Henrietta Mears

Who was Henrietta Mears?

Henrietta Cornelia Mears was a Christian educator and author who had a significant impact on evangelical Christianity in the 20th century. Best known as the innovative and dynamic Director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, California in the mid 1900s, Henrietta Mears was one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th Century. She founded "Gospel Light", a publishing company for many of her training materials, Forest Home, a Christian conference center nestled in a wooded setting of California's coastal range, and "Gospel Literature Internationals", and profoundly impacted the ministries of Bill Bright, Jim Rayburn and Billy Graham with her emphasis on Scripture and a clear Gospel message for young people.

She was a gifted educator and was known as "Teacher" by those in her program. Her book, What the Bible is All About, has sold over three million copies.

Literally hundreds of men and women came out of her Sunday School program into full-time Christian service. Among the many she influenced were Bill Bright and his wife Vonette, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, which they ran out of Henrietta's house for 11 years; Billy Graham; Reverend L. David Cowie, pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington, 1948 to 1961; Donn Moomaw, a UCLA All American football player in 1951, who later became Ronald Reagan's pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in California and Frederick Dale Bruner, a biblical scholar best known for his commentaries on Matthew and John.