I praise the Lord that He trusted Music Evangelism with the project of presenting gospel
music and the preaching of His word in Branson again this year. More than 9,000 attended
those four days of ministry, and many raised their hands when Ian Leitch gave an invitation
to accept Jesus as their Savior following his superb message each evening.
Two important and critical things have changed for this ministry. First, the date for next
year will be changed to Sept. 10-13, because that is the only date available to us for the Welk
Theatre. Second, to meet the expectations of the Welk Theatre, MEF must charge a fee of $20
for each presentation. A lesser fee will be available for packages of two, three and four presentations
and some gratuity tickets will be available upon request. We are even now working on that availability.
The bottom line is we must pay our bills for that ministry which is being increased no matter
what we do. I’m sure each of you who knows me realizes it is very difficult for “The Old
Singer” to venture into this area. Our whole Branson group, including all of the artists, met
with the Welk leadership for two days. Each person had a say and voted to charge a fee—not
for their own good, but so MEF can pay its bills.
Thank you for understanding and for your prayers that we absolutely will do the right
thing for this ministry. All other ministries for MEF will stay as they are—open to all with
no charge whatsoever.
Please feel free to weigh in on this decision by letter, e-mail, FAX or phone call if you wish.
I welcome your ideas and comments on this decision. And, if you have an extra $100,000 to
invest in the lives of thousands of people, let me know and all the above will go by the board.
And, mail me the bottle of smelling salts too!
In the battle,
Jamall Badry
