I almost never publish stories without fact-checking, but since I knew the story so well, I didn’t fact check the story I shared on August 7 about the connection between Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as Cru. I said that Dawson picked up a hitchhiker named Bill, led him to Christ, and the hitchhiker turned out to be Bill Bright.

Turns out I didn’t get it quite right, and I’ve corrected the original blog. Here’s the more accurate version:

A fellow named Bill picked up a hitchhiker one day in southern California. Bill was just coming into town, and the hitchhiker told Bill he should spend the night in the home of Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators. Bill spent just that one night in Dawson’s home and left the next day unconverted.

Later Bill began attending Hollywood Presbyterian Church and met Jesus through the ministry of Henrietta Mears, who had mentored Dawson earlier. Once Bill decided to venture into ministry, Mears suggested that he get in contact with Dawson Trotman who is likely the one who encouraged Bill toward campus ministry.

We’re talking about Bill Bright, who later went on to found Campus Crusade for Christ (now called “Cru.”) Bright went to UCLA to do evangelism, conservatively estimating that it would take him a year to see substantial fruit and thereby skimping on his preparedness for discipleship ministry. After a month, 50 students had come to put faith in Christ, and Bright had no idea what to do next. He phoned Trotman, who personally loaned resources, training, and key Navigator volunteers to Cru for the first five years of Bright’s time on UCLA’s campus. Cru is actually built on the framework of Navigators methodology and uses Nav resources to this day. – Portions of this story from an interview with Justin Taylor on the 60th anniversary of Dawson Trotman’s death, June 18, 2016

So there is a strong connection between Dawson Trotman and Bill Bright, and, in the theme of the August 7 blog, neither Dawson nor Henrietta Mears was particularly “strategic.” There were following the Spirit’s leading to serve those God put in their path.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 8, ESV)