Campus Evangelism +40

Some Names

When I look back at the archived photos from the CE seminars, there are many people who I recognize and can recall their names. There are others not pictured whose names and faces I've forgotten. Unfortunately, the student participants are the ones most anonymous to me now simply because our encounter in most cases was for only three or four days at most.

The most prominent in my memory are the leaders and speakers. While Jim Bevis and Charles Shelton have sketchy current information about some of the leaders, we really have not heard from them first-hand. That's what I would like to accomplish in this cybersearch.

Here are some of the names:

• Jennings Davis was a dean at Pepperdine University at the time.
• Rick Rowland was a swimming coach at Pepperdine.
• Dudley Lynch was the editor of The Christian Chronicle and documented CE -- personally attending and reporting on the "inquisition" of CE at Freed-Hardeman College
• Wesley Reagan was a source of encouragement and inspiration time and again. Last I heard, he is a Methodist minister somewhere.
• Prentice Meador is currently minister of a large Church of Christ in Dallas.
• "Bud" Stumbaugh
• Rick Oster is affiliated with the Harding Graduate School in Memphis. He was a student at Texas Tech in CE days.
• Jim Reynolds is a lawyer and minister at a Dallas Church of Christ.
• Andrew Hairston was, I think, a lawyer and minister in a Church of Christ in Atlanta(?).
• Steve Franklin, a student then, is now reported to be a highly successful realtor in Atlanta.
• Walt Cabe was a student who jumped in to help with various seminars. I think he's shown in the photos (#79) of the telegram sent to the astronauts during the '68 seminar in Dallas.
• The McGehee Family who generously supported CE -- what news of the various members of the family?

There are many others whose names escape me. What a great thing it would be to find these and others, to hear from them and know something of their lives. I will ask Jim Bevis and Charles Shelton to suggest additional names and to fill in any details of participants and leaders they can.

If you know anything about those listed above or others who participated in CE in any way, please let me know or contact them and ask them to Comment here on the blog.

Answers to a Comment from Cary

In the Comments, Cary asks an interesting question which I will copy here for convenience:

"One thing that I want to hear about is what happened in your minds and hearts when Wes Reagan gave his speech at the '65 Abilene lectureship. You both were in what I imagine were fairly comfortable and secure ministry positions and were doing well with what you already had going. From what I can tell neither of you had particularly extensive experience with campus ministry. Why did that particular challenge strike you and what pushed you to go for something so big?"

Jim Bevis answered more eloquently than I will. I'm going to copy his Comment as well.

"In response to [Cary's] most recent contact, I would have to say that "the Lord spoke to my heart" through Wes Reagan's message in a way I had never experienced the Holy Spirit's direct operation. By this time in my spiritual journey, I had, in a sense,  reached the pinnacle of my career in the Churches of Christ, and having arrived at "Broadway" I knew there had to be "something more." I ultimately found that "something more" as I pursued the challenge of the college campus.

Wes Reagan spoke with a relevant, Spirit-empowered word that had "the ring of truth." We were already experiencing some success with our efforts in the College class at Texas Tech. It was obvious that we had not even touched the "hem of the garment." Wes put the challenge before us and the Lord put it in our hearts to go to the campus with Jesus Christ in all of His fullness, without the sectarian bend which characterized the Churches of Christ in the 60s. Our mission field was two fold: First, the lost and I mean those truly lost and secondly, the multitudes of students on the campus from Churches of Christ who did not have a personal, vital relationship with Jesus Christ. I would say that the message presented by Wes Reagan at ACC and that which followed, was a divine call to the campus."

Thinking back more than 40 years to hearing Wes Reagan's speech, I can only say that I remember where Jim and I were sitting in the packed auditorium and being stirred by the explosion of insight Wes was putting before us. It was kind of electrifying. The call jumped out at us both and we were both charged.

I was not a "career" minister. At the constant urging of Norvel Young I had in high school committed to myself that some time in life I would give two years to "full-time church work" as Norvel called it. I had begun fulfilling the commitment as an associate at the Broadway church officing next to Jim Bevis.

As a young student, probably junior high, I had been present for the founding of the Bible chair at Texas Tech. I went there occasionally with Tech friends when I was home from ACC. But, at the time of Wes' speech, as an associate minister, I was involved in teaching the Sunday morning college class at the Bible chair. Can't remember why I was the teacher, but I was. So, I had enough exposure for Wes' comments about the college campus to resonate (and resonate strongly). It was also plain to see that while the Tech Bible chair was performing a service to the church that it was designed for, it was not touching the lives of the thousands of other students right up the street. Reaching the campus became a challenge and faith adventure.

It was also apparent to me that reaching the campus was not just employing the right set of techniques and tools, but the right Spirit.

Here's what I mean by Spirit. Before CE involvement, I was in charge of personal evangelism for the Broadway church, training, teaching, mobilizing, and encouraging members to conduct "cottage Bible studies" in homes. It was a fairly aggressive program which drew quite a few members to participate and the tools and techniques we were using attracted attention from several quarters. That resulted in my being invited to do a workshop in personal evangelism on one occasion where I attempted to teach the workshop attendees about how the Holy Spirit can empower and indwell you resulting in a natural outpouring of evangelism as you can relate what the Lord has done in your life. Sadly, probably due to my poor teaching that went right over most of their heads. It appeared that all they wanted was copies of the literature, lists of filmstrips, and the reporting forms we used!

So, there you have it -- in a different vocabulary, but with the same message.

Where are they?

Roy Osborne was one of the most popular speakers at the seminars. He spellbound us all with his insights and teaching. Roy was minister of the Sunset Ridge Church of Christ in San Antonio for many years.

He recently wrote me the following:

"I think I was a bit player in the movement you and Jim were promoting in the 60s.

I am now 84 and retired in 1991 but still teach a class each week and write all my own material. People have requested copies and I now e-mail 225 people in 29 states each week with a copy of my current essay.

I am still going to the Church of Christ but have been able to teach the Sunset Ridge congregation that Christianity is all about the grace of God and not at all about legal rules and regulations.  You see, I am still preaching the same things I did in Dallas in 1968."

At my invitation he added the following:

"I would like to add that I feel the Campus Evangelism did more to loosen the iron grip of legalism in which the church was enslaved than any other one thing.  I believe the young people went home from Dallas with a view that Christianity was about their relationship to Christ, not their relationship to the church.  As these young people matured they became the leaders of today and that is why many of our advances in Biblical understanding and practice have been able to thrive.

I was hung on many a cross as a liberal for preaching the grace of God instead of the rigid rules of the church, but I survived and I would do it again."

To which I say, "Right on, Roy!"

Hope You'll Read the Comments!

I am thrilled to have received comments from Wes and Cary about what they are doing and their challenge to those of us who were involved in CE to get the story out. I hope you will read their posts!

It is comments like theirs that are stirring our hearts anew. Although we haven't quite gotten our arms around how to tell the story of CE, it seems posts and comments on this blog may provide the kernel of something more to come.

I am considering upgrading my subscription to TypePad so we can invite other authors to post in the main section, not just in Comments. Probably ought to go ahead and get it done! I think we may just be getting ready for some major contributions from others.

Thanks for the interest already shown!

For Wes

Tell us more about what you're doing! The challenge has to be greater today than it was 40 years ago!

May God bless your work!

For Cary

What led you to your research? What kind of information are you now seeking? Tell us more about your work.

Interesting that you ask about a reunion. On June 11, 2005 a group of us with our wives, Jim Bevis, Charles Shelton, John Allen Chalk, and L.D. McCoy met most of the day in John Allen's office in Fort Worth to discuss just such a reunion. We first discussed an abbreviated seminar similar to the form we used in the 60s, but abandoned that and talked about other formats all the way down to an afternoon/evening reunion event.

One of the biggest considerations was how to spread the word and get "significant" attendance. When it was all said and done, most around the table felt that such an event was not where we were being led. Jim Bevis and I still had a heart for pursuing a reunion, but Jim was beginning to have some health problems and didn't feel up to it. As a last resort I suggested a cyber-reunion which led to this blog.

I submitted a version of the main blog post to The Christian Chronicle and New Wineskins asking them to publish it hoping to touch some who might be readers there. I think the Chronicle has rejected the story saying that such stories are generally solicited by them and not accepted otherwise. New Wineskins has never responded.

So, we're back to this blog which I'm thankful at least two interested people including you have responded to. We've been hoping a network would begin developing which might lead to a get-together.

Any ideas?

Where are they?

Forty years ago during the last week of December, 1966, churches of Christ witnessed an event in Dallas that reverberates throughout the brotherhood even today. The event was the first Campus Evangelism Seminar which brought together some 350 church leaders and students from colleges and universities across the country to learn how to share their faith on their campuses.

Student participants and seminar leaders, challenged by the seminar’s theme, “Solution: Revolution,” sought to find ways to turn traditional “holding” actions into zealously advancing Christ on their campuses. Many lives were changed during the seminar as a result of the stirring speeches about God’s grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Bible studies, and an afternoon of personal witnessing on Dallas streets, the airport, train station, and other public places.

Thousands more students from hundreds of campuses discovered their personal faith and how to share it at subsequent regional seminars from Los Angeles to Gainesville, Florida and at national seminars, the last one in 1968 attended by more than 1,500 participants.

The Campus Evangelism movement sprang to life at the 1966 seminar under the oversight of the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock,Texas. Jim Bevis and Rex Vermillion, co-directors of CE, were both associate ministers of the church. Charles Shelton who had been minister of the Campbell Church of Christ, San Jose, CA, joined the staff later.

Prior to 1966 Jim Bevis and Dale Hulett, a campus minister in Arkansas, had been inspired to an evangelical effort on college campuses when they attended training at the national headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ. In those days most members of churches of Christ would not have participated in such efforts outside the brotherhood; therefore, a church of Christ version was visualized.

View archival photos here.

The McGehee Foundation of Jacksonville, Florida generously funded the work of the Campus Evangelism staff which established two pilot projects, one at the University of Florida and the other at Texas Tech University.

Legendary preachers, professors, campus ministers and Bible chair directors, missionaries, and elders spoke and taught at the regional and national seminars -- among them John Allen Chalk, Wesley Reagan, K.C. Moser, Carl Spain, E.W. McMillan, William S. Banowsky, Prentice Meador, Roy Osborne, Batsell Barrett Baxter, Andrew Hairston, Jennings Davis, M. Norvel Young, Frank Pack, Rick Oster, William C. Martin, Tony Ash, Bill Bright, and many others.

Change and Orthodoxy Clash

The movement was not without its detractors, however. At the time, campus unrest was at its height. Activist students and interlopers were taking over buildings and disrupting the educational system and nationwide racial tensions were running high. Traditionalists were looking for stability and status quo.

Campus Evangelism’s emphasis on the then-little-taught doctrines of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit, the use of non-traditional worship and songs, distribution of modern language translations of the Bible, involving women in ministry, meeting in hotels and campus student union buildings, witnessing, and baptizing in the ocean and hotel swimming pools therefore raised suspicion in some quarters.

Even with the endorsement of such leaders as Reuel Lemmons, editor of The Firm Foundation periodical, and many other middle-of-the-road ministers, the leaders of the movement came under withering criticism. Having lost the backing of the Broadway Church after about four years, leadership shifted to the Burke Road Church of Christ in Pasadena,Texas. There, insufficient resources slowed the previous four years’ momentum, and the seminars and life-changing experiences so much a part of the rapidly growing movement ended.

The directors felt they had not been called to establish an ongoing organization such as Campus Crusade with all the attendant requirements to raise funds, expand staff, and the like, but rather to start a movement that would spread through God's power. Although disappointed, they accepted the changes as God's will.

Life Goes On

The students who so ardently took up the cause of Christ on their campuses 40 years ago are now in their late 50s and early 60s. Many of the leaders in the movement are elderly or have died. Life has revealed foibles and strengths in many of the leaders who survive today. Some continue in ministry while others have chosen to follow other professions. And there are those who are no longer members of the church of Christ. Some today still believe a whole generation of leadership and zeal for Christ was lost because of naysayers and detractors, while others believe that Campus Evangelism influenced much of what's happening in churches of Christ today.

The greatest enigma surrounds those thousands of students who were so inspired and were such advocates for Jesus Christ – what has become of them? Did they become church leaders and influential in congregations across the country, eventually becoming agents for change in churches of Christ now practicing and espousing the so-called new teachings they were learning 40 years ago?

Where are YOU?

So the question remains – what has become of those students and the leaders of Campus Evangelism? Where are they? What of their faith? What is and has been the influence of their lives in His church?

Most of the historical documentation of the Campus Evangelism movement has been lost; however, in 2004 the few remaining printed pieces, seminar speech tapes, and numerous photographs were placed in the care of The Center for Restoration Studies at Abilene Christian University. According to Dr. Douglas Foster, some post-graduate students are now researching the movement.

This blog has been set up in an attempt to reach participants and leaders who were active in the Campus Evangelism movement. It is hoped that many who were participants or observers will find and contribute to the blog with their own stories, comments or questions and help fill in blanks in the 40-year-old story -- a kind of cyber-reunion.