responded to the internal insurrection, would be very helpful and insightful for some of the hurting pastors I am meeting with on a regular basis. So, here’s the link:
https://legacy.cru.org/en/playlists/cru-history/the-coup-inserection-of-the-heart-longversion.html
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