If you cannot be heard . . .

I was in Doha recently and was asked to do some magical entertainment for a society ball in the evening. It was in a top flight hotel - really posh. A huge banquet hall was used and over 300 guests in all their finery were sat around the room around 30+ tables.

My first problem was that the stage was in the middle of the room surrounded on all sides by the audience. It felt a little bit like being in a boxing ring . . .

I went dizzy turning around to make sure the audience on all sides could see what I was doing at any one time.

Worse though was that the organisers of the event having splashed out huge money on the entertainers stinted by not getting a decent sound system.

It was terrible. Nothing could be heard. The MC squawked helplessly, the guest ambassador's speech was completely ignored and it killed my act stone dead. The sound engineer was either incapable of fixing the system or simply did not care. So for twenty agonising minutes I was exposed to a room full of people who could not understand a word I said. Although the magic was visual and people who were interested could understand the effects, it simply was not enough. There was no connection with the audience on an emotional level.

If you cannot be heard . . . you might as well not say anything.

The light show dancer who followed my act had it even worse. The sound engineer refused to play her music (which she had rehearsed to for over a month) and played music which had no rhythm or beat. She was so upset afterwards she nearly cried. Our entertainment agent was furious.

Ahhhhh! . . . Life in the real world outside church eh! . Come back my beloved congregation . . . all is forgiven!

The only redeeming feature of the night for me was the requirement to do table hopping magic - and with thirty plus tables I had my work cut out for me. It did assuage my guilt that I was earning the fat fee I was getting paid. At least at the table I got to talk with the people, and there was a connection and the magic was appreciated.

The moral of the story - invest in a decent sound system. If you have something worth saying - make sure you are heard.

It especially seem to me that churches stint on the pa systems too and this is a tragedy. We have something worth sharing.

Keeping the main thing the main thing!

There is a temptation when you are preaching to be struck by a brilliant visual aid or a story which you know will grip the congregation's attention and then you try to fit a Bible message around it.





Instead of presenting a message from Scripture, the congregation gets a story or an illustration with Scripture bolted on to justify its use. That temptation is especially there when we use exciting visual aids like optical illusions or tricks.





To avoid that temptation we must first prepare our message from the Bible and then look to illustrations that can serve the purpose of illustrating the message. Never choose a trick first and then decide what message will go with it.





If you want see what that looks like then I refer you to http://www.gospelemagic.com/. The download-able ebook on How to Do Gospel Magic gives you ten Biblical messages which are illustrated with the tricks.





Enjoy

Entertaining the Guides and Brownies

Last week the Guides and Brownies celebrated their 21st anniversary in Kuwait. Part of the promise made by these girls in the presence of their parents and leaders is to be obedient and to serve God.



I was invited to come and do a magic show and touch on the theme of serving God. However I was told that as the girls come from various faith backgrounds or none and that I was in a country were Christians are not allowed to speak in public of their faith, I could only refer to God in the most general terms!



My goal then was to have these girls laughing and having a great time enjoying fun magic. The first testimony to them is that their local chaplain (and most of them knew me as their local priest) loves life and loves children. This to me is being Christ-like. Christ loved life in all of its fullness and calls us to live life to the full too.

I used Needle Thru Balloon, Topsy Turvy Bottles, Silver Sceptre and a DovePan routine baking lots of Toffee sweets!

I used my juggling talk to bring in the God element. (See my post on Juggling for God).

The best bit is talking to the parents afterwards and making links and invitations with and from the church.

Hope yo are enjoying living life in all its fullness.

Blessings

How long does it take to be a magician?

Rob Butcher came to Kuwait 18 months ago and started learning magic tricks.

Not only has he learned them but is now performing in various places and is getting more and more experience under his belt with shows ranging from private parties, churches through to society gatherings.

He has just set up his first commercial magic website. Check out www.magiciansapprentice.com
Rob is a committed Christian and sees the potential for using magic tricks to get the Word out.

No messing around, Rob is keen and really gone for it.

Good on you Rob and I hope the gigs will roll in.

Blessings

Free Gospel magic downloads

There is a really cool site for all magicians and ministers who are wanting free gospel magic downloads. Check out http://gospelmagic.childrensministry.org/gospel-magic.htm

There is absolutely loads of stuff here.

I recently performed a commerical visa card trick in the church - (no I was not asking the congregation to give money by direct debit - though come to think of it that is not a bad idea!!!) I was tying in my enthusiasm for magic with I Peter 3.13 who tells us to be zealous (ie; fanatic) about doing good works. I asked my congregation what they were fanatic about and went on to talk about the seccret of learning to be a fanatic for Jesus. 1 Peter 3:15 says "But in your hearts, set Christ apart as Lord."

It was an all age service but it was the adults who really memorised the above verse and took part fully in the magic.

Blessings

Juggling for God

I remember a school assembly where the kids told a story of a wandering clown who wanted to offer something to God. in the end he discovered that his gift of juggling was what gave God pleasure and others too! it was a really cheesy play - but I still remember it.

Juggling is a fun and visual performance art that lends itself to attracting listeners. It requires a lot more practice and skill than your average magic trick though.

I sometimes show people a "Learn to Juggle" book and then skim read it it in front of the congregation and proudly announce that because I have read the instructions f the book I am a qualified juggler!

This statement is often challenged. I am asked to prove that I am a juggler by showing that I can put the instructions into practice. So I go through the instructions again and start with one ball (pausing at the end of some simple one ball tricks as if I have finished thus prompting the audience to demand more evidence!). Finally I am juggling away with three balls. While I am still juggling I quote James 1.4. "Do not be just hearers of the Word only but be doers of the word."

This leads onto a discussion or presentation of what James was talking about.

It's a great lesson and illustration and people remember it.

Have fun

Kids Thought: Drawing Billy

Terry Owen recently contacted me to correct an earlier posting. His devotions are not presented in church as such but tht these are a series of one minute devotions which goes out on television to an audience of millions. Thanks Terry. What a brilliant concept and what an incredible audience. May God open other doors in other tv stations as well.

Just goes to show the appeal of Gospel Magic.