Atlanta Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians September 8, 2022

Atlanta Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians
September 8, 2022
The September 8, 2022 meeting of the FCM was held at the home of John and Julia 
Jefferson.  The following were in attendance:  John and Julia Jefferson; John and Bonnie 
Abbott; Mark Childers and his guests, Greyson and Kalyn Hope; Judy Neyland; Leland Davis; 
Eugene and Melissa McBrayer; Shane Wilbanks.
We enjoyed our fellowship dinner and we thank Judy for providing the wonderful Blue Bell 
Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cream and yummy sugar cones!!  What a treat! 
 Melissa Childers was not able to attend; however, she sent Mark with a delicious sheet 
cake with heavenly chocolate icing!  Hope you will be able to attend next month, Melissa.
Our next meeting will be Thursday, October 13, 2022 at the home of John and Julia 
Jefferson.  Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting will start at 7:15.
The following is a summary of our meeting.
Keep the “SON” Shining…
John and Julia Jefferson
MINUTES:
Shane opened our meeting with prayer.  John J. welcomed all and especially our young 
guests, Greyson and Kalyn.  They are good friends and neighbors of Mark and Melissa and 
were excited to learn more about Mark and his wonderful magic!  They come from a family 
of entertainers, one of whom is Randy Owens (Alabama)!  We were delighted to see Melissa 
McBrayer also!  We missed several of our members and hope they will be able to attend 
next month.
Leland and John and Julia shared some of the highlights from the FCM Conference which was 
held in Indianapolis in July.  We are proud to announce that Leland has been nominated to 
run for secretary to replace our good friend, Beth Salo!  We are really happy to be 
represented by one of our Atlanta Chapter members.
John summarized a letter written by Ricky Henson.  We will pray for his health and for 
his very busy ministry.  Thanks for sharing, Ricky.  Randy Burt was not able to attend 
but he did share a joke via text.  
Mark will have the wonderful full-time Christian illusionist, Sam Sandler, perform at his 
church on November 2, 2022 —Sweetwater Baptist Church.  Sam has performed at the FCM and 
is a deaf performer for the Lord.  What a treat that will be!  Mark hopes all of us will 
be able to attend.
Speaking of treats!!  It was then time for the yearly John Jefferson give-away!  For the 
last several years John has bought magic at the conference auction, has stuffed it in his 
car and has brought it home to give to our members.  Such a fun night!  We all drew 
numbers and as our number was called we would peruse the table and find a treasure.  
Needless to say everyone needed multiple plastic bags in which to place their finds!!  
Hopefully everyone was pleased with his/her magic tricks and will be able to use them to 
the Glory of God.  Thank you, John.
The excitement finally came to an end and per John’s request, not one trick was left on 
the tables!
Now, for more fun!
John J. shared his card trick entitled “The ‘Heaven’ Card Trick”—one of the excellent 
tricks in Duane Laflin’s new “Front-Line Gospel Magic” lecture notes booklet that John 
purchased from the conference.  John asked someone to choose any name and spell it as he 
put a card face down for each letter then put the rest on top.  Then he spelled the word, 
Bible one card at a time and put the rest on top.  Next he began putting cards down and 
asked someone to say stop at any time, as before, putting the extra cards on top.  John 
then asked, “What will it take for you to get to heaven?”.  He then spelled out heaven 
and placed one card down for each letter.  John then said: John 14:6 says, “It is 
necessary to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” to be able to go to heaven.  He turned 
over the next card which was, indeed, a likeness of Jesus!  Mark guessed that all 9 cards 
were the likeness of Jesus.  He turned them over, one by one, and to his “surprise” the 
cards were all blank!!  Thanks, Mark! Great effect, John!!    
Judy then read us an article entitled “Whose Hands” which reminds us to put our concerns, 
families, and relationships all in God’s hands.  It was a great message.  She then read 
us a cute story about Walter and Daisy!  Thanks, Judy for the message and the laugh!!
Mark was up next.  As always, Mark has tweaked a trick and has come up with a great 
Gospel application.  He performed Russian Rings stating that Jesus is actually mentioned 
in the Old Testament in the first chapter of Genesis!  He explained that in the beginning 
God, the Father of the Trinity, created the earth.  Then the Spirit (Holy Spirit) of God 
moved across the face of the deep.  And then…God (Jesus) walked in the garden!!  Thank 
you, Mark, for a great lesson that Jesus IS God and He has always been…  The Russian 
Rings are a wonderful way to present this message—really beautiful effect.
Shane performs in many venues and has come up with ways to make a trick “play big”!  He 
demonstrated using a Water Lota.  He told the story of Elijah and the starving widow who 
was ready to eat her last meal with her starving son.  Elijah promised them that God said 
that their food and water would never be empty.  He said that God’s Word could always be 
trusted. 
 When Shane performs on stage, he put a microphone next to a container on the floor, 
climbs up a ladder and pours out water from the water lota into the container.  He 
continues with his story and then continues to pour out more water into the container on 
the floor, showing that God’s word could indeed always be trusted.  Shane uses the ladder 
and the microphone to be sure the audience can hear and see the water hit the container, 
and he also calculated the amount of time it would take the water lota or refill so that 
the amount of water was always the same!!  Such attention to detail and such a great way 
to present a great Bible truth!  
Shane wasn’t finished!!  He reminded us of the cost of the magic flash powder that many 
of have used in the past, and promised to tell us a secret.  But first Shane told us the 
story of Elijah, saying that the real God will send fire to light the sacrifice!  Then, 
with the lights out and a spotlight on the ladder he climbed, he carefully poured out a 
small amount of powder over a large bowl and set the powder alight with a grill lighter 
as he poured it! Wow! What a great idea!  The fire is brilliant and the message received! 
He explained that at his shows, he makes sure there is a fire extinguisher nearby and 
that he has permission from those in charge of the building where he is performing to use 
fire.  And now, THE SECRET!!  No more do we need to empty our wallets to make fire!  His 
secret powder is none other than cheap, Dollar Store or Walmart brand COFFEE CREAMER!  We 
were all surprised and delighted and then remembered that we had smelled a pleasant odor 
when Shane lit the powder!!  Thank you, Shane, for sharing a great Gospel effect and a 
great idea to make a Gospel effect truly “play big”!
Shane also shared that his family has just adopted a beautiful 4-year-old daughter.  We 
are so happy for you and we truly wish you and your wonderful family many blessings from 
our Lord. 
Bonnie brought more jokes!  “How does NASA organize a party?” Answer, they Plan-et!!  
Okay, how about this one.  “What does a house wear?”  ---a—ddress!  There were a couple 
of others but I only was able to scribble down 2!  Thanks, Bonnie.  You made us laugh.
John Abbott presented his “Unbelievable” rope trick.  Greyson helped him hold and name 
the three colors: green; yellow; and red.  John tied the respective ends of the ropes 
together (red to red, etc.).  He then gave them to Greyson who was instructed to throw 
the ropes to John.  Unbelievably!!! the Unbelievable happened—the three separate ropes 
became one large circle!!  There are several Gospel messages that could be used with this 
effect including a “demonstration” of the Trinity.  Thanks, John.  Well presented and a 
packs flat/plays big routine!!
Eugene and Melissa told us about their ministry to the High School Football teams through 
their church.  Eugene, as a pastor, presents a message to the boys—150-160 of them, 
weekly before the games.  What a blessing Eugene and Melissa are to the young people. We 
are proud to know them.  
Another joke:  Eugene said there was a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary 
in Israel.  The wife suddenly died and the husband had to decide where to bury her.  He 
was told that it would be $150 to bury her in Israel and $5,000 to send her body home.  
The man thought a minute and declared:” A man died and was buried here years ago.  In 
three days he came back from the dead.  I have to take her home, I can’t take that 
chance!”  Hopefully the man found out “the rest of the story” about Jesus!
Our next presenter was Leland.  He shared a story written and performed by Jeff McMillan, 
a special guest at our FCM Conference this past July.  Jeff is known as Santa Claus to 
many as he does, indeed, look just like Santa.  The story was about 2 children in Las 
Vegas, NV who sat on Santa’s lap and asked him many questions to be sure he was the real 
Santa.  Finally one of them said, “If you are the real Santa, make it snow here in Las 
Vegas!”.  With a twinkle in his eye Santa replied, “At 7:00 p.m. which is just a few 
minutes from now, look outside and you will see snow falling.”  The children stared out 
of the window and indeed, snow fell at exactly 7:00 p.m.  A Christmas miracle?  Well not 
exactly.  You see, Santa knew that the snow making machine would turn on at precisely 
7:00 p.m. as it had for several days!  The way I see it, miracles are in the eyes of the 
beholder!!  Jeff has published a booklet of several of his “Santa” experiences.  These 
stories are perfect to read to children and adults alike, as a way to show people Jesus.
Well, our night ended as the clock was close to striking 9:00 p.m.  No, it did not snow!  
We truly love and enjoy having all of our special magic friends come to our home.  It is 
a time to share and laugh and praise our Lord with our magical effects and our real life 
experiences.
We look forward to our next meeting:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022 at the home of John and 
Julia Jefferson.  Hope everyone will be able to attend.
Until then…
May God grant you Grace and Peace,
Julia Jefferson
   

Keep the "SON" Shining,,,
John Jefferson