By
Harold Hendrick
Bill Bright and
Billy Graham are likely the most
impacting followers of Jesus Christ
in the 20th Century. On
Saturday, July 19,
2003, Bill Bright went to
be with the Lord.
It
is impossible to measure the impact of Bill Bright’s life. Early in adulthood he and Vonette signed a written contract that
they would be life long slaves of Jesus Christ. They honored the contract. The results are amazing.
There
was the Jesus Video. He had a vision
of a true biblical account of the life of Jesus on film. He consulted with Cecil B. DeMille, the director of Bible film epics such as The
Ten Commandments. Not until years later was his prayer to be answered
through the wealth and generosity of the Hunt
family of Dallas. The film was
produced based on Dr. Luke’s account
of Jesus’ life. Today the Jesus Video has been translated into a
staggering 804 languages and dialects! A new language or dialect is being added on an average
of every three days. (www.jesusfilm.org)
And
then there is the organization he founded, Campus
Crusade for Christ (CCC). Thousands,
mostly young adults, responded to his call to “Come help change the world!”
They came, and they did. Recently St.
Louis CCC Director Dan Allan described on radio the distribution of ’Survival
Kits’ to all the freshmen on 15 college and university campuses in the St. Louis region. Those
kits (costing donors $10, but free to the students) contained a Bible, The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, a Jesus Video on CD, information pointing students to www.everystudent.com,
and a range of lesser attractions adding to the appeal of the kits.
More than 3,200 of them will be passed out this fall.
And, since this is the fifth year, it means that practically every
college and university student in the region (and this is going on all over
the country) has received a skillful, tasteful, impacting and clear Gospel
witness of our Lord Jesus Christ! CCC’ers distributed more than
100,000 similar survival kits to New York City high school students following
9/11.
And
then there is The Four Spiritual Laws,
written by Bill Bright, clearly explaining from Scripture how one can receive
Christ, be forgiven, and become a child of God on the way to Heaven. Several billion – with a ‘b’ – printed and distributed.
Bill
Bright the half-hour millionaire. For
his great influence as a spiritual leader, he was the recipient of the Templeton
Award a few years ago. Missourian Larry Lewis was with him at the time and
told me about it. The ceremony was
held in Rome. A check was
presented to him personally for about $1,300,000 I am told. Bill chuckled and said: “I always wanted to
be a millionaire.” And so he was…for
half an hour. He then endorsed the
check over to the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.
In a television interview just months before his death,
Michael Little of CBN asked Bill
what was the first thing he was going to tell Jesus when he saw Him. Bill paused, smiled, and tearing up said: “I’m
going to tell Him how much I love Him!”
Indeed,
the great and humble man of God with the apostle Paul could say to us:
Whatever
you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into
practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9)
Mission America invites us to join a national coordinated witness called
Honor Our Heroes. Thousands of churches during the anniversary
period of 9/11 are honoring local heroes – fire fighters, policemen, the military,
EMT people, and the like -- by personally inviting them to a special service
of recognition which will also include a clear presentation of the Gospel.
Churches can order a free Honor
Our Heroes kit on the website. (www.honorourheroes.com) Honorary Mission America co-chairmen are John
Perkins, Billy Graham, and, yes, Bill
Bright.
The Mission America and City Impact Roundtable will
have their important annual gathering in New York City October 5-8, and you are invited.
See www.missionamerica.org or www.cityreaching.com.
Interested
in a unique fundraiser for your group? Businessman
Bud Blossfield, Pastor Stoney Shaw,
or I will let you in on it.
This one is definitely different. It
requires no up front money, it involves no risk to the fundraisers, it requires
no stock of merchandise, it is fun entertainment, it can be used over and
over, and it utilizes the World Wide Web.
I see my involvement as following the model of Paul’s tentmaking wherein
he worked a business to finance his ministry and living.
The three of us don’t benefit until your group (ministry, school, alumni
association, scout troop, whatever) benefits more.
For
information without obligation, contact Bud Blossfield (314) 406-1579, bbbudb@aol.com,
Stoney Shaw (314) 614-4004, StoneyGFI@aol.com or Harold Hendrick (314) 994-1110,
hhhendrick@usa.com.
“Be
Bold!” That was the challenge that
Didi (Mrs. Albert) Pujols gave to St.
Louis Cardinal Cal Eldred as he
went before the Christian Family Day
crowd at Busch Stadium after the Cardinal-Pittsburgh game Saturday, July 26.
Cal was the closing speaker after other Cardinal players
and wives gave testimonies and the great Hispanic musical group Salvador performed. Preceded
by his wife’s (Christi) comments
honoring Jesus, Cal beautifully, clearly, conversationally, and powerfully
presented God’s plan of salvation from Scripture. It was the largest CFD crowd that I remember
with reports of attendance in the 15,000 plus range.
Before,
during, and after the game some 55,000 Christian witnessing cards, which look
like baseball trading cards, were handed out to those who attended the game.
There were eleven different cards with a Cardinal player pictured on the front
and their testimony, as well as a prayer to receive Christ, printed on the
back. Three of the cards were also printed in Spanish as a special outreach
to the Hispanic community.
The
Metro St. Louis Baptist Association and several churches have together purchased
around 55,000 to share as a witness.
For
more information or to order cards for your church’s outreach contact Dr. Christe Boen via email at docboen@aol.com.
The price is three-cents each which is very reasonable for a strong witnessing
tool.
On
Thursday, July 31, the very pleasant Mike
Daehn spoke to our daughter Karis
Hendrick in the hallway of their workplace. He asked her about her brother and sister-in-law
David and Cortland,
awaiting their third baby to arrive any day.
Mike was a happy and born-again member of First Baptist of Arnold.
Karis
called us Friday morning in a bit of a shock.
Mike, in his 50’s, died Thursday evening after their conversation. Thankfully he was ready. And, because of Jesus, he died in hope: Just as man is destined to die once, and after
that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins
of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to
bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. (Hebrews 9:27, 28).
Bill Kyle received a call from an older lady that he had never
met. Right on the phone Nellie Beel shared the story that Jesus
had died for his sins and that he, Bill, could be forgiven and receive the
gift of eternal life. Bill listened. She continued by saying that there was a wonderful
radio station in St. Louis wherein he could hear the Gospel message, Bible teaching
and other good programming day and night; the station was KSIV AM 1320 and
FM 91.5. Bill was so impressed and
told her that his wife worked for KSIV.
KSIV
advertising executive Karlin Kyle
was excited to tell me the story. I
quickly called Nellie and taped an interview for Encounter. Living in a South St. Louis senior adult home, Nellie is 85 years old, has four
children, seven grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Nearly 30 years ago she felt led of God to begin calling everyone in the St. Louis
phone book. “I’m in the L’s now,” she
said. “In the past I prayed with about 200 people a year to received Jesus,”
Nellie reported. “Now, with so many
answering machines, I leave a short message of how Jesus died for them and
rose again, and how they can be saved. And
I am still telling them to listen to KSIV.”
What
a story! Listen for it on KSIV 1320
AM.
Good
farmers like to plant good seed in the most fertile and productive soil. So does Child
Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). Fact:
most people who come to Christ do so by the age of 16. It is alarming the low percentage of individuals
who are saved after the age of 20. CEF
has developed skills, staff, and missionaries, bathed in prayer, for clearly
and simply communicating the Gospel
to children…locally, nationally, and throughout the world. The world headquarters of this great, low profile
worldwide ministry is just west of St. Louis in Warrenton, MO. Visit their website at www.gospelcom.net/cef.
Bansi Brahmbatt, a native of India, on the ministry staff of Tower Grove Baptist Church for several years, will be leading a group
from St. Louis to Bombay,
India November 29- December 30 for a great purpose. He and
the ministry group will be conducting outreaches where the attendance estimates
are expected to exceed 100,000.
The Lester
Family from St.
Louis will sing,
as will Randy Mayfield playing
his guitar and singing. More than 20
of the travelers are from Central Presbyterian
Church, where Randy serves on staff. Concluding
each evening, Jim McNiel, “the
walking Bible,” will dress in biblical
attire, portraying a different Bible character each night (such as Peter, John, and Jesus), and dramatically
quote full passages of Scripture written or spoken by the character being
portrayed. The potential of thousands
coming to Christ is very real, and the whole experience deserves our prayer.
God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the
love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help
them.
(Hebrews 6:10)
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do
good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:9,10)
Press On!
Harold Hendrick is a minister at large
in the St. Louis area, Director of Public Affairs for Christian radio
station KSIV, and talk show host of Encounter aired Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m.
on KSIV AM 1320.