Clearly the “mundane” task of raising funds was as much a
spiritual adventure for Billy as preaching. In Philadelphia, Pew
listened to his two friends and agreed to provide significant fund-
ing for the first two years. Soon after, Billy wrote him, “We
watched great universities that started out to train young minis-
ters for the gospel degenerate into secular, pagan institutions, due
to the fact that the founding fathers lost control. Their ideals and
original visions were thrown to the wind. I am a relatively young
man and I am determined to see this vision, that I believe is from
God, carried out and properly controlled. I would suggest that we
form a board of trustees immediately.”
The most common cause of new magazines failing after their
launch is undercapitalization. In its first years, CTstruggled finan-
cially, and Billy continued to urgently solicit from businessmen
the needed funds.
He formed a board that was independent. Billy understood posi-
tioning and he rejected the most obvious structure. To the major-
ity of his colleagues, the new publication should have become a
subsidiary of the BGEA. But Billy saw it differently. He sensed it
would dilute the serious publication’s credibility to be published
by an evangelistic association.
Choosing the more difficult structure not only generated more
short-term effectiveness, it provided a long-term structure that
enabled continuation of an ever-expanding mission separate from
his own organization.
He also decided he should not be named chairman of the
board, even though he was the obvious choice. He concluded the
magazine would be positioned more strongly to have Harold Ock-
enga, with academic and theological credentials, serve as chair.
To initiate the process, he called his potential teammates
together “for prayer, consultation, advice, and to present concrete
proposals.” He continued, “I am convinced that we have no ral-
lying point, we have no flag or organization under which we can
all gather.... We need a strong, vigorous voice to call us together.”
Billy went on to preach his vision and outlined details of edito-
rial, philosophy, news coverage, timing, circulation, and advertising.
Birthing Dreams