Here is Third Day's first tour bus. We pulled a trailer full of merchandise. We also stored our staging in the bays underneath the bus. There were 13 people on this bus.

In 1996, Reunion Records signed Third Day to a multi-album record contract. They immediately released Third Day. The record immediately became a best seller and has sold over 300,000 records to date. Third Day was playing shows extensively and making tons of new fans. The record was received to moderate reviews. Critics praised the authentic southern sound, but were quick to compare Third Day to a band composed of an owl and some sealife who were extremely popular at the time. Third Day had its first mainstage performance at a major festival at the Alive Festival that summer.

In the summer of '96, the Newsboys asked Third Day to open about 5 shows on the west coast. Third Day saw its largest audiences yet and made a lot of new fans.

Third Day also embarked on a 65 city headline tour in the fall of 1996. The tour was a great success. All Star United and a band called Seven Day Jesus opened for the tour.

Third Day was nominated for new Artist of the Year by the Gospel Music Association. Also our video for Consuming Fire won a Billboard award for best Christian video.

In The Photos:
Third Day on the cover of Performance magazine. This was our first magazine cover.

Third Day receives plaques for our first few # 1 singles at the last show of our first tour.

And a tour pass from our first tour.