By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

And yet she still looks forward to fresh insight each time she sees him perform.

"When you go back and read (the Bible) after you hear him, you read it with different eyes and you hear different tones than you heard before," Savage said.

Audience members will get a chance to experience the Gospel of John anew on Friday, when Reardon and his performing partner, Patrick Lane, present a dramatic interpretation of the book at the Central City United Methodist Church.

Reardon and Lane have performed in Central City twice before, most recently in 2006, said Savage, the church's pastor.

The team first performs the Gospel of Mark in each new town because so much of it is included in Matthew and Luke.

But the Gospel of John comes from a much different perspective than the other three gospels, Savage said.

By the time John wrote the book, she said, he must have known of the other books because he included many things those accounts omit and left out many stories that were probably already well known by that point.

"It just has such a different air," Savage said. "It's a very moving book."

She said Reardon's performance is a simple but powerful one, punctuated by minimal props, effective costumes and Lane's lighting, effects and live music.

Reardon and Lane have performed extensively around the nation, plus several other countries. But they do have a Nebraska connection: While Reardon is from Anaconda, Mont., Lane hails from Morrill, a small town in Nebraska's Panhandle.

Savage said she hopes that some audience members hear God's message of salvation for the first time through the performance, which is sponsored by the Merrick County Ministerial Alliance.

And since the performance is entirely the words of the Bible, it's a truly ecumenical one.

"Any Christian church can agree to it," Savage said. "There's no slant to it."