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Bright exhorts NAMB workers on National Day of Prayer


ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–Bill Bright, president and founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, observed the National Day of Prayer with the North American Mission Board May 7, challenging and encouraging them to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and ministries.
“You represent so many millions of people spread across this land … who have a desire and a burden and vision … that evangelism is the heart of the Christian life, and it is,” Bright told several hundred staff members during a special chapel service.
Bright said any hope for America depends on Christians returning to a life of faith under the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Do you believe it is possible that this nation that was dedicated to Christ nearly 225 years ago (and) has enjoyed the blessings of heaven, … do you think it can be recaptured for Christ?” he asked. “It depends not on God. But it depends on us. According to your faith be it unto you. Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Our nation, he said, is facing crisis, “greater than the Civil War, greater than the Revolutionary War.” It is a crisis not of hardship, however, but of comfort.
“We are like the church of Laodicea. A rich power. … We have everything we need,” he said. “You are naked, and unless you repent there is no home for you,” he added, referring to the prophecy to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-18.
“America may have already come to that place. I don’t think so. But there will not be a revival until we meet God’s conditions,” he said, referring to the conditions for revival found in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Christians actually tend to make the Christian life more difficult than it actually is, Bright said. He told how President Reagan had once said, “if the American people would obey the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, all of our problems would be solved.”
Bright initially thought his response too simplistic, “but the Holy Spirit answered my skepticism. You think about it, it is as simple as that. … Whatever problem you want
to focus on, God has made available to us all the resources we need to accomplish what he’s called us to do.”
Bright shared portions of his own testimony, and how he and his wife, Vonette, made a commitment to being “slaves” to Christ 47 years ago. Shortly after that he received the vision for Campus Crusade for Christ, which today has nearly 20,000 staff and more than 200,000 volunteers around the world. Yet in fulfillment of his commitment to Christ he accepts only a minimal salary and donates all royalties from his books back to the ministry.
“Some people accuse me of having great faith,” he said. “And my answer is very simple: No, I have a great God.”

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  • James Dotson