Let's Do Some Magic!

It's just five short weeks until Easter Sunday!

I'm pretty excited about getting invited to Forest Park Joplin for the Easter Sunday children's program. The really good thing is the opportunity to share at a new venue and for a different church. The challenge will be the amount of time that I (1) need to fill and (2) need to keep the kids' attention.

A one hour magic show is a long time for kids.
Heck, a one hour anything is a long time for kids. Their attention span just isn't that long. I have found that you can keep kids entertained for longer; you just need to find a way to reset their attention span at a point before you lose it. Once it's reset, you're good for another thirty minutes or so.

I'm going to design a program that runs about 30 minutes, breaks for a brief (but planned) interlude and then finishes with another 20 minute set. That will mean two opening effects (the first one stronger than the second) and two good closing effects.

An additional challenge will be that there are two services and apparently some kids will be at both services. Do I keep the two services identical or do I change a few effects for the second service?
I'm still trying to decide on that.

There are a couple of routines that I haven't used in quite some time that I would like to use for this event. I'm glad for the five weeks to work on them and plan a program that includes them. It's going to be fun!

In addition to the Sunday at Forest Park, I have a date to participate with the Missouri Baptist Convention at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland MO on April 21st for the Weekly Series Spring Opener. This will primarily be a walk around event which is outside of my usual type of performance. I've only done a few walk around venues in the past (and really enjoyed them) so I'll also be preparing for this event.

I am glad to have the opportunity to expand my experiences and hope to do more of the walk around types of venues. Both of these upcoming events should be a blast! Sometimes I think that it is unfair to call this kind of service ministry. Shouldn't ministry be more like work and less like fun? I'm am truly blessed to be able to have fun for the Glory of God!

John <><