Atlanta Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians
February 9, 2023
Our chapter did not meet in January due to the hosts having contracted COVID!
Thankfully we were able to meet in February! We met on February 9, 2023 at the home of John and Julia Jefferson. The following were in attendance: John and Julia Jefferson; John and Bonnie Abbott; Mark Childers; Leland Davis; Eugene McBrayer; Randy Burt.
Our next meeting is scheduled to meet on Thursday, March 9, 2023 at the home of John and Julia Jefferson. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting will start at 7:15 p.m.
The following is a summary of our meeting.
Keep the “SON” Shining…
John and Julia Jefferson
MINUTES:
Leland opened with prayer remembering those of our group who were not able to attend.
John J. welcomed all and reminded us of the FCM Conference which will be held from July 30 through August 3, 2023. Of course he and Julia have already signed up and have found a hotel! We do hope some of our members will be able to attend. Leland Davis will become the new Secretary starting in September. We are so proud!!!
John J. shared that Shane Wilbanks will perform at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church on February 10, 2023 for the Upward Basketball participants ages kindergarten through fifth grade. There will be approximately 600 attendees, including John and Julia!! As I am writing this after the event, I would like to say that the performance was terrific!! The children and parents were truly entertained and amazed. Shane gave a very moving gospel message at the end of the program which included the performance of an effect using a triangular billiard ball rack and a cup of water! We are proud to know and have Shane as a member of our fellowship.
John J. then read an email from Beth Salo asking how many copies of the book, “What a Fellowship”, our group would like. She will be in the Atlanta area visiting her son and his family (and the addition of a new baby due soon!!) between March 17 and April 6 and will bring the books to us. We thank Beth for thinking of us.
John J. once again reminded our group that they can order gospel coins to use to spread the Word. Everyone was given a copy of an order form with all of the information needed.
The announcements being finished, John and Julia shared the message that they will give to their Life After Fifties Bible Study. It is about a Mercedes Benz commercial on television that shares that the company has a patent on the structure of their cars that makes them safe. The spokesman on the commercial states that the company shares that information freely with the world. When asked why, he states: “ Because, in life, some things are just too important not to share”. The gospel message is that we have something that is just too important not to share and that is the good news of Jesus Christ. We are called to share our message to all. John then gave out 6 gospel coins to each person in the Bible study and asked them to give them to others as a way of sharing their faith. He will be glad to give them more if they need them. The group was very grateful and pleased with the coins. What a wonderful way to share.
John J. also shared his Instant Memory trick. Several mixed up cards were placed face-up on a table. John “memorized” the cards. John turned his back and Eugene turned one of the cards face down, keeping it in the same position on the table. John turned around and was able to instantly identify the face-down card!! Great effect! Almost undetectable!!!
And now Mark with his “Trickquilosism”. He proceeded to ask several members their month of birth and counted off cards from a deck the number the month represents such as July is month 7. He set those cards aside and shuffled the rest. He asked for a random number which he counted off, and he showed the group the bottom card. Mark then put the bottom card somewhere in the middle of the deck and shuffled more. At that point Mark dropped the deck on the table and the chosen card flipped over!! Okay, there was a force involved, but what a cool trick!! Thanks, Mark, we can always count on you to show us a creative effect!
While we were waiting for Leland to set up his effect, Randy entertained us with his “Twix” up his sleeve and John A. insisted that Muffin (the puppet) sing “Jesus Loves Me”!!
Leland brought out a large wooden bowl with lots of artificial fruit in it. He asked us which fruits we enjoyed and then reminded us that the Bible talks about a different kind of fruit—Fruit of the Spirit. He asked Mark to reach in the bowl. Mark pulled out a beautiful silk with the word, Love on it. Mark then placed it in Leland’s beautiful red bag. Leland then told us that the spirit of love leads us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Mark then pulled out another silk, Joy. The Spirit can help us to be joyful even though we feel “mad”. Mark then pulled out the rest of the silks: peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness and self-control, one at a time as Leland shared a specific message directed especially for children, with each. When he finished, he had Mark reach in the bag. Instead of finding the silks he put in, he found one beautiful silk that read “God is Love”. In the original writing of the Bible there is a colon after Love. That means that all of the fruits thereafter are examples of love. Leland performs for children at his church. This is such a wonderful message. Thank you, Leland.
John Abbott was up next. He and Bonnie recently visited a Prison Prevention Ministry in Hixon, TN and performed for children of those incarcerated. The director said he wanted to give a certain child $100 but would like for John to actually give it to her. John brought her up to the front and produced the $100 bill magically!! Thanks to a strong rubber band, it worked perfectly!! The child and the audience were totally amazed and surprised. Super job, John!! What a blessing it was for those children to have John and Bonnie perform for them.
Now Bonnie entertained us with her jokes. I remember 2 of them! What do dentists call their x-rays? “Tooth pics”!!!! What is the difference between a poorly dressed man on a unicycle and a well dressed man on a bicycle? A-ttire!! Thanks, Bonnie, you always make us laugh and we love your sweet smile.
Eugene then told us about his trip to Israel. It was a 9-day trip with a group of pastors. He truly felt blessed to walk where Jesus walked and to see first-hand the Promised Land. Among the highlights were the Dead Sea, the Garden of Gethsemane, and a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Eugene said that the pastors sang to the Lord wherever they went. We are so glad that Eugene was able to go. He may be able to lead a group of pastors in the near future. He hopes to take Melissa. We hope that will happen, Eugene. We can tell you were indeed blessed.
Randy brought out a paper with a clock face on it. He said he had a prediction as to the final number that would be chosen. He asked someone to pick any number on the clock. The number was ten. Randy then counted from the number twelve three numbers clockwise to land on the number three. He then counted 5 more numbers for the 5 letters in three and landed on the number eight. The last move was to count around five more numbers and he landed on the number one. Randy showed us that his prediction was indeed the number 1 !! He said that the number one was very important as is shown in Mark 12:32 “…for there is one God, and there is no other but He.” Randy gave each of us packets that contained the clock face and directions. Thank you, Randy. Hopefully we will use them to share the gospel.
John and Julia shared one more effect that they had performed that morning for their Life After Fifties group. It was entitled “Dancing with God”. John had several people write any common word they chose on a piece of paper and place it in a box. He then showed the audience the word, GUIDANCE. Julia said that she kept seeing the word, dance, in guidance. Doing God’s will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. When one person lets the other lead, the two are able to move beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other. Perhaps we can look at GUIDANCE as God, U and I dance!! When we allow God to lead, we will get the guidance that we need for out lives!! John then had Tom reach in the box and pull out one of the words that were placed in it earlier. It was the word, DANCE. Great message and easy effect!!
Well, the meeting was officially over as it was 9 p.m. We had a wonderful time laughing, sharing and feeling like we were in the right place at the right time. Eugene closed with prayer.
P.S. The next topic of discussion was wrinkled silks. Leland said he finally used a higher heat on the iron and sprayed the silk with water!! Mark said if you have a silk that is really wrinkled, it will actually look like a pattern!! Thanks for the tips!
Our next meeting will be Thursday, March 9, 2023 at the home of John and Julia Jefferson. We do hope everyone will be able to attend.
May God grant you Grace and Peace, Julia Jefferson