June 01, 1986 by

Quick Reviews of Mission Resources

Like its predecessors, Tand if My People, Come Together Again, a new musical by Jimmy and Carol Owens, is not intended be so much entertainment as it is to be a group of Christians gathered together and led by a minister/narrator in worship to the Lord. The musical contains IS new songs of worship, praise, and mission challenge. Its basic theme: God is worthy of worship with our lips, our treasures, and our lives.

Come Together Again was recorded this spring by Pat Boone, Anne Herring, Terry Talbot, Jamie OwensCollins, and the Second Chapter of Acts, along with a group of Christians from the Southern California area who helped with congregational singing parts. Participants in the recording session were not present merely as actors and actresses; they were themselves, seeking to worship the Lord. The record was cut in order to help churches create similar worship experiences in their own locales.

The musical is divided into three parts, anyone of which can stand on its own. The first part contains several new praise songs and choruses, many with strong Scriptural overtones. The second dealt with Scriptural principles of giving. At its culmination, an offering is presented as a tangible expression of obedient worship. The third portion calls for hearer participants to give their whole lives to God in service especially by seeking to "make disciples of every nation."

There are some very stirring lyrics incorporated in the musical, and much of the music is captivating and memorable. The songs are eminently singable. The more talent a church has, the more elaborate the final production can be, but even those churches with limited musical resources can put together a rather professional sounding production. On the record, even when using nationally known talent, nothing is done that is beyond the range of most local congregations.

While Come Together Again is intended to be a joyful experience, we are warned, "When God sends us in the power of the Spirit to set Satan's prisoners free .... we will find ourselves in the middle of a very real war with powerful spiritual adversaries, and we need one another in order to win it, ... Our spiritual warfare... requires a total all stops out team effort by a people willing to give ... blood, sweat, tears, and life to cry 'Freedom!' In a world in chains."

The ultimate purpose of Come Together Again is to be a voice calling the church to fight for the greatest cause on earth to mobilize the church as an army, an army of front line troops and of support personnel, an army to fulfill the Great Commission in our generation. Every congregation interested in seeing the task completed would benefit greatly from the presentation of this musical.

Regal Worldvlew Books

Published by Regal Books, Ventura, CA, in cooperation with various mission agendes. Reviewed by John Holzmann.

We are excited by the prospect of a whole series of 'Worldview' books to be published by Regal Books of Ventura, California.

William 'L Greig. Jr., owner of Regal, writes in the Preface to China:

The Church's Long March, "Our worldview needs enlarging. We need to broaden our sights. Never have weChristians in the West had such an abundance of money resources, opportunities, communication technology, swift and safe travel, open doors to vast areas of the nations of the earth, medical resources to combat diseases, technology to help people become self sustaining, and the list could go an and m. Will we heard au these blessings of God and indulge ourselves while the world around us suffers?

"1 lard questions seldom have easy answers, yet the answers to these questions may determine the eternal destiny of countless millions of people and the future of the Church of Jesus Christ Jesus said that the end would not come until the gospel had been preached to all nations or people groups' (see Malt, 24:14).

"Every single one of the 6 billion people on the earth in the year 2000 will be a person made in the image of God, whom God loves and for whom Christ diet They will be our 'neighbors.' Jesus said that itisuptousand that He has put all the resources of heaven at our disposal to complete the task.

"To that end. Regal Wortdview Books is our modest attempt to help broaden the worldview of Christians, to raise awareness, to expand prayer support and to increase allocation of resources of people and funds to finish the last"

The two books reviewed here, China: The Church's Long March and Africa: A Season for Hope. are the first in this new series. Regal says two more books are already in die weeks: one concerning the situation in Afghanistan, the other on the Middle East.

Judging by these first offerings, we who are looking for the glory of God among the nations are in for a treaL Our only prayer is that Regal's work will not go unnoticed by American Christians who are furiously chasing after dreams of glory in their own little kingdoms. We pray they will realize there is more.