The Bright Memorial Garden at Cru’s headquarters in Orlando, is the final resting place for our beloved founders, Dr. Bill Bright and Vonette Bright.
This final resting place is a small, peaceful garden and a two-person mausoleum. The garden is surrounded by a wrought iron fence and overlooks a small pond. Along the back is a 65-foot memorial wall with names of U.S. staff who have served 40 or more years with Cru. Each year, additional names are added to the wall as our staff reach their 40-year mark.
For Bailey Marks and others who designed the garden, the desire was to create a place for prayer and a place to reflect on our past and on our hopes for the future of our ministry.
I was added recently with the class of 1975.
If you came on staff from 1951 to 1976, I have photos of the plaques on the wall in a Facebook photo album. I know many of you may not make a visit to Orlando and, therefore, have an opportunity to visit the garden to find your name on the wall, so I hope the photo of your plaque, surrounded by the names of your friends, is an encouragement to you. Thank you for your faithful service in God’s kingdom!
Whether or not your name is on the wall yet, if you’d like to honor your Cru friends who have served the Lord so faithfully, visit the photo album of the memorial garden and of the legacy wall of remembrance. When you find your friend listed on the wall, tag their name and write a note to honor their ministry. They’ll see your congratulations to them in their Facebook feed.
NOTES:
- The photos are in chronological order. Other photos in the album include pictures from the dedication of the garden in 2012. Staff can still log in to our staff web to watch a video of the dedication service of the Memorial Garden. I also posted about the service.
- If you haven’t watched some of Cru’s Legacy videos, these short film interviews tell some of the stories of our staff over the years. Find all the videos on The Legacy Project website or the Legacy YouTube channel. You might want to share some of these videos on Facebook or in a blog post.
eQuipping for eMinistry 
Sus, this is a great post. I think it’s wonderful to include pictures of the wall so those who can’t get here can still see their names on the wall. Even better, allowing people to tag their friends and leave notes of encouragement. Very creative. I’m glad you posted.
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Thank you, Anne Marie.
One of the benefits of social media is bridging the years and the miles so easily.
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Thanks so much for posting this, Sus. I hope many take a look and thank God for all He has done in them and through them.
Judy Douglass
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Agreed, Judy! Thanks for sharing on Facebook. I was enjoying reading all the comments today.
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