I remember seeing a LIFE magazine on my parents’ coffee table in June of 1972. I was intrigued by the cover photo, but never got around to reading the article. I received Christ shortly after that, on February 19, 1973, and got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ as a student, not knowing Crusade had sponsored EXPLO 72.
I finally read the article today, after more than thirty years of being on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ! Google Books has LIFE magazines. I searched in their LIFE magazine collection for “EXPLO 72” and found the article!
Bill Bright envisioned filling up the Dallas Cotton Bowl for mass spiritual training. So, in June 1972, 85,000 students and laymen from around the country, and the world, came to Dallas – Fort Worth. This was the largest Christian meeting for training and evangelism ever at that time.
During EXPLO 72, Dr. Bright explained the gospel and invited people to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Before the week ended, 35,000 people indicated a decision for Christ.
Mike and Sus Schmitt 
It brought back memories reading about seeing an old Life article about EXPO72. I was there. It was not just the big evening meetings at the Cotton Bowl. During the day there were meetings at several hotels throughout the Dallas area where we received training and encouragement. There was also an afternoon when participants went out into communities throughout Dallas sharing their faith.
During the summer of 1972, there were smaller follow-up conferences through-out the country. I attended one at University of Illinois in Champaign, where I was to be entering graduate school in the fall of 1972.
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Jeff, fantastic! This is encouraging to me because I was not even a Christian yet. I did not know about the meetings in the hotels and the follow-up conferences.
Although Explo 72 was mainly evangelistic in nature, I also read on Wikipedia that Explo 72 may have also spawned the entire Christian music industry.
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