God does not always allow you to see the fruit of your ministry. But then there are times that God opens up the clouds and His radiance strikes your face with His love and kindness and you know whom you have believed. The story I am about to relate to you is one of those times.

I had first written Revive My Heart — Satisfy Your Thirst For Personal Spiritual Revival, a Quiet Times For The Heart Bible study, on a retreat to Sedona, Arizona, just after a particularly difficult time in my life. I had lost the home I loved in San Diego, California, my friends at College Avenue Baptist Church where I taught Bible Study Fellowship classes, and the financial security of my husband’s profession with the move to Palm Desert, California, where we were to start again. It was a catharsis really to write the book, and I was the first to do the comb bound workbook all by myself even before I had presented it to my local Bible study church group.

My dear friend, Vonette Bright, author, speaker, and spouse of Dr. Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade For Christ International, had kept her eye on me since my days on staff with Campus Crusade and the Josh McDowell Ministry from 1978 to 1982. We had a small Quiet Time Ministries website at the time, and later on, Vonette had gotten her hands on an original copy of Revive My Heart! when it was picked up by NavPress for publication as a book of quiet times. Dr. Bright was kind enough to write the Foreword for the publication as released by NavPress, the publishing arm for The Navigators worldwide ministry, at the 2003 Orlando edition of the annual Christian Booksellers Association convention. Of course, Vonette later wrote the Foreword for my first Harvest House Publishers release of Six Secrets To A Powerful Quiet Time.

In the interim, a dedication ceremony was held in 2002 at the Orlando Lake Hart campus of Campus Crusade For Christ that honored Betty Van Tuinen, who along with her husband Ray, were pioneer sponsors of Athletes in Action and Student Venture from the early 1960s. The dedication included placement of a The Campus Crusade For Christ Staff Spirit plaque at Campus Crusade For Christ International Headquarters, that features a quote from the original version of my book Revive My Heart!, published by NavPress in 2003. The Revive My Heart! quote reads, "A radical disciple, wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus Christ and recklessly abandoned to the will of God," and the plaque reads, "In loving memory of Betty Van Tuinan, a servant whose life radiated the call to be abandoned to the will of God."

If you’re interested in viewing the pamphlet released by Campus Crusade about the dedication ceremony, the placement of the Radical Disciple plaque at Campus Crusade For Christ International headquarters, and the original Radical Disciple excerpt from Revive My Heart!, you may download the Radical Disciples PDF Transcript.

Radical Disciple Campus Crusade Staff Spirit Plaque PDF Transcript

Blessings ♡ Grace