FCM Atlanta Chapter Minutes for May 9, 2019

FCM Atlanta Chapter Minutes for May 9, 2019
 The May 9, 2019 meeting for the Atlanta Chapter of the FCM was held at the home of John 
and Julia Jefferson. Those in attendance were the following: John and Julia Jefferson; 
Mark Childers; Brenda and Leland Davis; Judy and Jim Neyland; Eugene Mc Brayer; Bill 
Darby; Bonnie and John Abbott and Nels and Beth Salo.
 Our next meeting will be SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 at the home of John and Julia Jefferson. 
Dinner begins at 6:30 and the meeting starts at 7:00. Please feel free to come early!
 We were delighted to have several guests among us!! Nels and Beth Salo, Brenda Davis and 
Jim Neyland. What a joy to share our fun and fellowship with our special friends. We 
sincerely hope all of you will join us in future meetings.
 The following is a summary of our meeting.
 Keep the “SON” Shining… 
Julia and John Jefferson
 MINUTES: We opened with prayer asking that our meeting be a blessing to God, and praying 
for our friends who were not able to be with us.
 John J. introduced our guests. We were delighted to have Nels and Beth Salo with us as 
representatives of the FCM Board!!! Beth is our secretary and among her many other 
duties, keeps our organization a family by keeping our Family Matters updated. John also 
re-introduced Jim Neyland and Brenda Davis. They have attended in the past. We are so 
happy Jim and Brenda joined us!!! 
John J. then informed the group that we have several hundred toy wooden cars made by Cars 
for God’s Kids. John and I will donate many of them to our Christmas shoebox event but 
have many left over. Our members are welcome to take some and share them with children as 
a part of their ministries. John also shared a large bag of gospel related toys and hand 
outs for children. Each of the members was able to take home several items!
 John J. then showed the beautiful production flowers that he purchased from Duane 
Laflin. Mark said that he has some production flowers for sale that he will bring next 
time.
 We now have the capability of putting our chapter minutes on FCM.org. We will still send 
them to our members via email.
 Several of our members hope to attend the FCM International meeting in Indianapolis July 
22-26. Beth said there will be numerous excellent teachers and performers. We hope more 
of our group will decide to attend!
 And now for more sharing!
 Eugene has not been able to attend for a while. We were delighted to learn that he is 
getting his Ph. D. from the Biblical Theological Seminary. He already has his doctorate 
in theology. We are proud of you, Eugene! Eugene will often use magic as an object lesson 
in the church where he has pastored for 20 years. All that (and more) and a full time 
job!
 John and Bonnie Abbott, our newlyweds, were up next. Bonnie left the room and John asked 
us to come up with the name of a famous person, cartoon character, etc. We listed 
several. We then had Bonnie return and after a great deal of concentration, she guessed 
the name correctly! What a fun way to start our evening. Thanks, Bonnie and John.
 Jim Neyland then shared a cute joke. Worms, anyone? Jim is 95 years young. It is always 
a joy for us to have him attend our meetings. What an inspiration to all of us.
 Judy said that she promotes our FCM meetings and may have found us a new member who will 
attend in September! Judy will often use magic as she ministers to those in nursing 
homes. As I have said many times, Judy spends most of her waking hours volunteering in 
every way imaginable. We applaud you, Judy.
 Bill Darby then showed us a card trick with a wonderful message. He used the Jack of 
Diamonds, the earth card, and the Jack of Hearts, the card that represents our feelings, 
to find a special, personal card that Mark picked. Bill reminded us that “For the cross 
to be powerful, it must be personal.”
 
Beth Salo shared a heartwarming event that happened to her. She was able to procure a 
very special wooden vent and was asked to perform at her church. The words to the music 
she was going to use said that the wooden vent did not have a heart, but we have hearts 
that we should give to Jesus. When Beth went to the church, the pastor was passing out 
small paper hearts to the congregation. He wanted to have them placed on the manger scene 
at the end of the service!!! What a beautiful “coincidence”! At the end of Beth’s 
performance and the service, a small child came up to Beth and wanted to give her paper 
heart to the wooden vent so the vent could give it to Jesus! What a beautiful true story, 
Beth. Thank you so much for sharing.
 Nels shared that he became interested in balloonology when his children were young. He 
has adopted the ballonists at the conference and helps them in many ways. Nels also plays 
the guitar and ministers to adult day care centers every week. He did not have his guitar 
with him, but he sang a song that a friend wrote, for us. It is “Thank You, Lord”. What a 
beautiful ministry, Nels. God has given you the gift of service to others and you are 
sharing with so many.
 Last month Leland performed his version of Huck and Tom by himself! This month he was 
able to bring Tom (Tomasina, his wife, Brenda!). They were dressed in overalls and straw 
hats, carrying fishing poles and lunch boxes. They told the story of Jesus feeding the 
5000 from the point of view of two young kids. I wrote more details in last month’s 
minutes. Feel free to enjoy the story again! What a joy it was for us to have both of you 
perform your wonderful message. We know the children in your church just love Sunday 
morning church!!!
 Jim Neyland told us that years ago the Southern Baptist Convention promoted activity 
teaching for Sunday School. Guess we should share?
 Mark expressed his appreciation for our fellowship as it is always uplifting to listen 
to the hearts of our members. We appreciate you, Mark. Your dedication to professionalism 
in your performances is so noted and appreciated, and your heart is full of love and joy 
for the Lord.
 Mark performed the Silk to Egg effect. He told the audience he would show them how to 
perform the trick, which he did, and then produced a “surprise for their eyes”! as he 
broke the egg into the glass! Mark shared all of the moves he performed and explained 
that he always makes sure his audience knows that everything he performs is very simply 
an illusion. Jesus taught in parables. He did not reveal everything, but only that which 
we needed to know. We need to trust God for that which we do not understand. Thank you, 
Mark.
 John J. went up to his magic room and brought down a box of hand puppets. Beth was 
persuaded to do an impromptu performance with one of the puppets! She chose a big yellow 
duck and told the story of Noah’s Ark from the point of view of the duck! Oh yes, she 
“quacked us up” with her duck jokes!! Thank you, Beth. We really enjoyed your performance 
“on the fly”!!!
  John J. wound up the meeting with 2 effects. The first one was “Cutting to the Heart of 
the Matter”. He first gave a prediction to Mark to hold. John then showed a strip of 
paper with many different Bible verses on it. He asked John A. to cut the paper at a 
random place. John did and then read the verse to which he had cut. Mark opened the 
prediction and it was the same verse!! Great trick, super message and to top it off, John 
J. handed out the directions to the trick as well as copies of the strips of Bible 
verses!! Thanks, John J. Such an easy effect to perform, and a great Bible verse message!
 John J.’s last effect was “Do You Know Him?”. John changed a black silk and white silk 
to an image of Jesus. He then changed the black and white image to a beautiful color 
image of Jesus! Julia read the message that there is a big difference between knowing 
Jesus Christ in “black and white” as a historical figure and knowing Him as Lord and 
savior! What a pretty trick as well as a powerful message. Thanks, John.
 OK. It is 9:00 p.m. and time to officially end our meeting. We did so with prayer. As 
always, several stay a while to share and encourage each other. What a blessing it is to 
all of us to be a part of a group who will stand up for Christ as they present their 
messages with magic, vent, song, balloons and storytelling.
 Don’t forget, our next meeting is SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 !!!
 Please consider attending the FCM Conference in July!
 Until we meet again,
Grace be to you,
Julia Jefferson