At least three different books that I am aware of capture the
story of the 1947 Fellowship of the Burning Heart. Each book
tells the powerful story of four individuals who determined to
spend no less than one hour each day alone with God as a
lifetime commitment and how, over time, it impacted their lives
and the lives of many others.
Bill Bright was one of those four. In the year 2000, I received
a copy of his biography, Amazing Faith, from Vonette, his wife
of more than fifty years. I was surprised to read of people and
events I’d never heard of before. For example, Bright credits
Henrietta Mears with greatly influencing his spiritual life.
Researching Mears’ intriguing life and her “big” personality
consumed me over the next few weeks.
Henrietta was a preacher and teacher ahead of her time. She
not only taught hundreds of collegians and young
businesspersons at a large church in the Los Angeles area
during the mid-1900s, but she also founded a Christian camp
and publishing company that remain in operation today. But it
was during the ’40s and ’50s that Mears profoundly impacted
the lives of young Christian leaders of that era, such as Billy
Graham, Louis Evans Jr., Richard Halverson, and Bill Bright,
even sparking a national revival at American universities
between 1947 and 1949.
Her biography, Dream Big, reveals a woman who possessed
a deeply personal, boldly conversational relationship with God
that was endearing to many and impressive to most.
Whether in small or large groups of men and women,
Henrietta Mears would talk out loud to God, fearlessly yet
casually. It was said, “She was never formal with God. She just
spoke to Him as a person speaks to a friend, without worrying