REWIND… The
Continentals Opening Night, June 1997
TELL THE
GOOD NEWS 1997
It was our
30th year and Dick and Mel Tunney had written our opening song to
celebrate the anniversary…
“He’s given
us a voice to tell His story.
He’s given
us a reason to live.
Conquering
the grave, He’s taken sin away.
Jesus gave
us all he had to give.
Now that
we’ve received His salvation,
Our mission
is to pass the faith along.
Carrying the
flame, lifting high His name,
The good
news of the Gospel is our song.
TELL THE
GOOD NEWS….”
As you all
now know, our theme this summer is “REACHIN’ OUT”. Mr. Webster must have been a Continental
because he said reaching out means “to touch by extending,” or better yet, “to
carry as far as you can go!”, “To arrive at by effort” (he had to be a
Continental) or “to attain some GREAT GOAL,” “To have influence by reaching
someone,” “to establish contact with,” and finally he said the one that really
works for us, “this power reaches into other lands, to carry, to penetrate, as
sight and sound do!” Yes, that’s us…
that is you this summer. The sight and
sounds of the Continentals REACHIN’ OUT and penetrating the world with the
message of Jesus Christ through music and performance! Fantastic!
One of our
great goals is to empower you by preparing you, the Continental, to reach out
to people all over the world this year.
We want you to experience the Lord in a new and wonderful way, to grow
spiritually, to learn to trust Him more and give you a chance to share your
testimony, what you really believe, and share it with someone who needs to find
Christ themselves. You are Ambassadors
of Jesus Christ this summer. You don’t
represent me. You stand strong for Him
as a Continental and your music and message will reach people’s hearts for
sure.
There will
be 54 groups like you doing this program literally all over the world this year. And for the first time, some Continentals
will be Slovakian, Italian and Argentinian who will be reaching out with other
Continentals in their own language who will start out in their own countries in
Asia, Europe and South America. You are
part of a big family. But our message is
the same everywhere. Jesus is alive and
He changes the lives He touches through people like you. What we are telling people is best told in a
simple story…
Johnny had a
terminal disease and not long to live.
His disease made it difficult for him to understand classroom
assignments. During Easter the children
were supposed to take an empty plastic egg and put something in it that
reminded them of Easter.
The day the
eggs were to be turned in, the teacher opened each one and made a positive
comment. One egg was empty.
Johnny
raised his hand. “Teacher, you didn’t share mine.”
“I’m sorry,
Johnny,” she said, “you were to bring something that means Easter to you and,
and put it in the egg.”
“But
teacher,” Johnny said, “Jesus tomb was empty—and that’s what Easter is all
about.”
Johnny died
a few weeks later, and in his casket his classmates placed twenty-seven empty
eggs. They understood.
That’s our
bottom line message too. Jesus is not in
the grave, he arose, he lives. He said,
“I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”
So - let’s
tell everyone this good news. Let’s
REACH OUT and give people life!
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