Let’s Meet the Woman Who Inspired Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and more...

Friends! Have I ever got a motivational whippersnapper for you to meet!  While she’s no longer living, her legacy lives on all over the world. 

Allow me to introduce you to Henrietta Mears who blessed countless people, young and old, who crossed her path.  She was the most intentional, spiritual, perpetual disciple I’ve ever read about. 

She also never met a stranger and never judged her students, even when they misbehaved. She loved on them just as Jesus would do.

I learned about her thanks to a friend who lent me this book:

Henrietta was born in 1890 and lived until 1963.  You cannot fathom all she did in her lifetime, up until the time she took her last breath. You’ll get a firsthand glimpse as you read this book.

First a teacher, Henrietta soon became the Director of Christian Education and Teacher of the College Department at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood for nearly forty years.  She wrote and developed all kinds of Sunday School curriculum which became published all over the United States, and was later translated into many different languages all over the world.

She also founded the Forest Home Christian Conference Center where Billy Graham had a life-changing experience propelling him onward in his faith to lead crusade after crusade.  Billy said,

Henrietta’s faith never wavered.  Her non-stop prayer life taught her students the power of prayer.  I found it fascinating that she, like Corrie TenBoom, read Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest daily.

Henrietta’s Sunday Schools grew so quickly her church was constantly having to add on to its building.  She had such insight it was almost uncanny...you find yourself saying, “Only God could’ve had His hand on her like this.”

She fully believed, “If you present God’s Word so that it meets the needs of young and old alike, you will have a successful Sunday School.”

Henrietta never married.  She lived with her sister and the two were quite a team.  They always dressed to the nines, almost always wearing hats, traveling the world together. Don’t miss the pictures throughout the book of them riding camels, donkeys, you name it!  What adventurous spirits!  I found myself shaking my head, saying, “No way!”, more than once.

One of Henrietta’s pupils was a young man who would become extremely well known a few years later.  His name was Bill Bright. He became a Christian just a few months prior to a conference he attended with three other devoted young men who would become “expendables” for Christ, as Henrietta called them.

In 1947, during a student revival movement, Bill felt God’s hand leading him into campus work.  He attended seminary at Princeton and Fuller and with Henrietta’s help, he directed the work toward the campuses. He and his wife, Vonnetta, lived with Henrietta for over ten years, “using her home as a center for their emerging crusade. God blessed Bill’s efforts, and Campus Crusade for Christ evolved into the international work it is today.”

Not only did Henrietta minister to students, she also found a unique niche in Hollywood.  Henrietta and Margaret’s home just so happened to be situated in the middle of several Hollywood stars’ homes. TV and movie stars eagerly joined the Hollywood Christian Group as it became known. Don’t miss the eye-opening encounter Ruth Bell Graham had while attending one of the Hollywood Christian Group meetings with Henrietta.  You just may fall out of your chair!

Reading of her influence all over the world is breathtaking, her vision catching fire almost immediately. She was truly remarkable.  Her one goal in life was to “make Christ magnificent in the eyes of man.”

Those who knew Henrietta called her “Teacher.” Her memorial service concluded with Handel’s Hallelujah chorus. “As the last chords faded into silence, a man whispered to his neighbor, ‘Dear Teacher!  Even in her death she pointed us to Christ.’”

I believe you’ll be inspired by Henrietta to do as the Apostle Paul says in two of my favorite Scripture verses:

Now you know how I love to end these posts:  “Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and grab Dream Big - The Henrietta Mears Story: Meet the Woman Who Shaped the Lives of Some of the Most Influential Christians of Our Time!”

‘Til next time!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”