I just listened to a short sermon on youtube by rapper, poet, author and pastor Trip Lee. Great message- was very helpful in preparing my mind before/planning for a program I am doing this later this morning. At the end of the message, just insert "Gospel magic gift" where Trip says "musical gift" (before the closing prayer). To find this 16:43 length message, put "Trip Lee Sermons" in your youtube search box. Then click on "Using our Gifts for God - Trip Lee Sermon" which was posted on December 18, 2014.

Just another off topic comment: I really enjoy being fueled constantly no matter how old one gets as an FCMer with new Bible study/learning. Young guys like speaker Trip above are a good inspiration when preparing for a Gospel magic program/thinking up new Gospel routines.

I just finished every word of "Grace Is Greater" by Kyle Idleman- it really did deliver on the book's subtitle: "God's Plan to Overcome Your Past, Redeem Your Pain, and Rewrite Your Story".

I am reading currently another excellent book: "The Christian Atheist" by New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel. That book's subtitle is more descriptive: "Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist".

It is also a great thought jogger for new Gospel magic routines and initial ideas to be involved in an ongoing Bible study. I have for years met every Saturday morning at a local greasy spoon with a great group of guys for a book by book Bible study. Currently we are going through the book of Luke.

In preparation -and all of us in this early morning study use whatever background resources we want- our only common Book we all use together is the free NIV Bible app off of youversion which we read together first off our glowing cell phone screens.

I have been reading singer/author/performer Michael Card's commentary on Luke's Gospel entitled: "Luke: The Gospel of Amazement". This commentary sounded almost magical- drew me to it immediately. What a great resource this paperback book has turned out to be. This particular commentary is very easy and conversational in writing style- but it also crammed full with a tremendous amount of scholarly background research. A+++++. Really is a fantastic imaginative resource to go through a single book of the Bible such as Luke (and Mr. Card has since written a similar commentary on the other three Gospels).

Michael Card has written other OT and NT commentaries as well which I have not read yet (CBD shows 46 results under "Michael Card books" in their search box), but I will most definitely be checking into some of those as well based on the Bible books we decide to study in the future. All the above books mentioned are available through Barnes and Noble or at www.CBD.com

The obvious point being, of course, as a Gospel magician listening to a sermon in church or online or reading a Christian book or being in a Bible study, these interactions often generate ideas of wanting to reinforce a Biblical story just learned about with Gospel magic for teaching later in another setting -such as to the younger kids in our weekly Sunday School.

Or often the above will connect with one's prior knowledge of conjuring as to what Bible lesson or story from Luke (as an example) could now easily be combined with an already known magic effect. I just love this ongoing creative process, as it helps not only in coming up with new routines for my future Gospel magic programs, but benefits me personally so very much. "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire"- W.B. Yeats

I will post here in the months ahead any ideas that come to mind from our just started study of Luke. I often share with the guys (who are not magicians) the Gospel magic ideas I come up with for use later in Lighthouse Kids!- they are always very supportive if not somewhat occasionally very confused as they have no idea what I am lighting up/getting excited about.