dr. bill walson

I was born in Pennsylvania to parents who struggled with addictions. As a result I was in and out of foster care homes. Around the age of nine I was removed permanently and was eventually adopted by my foster parents. The first 10 years of my life were turbulent & unstable which my new parents did their best to overcome. At about the age of eleven I was introduced to a legalistic form of Christianity where I was given the impression that to become a Christian I had to obey a set of rules and regulations. 

Realizing the impossibility of this task, I decided to look for purpose and happiness in areas such as work, cars, dating and other things. By the time I reached my senior year in high school I discovered that my life was characterized by an even greater sense of frustration and discontent. Looking for a scapegoat, I decided that my home situation, that is, parental control and the area I lived in, were the real source of the problem, so I decided the answer was to leave home. Thus I made the great escape by joining the Air Force in the summer of 1969. 

Joining the Air Force did much to make temporal changes in filling the void in my life. I found a new source of joy and contentment as I labored toward the goal of working to be an electronics technician as one of four members of a Titan II Missile Launch crew. When I finally finished the training, I was assigned to my permanent duty station at Davis-Monthan Air Force in Tucson, Arizona where I continued training then was assigned to a crew. 

Even though my position as a Ballistic Missile Analyst Technician (BMAT) on the Titan Crew, manning the largest Nuclear Weapon in our country, was considered prestigious by Air Force standards, I began to realize that job status would never give me lasting satisfaction and the emptiness of my life surfaced again. I began to investigate other areas as potential sources of purpose and happiness, such as education and marriage, but many of my fellow crew members had both and they were as empty as I was. So it seemed evident to me that none of these avenues would fill the void in my life on anything but a temporal basis.  It was during this time that I drove to the foothills of the Catalina Mountains and while gazing out at the lights of Tucson I asked myself "Is this what life is all about?  Is it just about the struggle of the daily grind and then you die?

A short time after my drive to the Catalina foothills I was invited to a meeting on the nearby University Of Arizona campus called College Life conducted by Campus Crusade. The speaker that night was covering a topic of great interest - dating and marriage. He presented a view I had never heard in the military dorm. Out of curiosity I asked him a few questions after the formal part of the meeting. He cordially answered my questions, then looking at me as if I were a piece of glass, he went on to ask me if I would like to ask Jesus Christ into my life. 

At first I was startled by how direct his question was but then I reflected on the deep sense of emptiness I was struggling with in my life so after a few moments I decided to give Christ a chance and asked him what I needed to do. We sat down on one of the couches in the room and he briefly explained to me that all I needed to do was be honest with God and invite Jesus Christ into my life. He prayed and I followed by telling God exactly the sense of frustration I had been experiencing in life and then invited Him to come into my life to be my Savior, to take control of my life and make it into what He intended for it to be.  Simple words from a sincere heart from someone who knew little about prayer.  

When I raised my eyes I shared that I didn't feel anything so I was a little confused.  I got my first lesson on the importance of the Crusade Train Diagram.  He shared with me that there are three cars on this train.  The first was the locomotive which is GOD & HIS WORD, in other words God said He would come into my life if I asked Him and He is not a liar.  The second car in this train is the coal car which is the FAITH that fuels the locomotive which is what I brought to the equation when I prayed.  The third car is the caboose which is FEELINGS which can come and go but do not impact the ability of the train to move forward.  

I left the room satisfied with this answer but when I exited the building and looked up at sky in Tucson that night, the stars were brighter than I ever imagined and my soul was flooded with a peace beyond human imagination.  I realized I was now a child of the God of creation and my heart was free from darkness and struggle. I was now filled with a sense of hope and life. I was "Born Again" and there was spiritual connection with God that began that night that transformed the rest of my life.

That night changed the trajectory of my life but like a new born baby it was a new world to me.  I was spiritually hungry but did not know how to feed myself.  I needed someone to care enough about me to be the spiritual parent in my life.  Within a few days of my spiritual birth, I received a call from Bill Roth the Campus Director for Crusade at the University of Arizona who scheduled a meeting with me.  

At that meeting he mapped out a course for spiritual growth and support to which I was eager to give my full cooperation.  For the next two years Bill poured his spiritual life into mine teaching me the ways of the Lord and modeling what it means to serve the Lord by leading others to Christ then teaching them to walk in the ways of the Lord.  My life now had eternal purpose in a way that I never could imagine, that of changing lives for eternity. I experienced a life that went far beyond my prestigious role in the Air Force or anything else this life can ever offer.

Cooperation in the growth process of my spiritual life has been the theme of my journey with the Lord for over 50 years.  I have learned that growing in Christ is a "team" effort in which the indwelling Holy Spirit is the coach and other believers are team members.  I have had many spiritual "team members" throughout my life some of whom I highlight below but in every case I have had to cooperate by bringing the "appetite" & "willingness" to make growing in Christ the highest priority in my life. As a result I have come to understand & experience the love of God in every part of my life.