In 1994, Bill Bright — the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) — felt a growing burden that America was in spiritual decline. He was seventy-three years old, leading one of the largest Christian organizations in the world, and by any external measure his life's work was thriving. But something was missing.
The Forty-Day Fast
Bright committed to a forty-day liquid-only fast. For a man in his seventies with a packed leadership schedule, this was not a small decision. He cleared his calendar and devoted the weeks to fasting, prayer, and listening. During the fast, Bright became convinced that God was calling two million Christians in America to fast and pray for national spiritual awakening.
The number seemed impossibly specific. Two million. Not "a lot of people" or "as many as possible" — two million.
The Response
Bright published a short book called "The Coming Revival" that laid out what he had sensed during his fast. He began speaking at conferences and churches, issuing the invitation: would you commit to a forty-day fast for America?
The response stunned him. Over the following three years, an estimated two million people accepted the challenge. Fasting gatherings sprang up in cities across the country. Bright organized three major fasting-and-prayer assemblies in Orlando, bringing together thousands of church leaders from every denomination.
The Personal Cost
Bright completed his forty-day fast and repeated it twice more in subsequent years. He described the experience as the most transformative spiritual discipline of his entire life — more impactful than decades of organizational leadership. He said the fast did not give him new information; it gave him new clarity about what God had been saying all along.
What This Means for You
Bright was already successful when he fasted. He did not fast out of desperation — he fasted out of conviction that something more was available. His story challenges the assumption that fasting is only for crisis moments. Sometimes the greatest breakthroughs come when someone who could coast on past success decides instead to seek God for what is next. And Bright's specific number — two million — is a reminder that what God reveals during a fast can be bigger than anything you would have imagined on your own.