Hello everyone, I was just wondering if everyone could input a list of top 10 gospel magic for various ages, from kids to seniors. Thanks.
Jhonsen

I think you could take a list of Doc Haley tricks and just about finish the list from 1 -100.

The keys to the Kingdom,
King of hearts,
Jesus Svengali Deck,
and on and on.

BroDavid

Thanks for your post BroDavid, and how do I get Doc Haley's tricks? Thanks!

Check out
http://www.gospelmagic.com

Thank you shadow. I appreciate it.

I recently did a gospel presentation with the Strat-O-Sphere for an Easter show for kids. I got it here in the Good News forum. Went over really well.
I've also found that the torn and restored napkin goes very with older folks if you put in some sort of message as you slowly strip of bits of the napkin. That the tearing may represent different things. Then as you are restoring the napkin you answer and give solutions to the different that were mentioned while slowly stripping the napkin into pieces. Has worked out great for me and has seemed to have helped greatly for people to get moved by it. (Of course it's all the Lord's spirit coming through in the message)
JoJo

Just to name a few off the top of my head - Color changing shoelaces (black, red, and white) is a great way to share the salvation plan. A card packet trick where the King of Hearts turns into a card with Christ's picture on it. I know a friend who uses Strat-O-Sphere.

Brian

I still think Shattered by Chance Wolf has some of the greatest Gospel applications around... and it doesn't look cheesy.

I agree with Rev John that Shattered is a terrific effect. I have both the original shattered, and Jumbo Shattered which I perform far more often as it works better on the street and shattered works great closeup.

I really like a mirror that allows a person to see their own reflection, then in an instant, is shown shattered, and then finally restored again, And the intersting thing is that when it is shown whole again, it appears brighter. Maybe it is just me, but it looks that way to me each time I get to that part of the presentation.

BroDavid

Howdy -
An effect I have used to illustrate having our sins "washed away" and suitable for any age is as follows:
I invite someone to write a "sin" on a piece of paper. Then take a glass bottle and fill it with clear water. As the water goes in to the bottle it instantly turns red. The paper with the "sin" written on it is then dropped into the red colored water in the bottle and the sin/paper then disappears.
This is a very visual trick, really self working to allow one to focus on presentation, and really gets the point home.
If anyone wishes more info on how the effect is carried out feel free to PM me.
I do not claim to be the originator of this effect. If anyone knows the originator I would appreciate the info.

peace,
phill

I use the "Metemorpho Spot Can" as an illustration of sins being washed clean. I put a small gold cross on the back of the can, that explains how we are cleansed.
Also using bills for the Six Thousand Bill Repeat can be set up to do the Parable of the Talents. Use real money for best effect. I use a small piece of heavy colored cardboard, with paper flaps, numbered 1,2.5. Have helper hold the board while you tell the story, placing the bill by the proper number. The 2 & 5 bills have doubled, one is still one. Explain the importance of using the gifts and talents given you by God! (use them or lose them).

Jhonsky
I am sorry, I don't actually have a list, but I am really enjoying reading everyone else's lists and getting some great new ideas.

I am rather a newbie at this (in an old kinda way ) and have noticed that what you put into the presentation and how you perform the trick is actually more important than the actual trick. Let me explain.

I have seen people with some very expensive props and GREAT effects bomb very badly because of their presentation.

Either they performed the trick poorly because of too little practice time, or they practiced the performance part but their patter was weak.

Both usually end up with lack of "practice" of one sort or another being the key.

Flip side, I have seem people pull a cheesy looking little trick that looked like they had made it at the last second, out of their pocket, and perform for 15 minutes and have a crowd mesmerized, because they had practiced every aspect of the trick so much that they probably could have done it in their sleep.

When you get to that point, you work on making the trick fit the audience, by studying the age group you will be performing for, and knowing them. Then, any trick will fit any audience. It is YOU that is the Key.

To boil it down,

1) Know your trick, inside out.
2) Know your audience. (be able to relate to them)
3) Practice, Practice, Practice!

Unfortunately, I believe that this advice has been around for quite a while(wish I'd said that, originally), but it sometimes gets lost and someone has to rediscover it(that in this case would be me), but, if there is anything that will make a trick work, this is it.

Godspeed
Steve

Ps One more thing, pick a trick you enjoy doing, that makes it even easier.

PPs My one/first trick I am working on in this manner is the Professors nightmare.

I use pretty much any of my items.

I like to use Peanut Butter and Jelly, with the feeding of 5000

My personal favorite -- and a favorite of my audiences, too! -- is Steve Axtell's Magic Drawing Board.

I also use the Bible Coloring Book and a Creation Story Bag. Oh, yeah, and a routine with a change bag and a chain escape!

Okay, so there is my top four! (Only six more to go! )

This is from a program I've used for 10+ years and taught to pastors, called "What God Can Do." It's pre-evangelism that appears to be for kids, but believe me, the adults love it, too!

Mental Photography Deck - God creates us out of nothing, and we are all people, but also individuals.

Carver Ropes - We may feel superior/inferior to other people, but God loves all equally.

Homing Card - If we try to hide sin, it keeps returning, but if we confess it, it's wiped clean.

Egg Bag - Sometimes we feel like there's no hope, but God can help us find hope (egg) in the darkness (black bag).

Coloring Book - We think we know the whole story, but we often don't (b/w), but God sees things the way they really are (color). And as little as we know, without God we'd have NO clue! (blank)

Rainbow Mouth Coil - Sometimes things tear us up, and people try to tear us down. Bad things happen, even to Christians. But God can take even the worst situation and make it into something better than we ever imagined.

Bubble Catch - Life is short, and passes quickly, but it CAN be eternal.

Hope this gets your creative juices going.

I plan to write up and possibly do a video of this program, depending on interest.

I also like to use the sub trunk.

Some of my favorite gospel routines:

- "Armour of God" costume with animal balloons.
- "Holy Bible" Colouring Book.
- "He is Risen" (similar to stop light trick).
- Gospel version ABC Blocks (Laflin patter).
- $1 M. bill change with patter about worth (John 3:16).
- Sub Trunk (Romans 5:8).
- Production Routine where I talk about God's Blessings.

I found a trick on about 3 years ago. The web page was called "Kids on the Rock" and they had a presentations called "The story of Hank."
I don't know what happened to the original web site. Even google no longer has the page cached.

I start with 2 big jars(1/2 gallon size) of clear liquid, one is marked "Jesus" and the other is marked "Good Works". I have a bottle of "sin" with a skull and cross bones on it, and a hankercheif called "Hank." Hank is basically a good person (a clean white hankerchief)but of course like all of us he has sinned. As the kids call out different sins, I stain the hankerchief with the bottle of sin. Then I explain how God see our hearts and unfold "Hank" to show the mess is all over and bigger than the few spots we started with.

So Hank decides that if he does some good works he will find favor with God and I dip the hankerchief in the works jar. The water and the hankerchief become gray and dingy. This demonstrates how God sees our own efforts to save ourselves, our works are like filthy rags.

Next I talk about another kid that hank knows, the kid brings him to Church and tells him about Jesus. And Hank accepts the Lord... into the Jesus jar goes Hank and out he comes white and unstained. Next I put Hank into the "Good Works" jar and that solution which was grey turns back into clear liquid.

I started with more detail but then left out most of the patter and verses at the end.
It's just a simple chemical reaction thing but the visual is great and so is the story.

Only problem is some of the kids remember the trick but forget the biblical points made.

Probably my two favorites that seem to be liked by all that see them are ones that I have made. One is a "sudso" box routine that I made years ago. This one is probably the one that I get the most requests for. It has three dirty scarves: 1 with the word "SIN" written on it, 1 with types of sin - "cheating, stealing, etc." and 1 with the words "filthy" "unrighteous" on it. They change to all "clean" scarves after placed in the "sudso" box and covered with a red scarf. My second one is using a change bag with a scarf with a worm on one and another one with a butterfly on it. Hope this is useful.

John
The Gospel Magic Man

I am new and have done perhaps no more than a dozen shows. Some that I found had the biggest reaction were:

1. The simple torn and restored heart.

2. TT and red silk

3. penetration glass (I use it near the climax of a theme I like to use ... with man things may seem impossible but wiht God all things are possible).