Looking Forward and Being Thankful…

By Adrian Van Vactor

My favorite time of year growing up was the Christmas season. Not just gift giving (well, receiving, if we’re being honest) but also the entire buildup of how my very secular upbringing celebrated it, from Thanksgiving until Christmas. At least I felt that for a time. 

By Adrian VanVactor,
FaithSearch Evangelist

Jesus: Magician or Messiah?

I often heard the following from my mentor, illusionist André Kole. 

Imagine Jesus and His disciples walking through the dusty streets of Galilee with five tractor trailers following behind them. That is what it would have taken for Jesus to have done the sort of things He did, if he were mere first century magician.

I had the privilege of touring as part of André Kole’s eight-member evangelism team. I performed as a guest-star, tech director, stage manager, and solo missionary during my years on staff. Every night we shuffled five tons of equipment in and out of auditoriums to accomplish the many magical inventions from the mind of André Kole. 

By Adrian VanVactor,
FaithSearch Evangelist

I stood there, at just twenty years of age, staring out into a crowd of 850 people, the majority being members of a local church. Of unchurched visitors present, 56 made a commitment to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior that evening. The event affirmed my vocation, my calling into a life of evangelism. Just months before I had won the international competition and received an award for “The Most Promising Magician of the Future.” Therein lies the problem: “magician.” Can God use a magician? 

By Adrian VanVactor,
FaithSearch Evangelist

Saying that 2020 has been an interesting year for ministries and churches worldwide would be a gross understatement. Doing church during the pandemic has changed radically.  Technology now plays an essential role in feeding the body of Christ.  

By Dr. Kaia Kloster

As I go into the jail to “Proclaim the Gospel with evidence,” I never know who will choose to come to Bible study—or why. One day, a woman shared with me why she had decided to come. Although her mom had been raised in the church, they hadn’t been taken as kids because her mom didn’t want to “force her beliefs on them.” So while not raised as a Christian, she was aware of “them.” In her daily encounters with people she was quite certain she could identify them. 

There was something different—it seemed there was a “glow” about them. She and her boyfriend came to call them “shiny faces.” Upon leaving a gas station, for example, she might turn to him and say, “She was a ‘shiny face,’ wasn’t she!” It was as if there was a light from within, she said. The difference was undeniable, and always desirable.

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