Vonette Bright Remembered posted by John Sorensen on Dec 23, 2015

Cofounder of Campus Crusade for Christ now in presence of the Lord and Savior she loved and served

Vonette Bright, one of the most influential and widely admired Christian women of the last half century, slipped into eternity on Wednesday, December 23rd. She and her late husband, Dr. Bill Bright, who passed away in 2003, were married for 54 years. Together, they cofounded Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) in 1951 and followed God’s lead to build it into the world’s largest Christian ministry, with a staff of 26,000 full-time employees and more than 225,000 trained volunteers in more than 190 countries.

With everyone at Evangelism Explosion, I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Bright’s family and all of those at Cru who knew and loved her so much. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. We join you in remembering and celebrating the grace of God in Mrs. Bright’s life, as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, and a woman who mentored and nurtured women around the world.

A beloved mother of two and grandmother of four, Mrs. Bright was active in ministry throughout her life. Her commitment to help reach the world for Christ led her to found the Great Commission Prayer Crusade in 1972. She later served as chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and led the effort in 1988 to pass legislation in Congress establishing the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. The author of more than a dozen books, she founded Women Today in 1993, a daily one-minute radio feature to help women live fully for Christ and impact their homes and communities.

Mrs. Bright now stands in the presence of her Savior, whom she loved and served so long. And she is reunited with her husband, Bill, a man who was a great friend of Evangelism Explosion and of Dr. D. James Kennedy, the founder of EE. The two men first met in the 1960s and colabored for the Gospel in the years that followed. Dr. Bright joined Dr. Kennedy in prayer at an open field in Fort Lauderdale in the late 1960s, claiming it as the site for a new church facility. That empty lot became Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and the launching pad for EE, which is now active in nearly every nation on earth. Dr. Bright also helped commission the Center for Christian Statesmanship in 1995, joining with others to ask God for His blessing on this strategic outreach on Capitol Hill.

I believe the global impact of Dr. Bright’s life is a direct result of Mrs. Bright’s love and commitment to her husband. A faithful churchgoer as a young woman, Mrs. Bright’s own relationship with Christ blossomed before her marriage to Bill through the ministry of Dr. Henrietta Mears. She came to recognize the real, abiding presence of Jesus in her own life and is now in His presence forever.