I was wondering if anyone else has this reaction to Kole's 3ball illustration....

Why is there no method presented to bring the balls together at the end without the presenter's hand doing the pushing?

It seems to me that there should be a magical effect happening here, underscoring that this restoration of relationship is done only through the grace of God.

Anyone use an ITR or similar method? Not looking for exposures here, just a general idea if anyone else has beefed up the power of the visual here.

This has nothing to do with your Q I get the illusion , I get the messge. but when ever iv seen it the people don't get it they just don't seem to react. Im not saying its a bad illusion (i think andrrew kole is very cool)but I don't think people really get it.
Kyle

Well, I think we have an issue with the effect itself. It's apparantly not supposed to look very magical.

The instructions that come with it are very clear to say "de-emphasis the magic, emphasize the message." This is a paraphrase, but I think a fair one.

I'm beginning to think more and more that Mr. Kole sees this as more of an object lesson than an illusion. His own clear split in presentation apart from other magical effects in his shows is well known. It makes me wonder whether he himself is less than enamored with Gospel magic as a genre.

I remember when I saw it performed live, the method seemed obvious to me. It's well-hidden, but if you see that they're made from what they're made from, it is not such a secret that the method is possible and hideable.

This is why I am looking to bring a bit more magic to the effect, with the pushing of the balls together.

I received a very fine PM on this from someone in the know, and the under-emphasizing of the magic for message was a key point there too.

I don't want to re-open that issue, as many threads are in play, dealing with the methodology and use of magic as Gospel presentation.

When I last saw Kole present this about 5 years ago, I thought I remember him making a motion over the balls to initiate them coming togather at which time they moved together on their own.

I agree that the 3-Ball routine is an object lesson, not so much a magical illusion. I've used it a few times, and when that middle ball comes out a couple of jaws drop. Not everyone gets how it's done, but the element of magic is supposed to be deemphasized.

The idea of making the two balls come together at the end is a cool one, however, and would reinforce the idea that the person on stage has something special about him or her.

CSR

See, I thought I had "remembered" the same thing. But he didn't. That's the power of suggestion working on both of us. We remember the effect being more "magical" than it was. I've read, with interest, a few threads on the forum where people report to magicians, their favorite effects from the show, which were never actually performed. Not mentalism or extra trickery, just the phenomenon of "eye witnesses" being less reliable than assumed.

The balls do come together at the end of Andre's presentation. However, this is not a part of the marketed version. As far as I know, he has only allowed a few people to use this element of the routine.

It seems to me that this would be fairly easy to use an existing method to do this :

Think of the methodology of rising and falling finger-ring on a wand . The necessary would be anchored to your table . As you move the rod with the balls on it forward slightly it would cause the balls to mysteriously come together .

Im not saying it's this big illusion, but even as the messge people don't sem to react that much

I have the pocket version of this effect. It uses 2 balls, a cord, and a cross on a small change. You use the shoelace knot to represent sin.
It goes over very well as an object lesson but it just isn't real amazing as far as a magic effect goes.
Yes the knot dissolves but that the only magic to it.

I just saw Andre Kole in South Jersey on 4/8 at Greentree church. He was great. His gospel message was crystal clear. But after watching such a spectacular show, his Gospel presentation with a light object lesson was really over shadowed by his act.

I don't have any better ideas, although I was very inspired by his show. But I think more could be done without fear of lossing the message in the magic.

For example, he talked about spirit mediums and the sisters who traveled around fooling people, then one day they admitted it was all a fake. Then he did a sencance thing, where they tied him up and stuff happens behind a curtain. His message about spirit mediums and that they were fakes was great and it was followed by a demonstration that yes Andre Kole and do it too... by trickery!
I don't see why the Gospel message would be any less effect accompanied by the smoke and lights.