CPS:  When I teach my self-image pageant seminars–about every three months I have one–the most important point is the one you just made, and it works for everybody.  It’s not just for the ones in pageants. This is for life.  And that is, she said she found out that when she competed with everybody else, she failed. But when she competed to be the best Rhonda that God created, see.  See, it’s not that she wears the crown, it’s just when she finished that she said, “Well, I did the best I could do for You, Jesus, and that’s what’s important.  And that doesn’t have to be on the stage.  That’s when you walk every day of your life, am I the best that I can be today?  Or did I fail today? Or have I kept my eyes so on You, Lord, that I’ve listened to every word You said today and I have done what You’ve asked me to do for today?  And that’s what you’re saying.  The first time she got caught up and that’s what we do in life.  We get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of life and we forget.  Teenagers get caught up in school, they get caught up in the things that are going on around them and they forget that the peer pressure they are feeling, if they can turn that peer pressure around and we can be, Christians can be the peer pressure to the world, rather than the world being the peer pressure to us.  (Applause)

LR:  Amen, that’s right.  And, you know, God places dreams in our heart, no matter what people say, no matter what men and women may tell you.  Sometimes, no matter what you tell yourself, you know, you may mouth it on the outside, but deep inside your heart you know the dream that God has placed in your heart and you know that it’s a good dream, it’s a good vision, it’s something that you believe in.  But maybe the circumstances have tried to tell you you can’t do it.  You know, I say, and I laugh at this but it’s not funny, one of the dirtiest words in the English language is circumstance.  It is the most destructive word in the English language sometimes because we say, “Well, I can’t do this, I’m ugly.  I can’t do this, I’m short.  I can’t do this, I’m too tall.  I can’t do this, I’m,” you know, “I’m not qualified.” That’s right.  You know, an ORU student once said, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  If you are called of God to do something, it doesn’t matter if you are a drug addict right now, God can turn your life around.  If you knew deep inside your heart you’ve got a dream and you want to fulfill it, God can work on those circumstances and He can do it miraculously.  We don’t always have to do all the work ourselves. Sometimes our hands are tied.  But if we keep our faith up, God can work those circumstances for our good, even when they look like they’re going to destroy us.  Cheryl, for example, had a dream in her heart.  Somebody said to you as a little girl, “Some day, honey, you’re going to be Miss America.”

RC:  No, I entered many pageants.  My first pageant when I was 16 years old and I got third runnerup in a county fair queen pageant, you know, where you put the ribbons on the cows, you know, and the pigs, that pageant.  But I got third runnerup.

LR:  Start right at the top.

RC:  And I entered again and I got third runnerup again, second year in a row.  The first year I entered Miss Illinois National Teenager, I was so excited for this pageant, a whole weekend, you know, for that. And my father, I remember in the talent, I got my eyes off the Lord. I wasn’t centered on the Lord that weekend, and my father came over before I did my talent and said, “You know, have you prayed?”  “Yeah, yeah, I prayed,” you know.  It was just kind of like I was there and got caught up in all the pageant activity.  And I messed up my talent. I forgot eight measures of it and just stood there and smiled.  So that was the first year I entered.  I got in the top 15, but I knew I had failed the Lord.  I hadn’t done what He wanted me to.  took your eyes off of Him.

RC:  That’s right, that’s exactly right.  So when I entered the second year, my goal was to be a winner in the Lord, not to win the National Miss Illinois, but to keep Him first and to be a witness for Him at that pageant.  And when I went with that attitude, it wasn’t as much the competition, it was just the chance–we had prayer backstage with evening gowns, girls took hands and prayed, and I was, you know, “Who’s going to pray? Well, Rhonda, why don’t you pray?”  And we prayed before we went out on stage, and it was so exciting the change. And something, my Miss Illinois National Teenager director, Martha Smith, said was, “Everyone has a crown in their heart.”  It’s a crown that God has given us and we have to keep that polished.  It’s not the external crown.  I mean, we see the glory for the outside.  But it’s what we are inside, and that’s an encouragement to the teenagers especially, that you have a crown in your heart and you need to keep that polished.  Because it’s by actions, as we know. It’s not by our words.  But when the teenagers see a difference, they want to know. Then they want to know why.

LR: And you don’t have to be ashamed of it.

RC: That’s right.

LR: Can I tell the first words you said when you won?

RC: You sure can.

LR: Was, “thank God,” wasn’t it? That was the first thing that came out of your mouth, “praise God for that.”

RC: Sure did. (Applause) I looked up to the lights and during the pageant my prayer was, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours.” And that was so important to me. And when I was crowned Miss National Teenager, I looked up in the lights and the lights coming off the balcony just reminded me of His throne and how beautiful it’s going to be, yes, and I said, “Thank You, Lord.” And I knew that He had opened up this door. In high school I had always kind of been laughed at and called Miss Straight and really made fun of. But I didn’t really have any clout. I mean, they saw my life and they saw the way I lived, but, O.K., she lives a life that way, that’s fine. When I won Miss National Teenager, they had to take a second look, what is she talking about, how did she do that, you know. And it’s been so exciting. And kids that called me and said, “We just really respect you that you said no to drinking and drugs.” And I could say then, “It wasn’t me that said no, it was Jesus in me.” And, you know, they’d ask, “Why are you so happy and so at peace.”

LR: What’s the difference?

RC: It’s the Lord, right.

LR: That’s right. Praise God. You can see the Lord shining through Rhonda. I want you to know that. Rhonda is beautiful on the outside, (Applause) but she’s got something that’s flowing up within the inside and it’s Jesus Christ and that just adds an extra glow. It’s a radiance that maybe Miss America has as Miss America, but I tell you, when you have Jesus Christ, that’s your crowning glory. It really is. And, you know, Rhonda has a story much like Cheryl’s. You weren’t always a winner, were you, Rhonda?

COF SPOT  (Applause)

LR:  Make your plans now to visit the City of Faith because we want to see you get well, in Jesus’ name.  Right now I am really proud to introduce our special guest.  She’s a young lady that is on fire for Jesus Christ.  She’s a special, special teenager. She is Miss, well she’s the 1986 reigning Miss National Teenager. Would you welcome Rhonda Cullison.  (Applause)  God bless you, Rhonda, and thank you for coming.  Thank you for sharing Jesus wherever you go.  Rhonda, you are so special because you just let the love of Jesus shine through you proud of you.  And we want to welcome you here.  (Thank you.)  We want you to tell us a little secret.  You told me this earlier and I want to tell this on Cheryl while she’s sitting right next to you.  We’re going to tell a secret on Cheryl and Rhonda together today.  Something happened to you in September of 1979 when you were about 12 years old, and you saw Cheryl Prewitt win Miss America.

RC:  I sure did.  I was watching TV and she was crowned Miss America and she shortly after that told her testimony.  And I was so elated and so excited.  I accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was 11 years old, April 8, 1978, and I always watched pageants on TV.  And when you won and told of your Christian testimony, I was so excited. A Christian can win a pageant, you know?

LR:  You said it was the first time you realized a Christian could enter a pageant.

RC:  Yes, and then when I heard I was going to get to meet you, I was excited again this morning that I was going to meet you in person. And a dream that now the Lord has fulfilled in my heart as a Christian teenager to reach out to the teenagers of America to tell them, “It’s O.K. to be a Christian and you don’t have to be a queen to do it,” just everyone.

CPS:  And the first step you can make is to pick up that telephone and call that number because that is saying, I make a decision.  I make a decision to pick this telephone up, dial that number, and I am going to get help.  I have got to get help.  And that’s the first step in realizing you cannot do it by yourself. You’ve got to have help.

LR:  You know, we all need help.  I needed prayer when I couldn’t pray for myself. 

CPS:  Right…to that stage.

LR:  There are times when you need it.  That’s right, when you get so down you don’t know what to do with yourself.  You’re so depressed or you’re so hurt.  And maybe you’ve turned to a family member and maybe they just didn’t know how to help you.  These people are trained in how to help you get help.  We are going to help you any way we can. trained to help you get well, in Jesus’ name.  (Applause)  The band has a song they want to play for you and it’s called “Jehovah Jireh.” Jehovah Jireh means, God our provider.  You know, if you need God to provide help for you in drugs, if you need God to help provide a way for you to get away from alcohol, if you need God to provide a way for you to have a better self-image, if you need God to provide finances for you, healing in your body, healing in your emotions, healing in your family or your marriage, God said He is your provider.  And God wants to provide for you.  God has the resources, if we will call on Him and expect Him–not man, not our husband, not our father, not our sisters or brothers–but expect God to be our provider, God will work a miracle for us.  God will be our provider.  Right now the band has a song for you called “Jehovah Jireh,” God our provider  Let’s give them a welcome.  (Applause)  

ORU BAND:  “Jehovah Jireh”  (Applause)