The post Illusion and Beyond Fundraiser appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

Presenting a night of miracles and entertainment to raise awareness and support for the community work of Answers for Life Pregnancy Center helod @ Skyline Country Club

Featuring

_{Illusionist Adrian Van Vactor} 

and

• stories from our clients

• Hors’d’oeuvres

• A silent auction of great items donated by local businesses to support the mission and work of Answers for Life Pregnancy Center

For tickets click HERE for the Answers for Life website Or you can get them at the event.

Cost $30.00

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The post Tucson EVENT! Friday, October 7, 2016 – 6:30 pm appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

I want to share with you about a fruitful tour that occurred in North Africa last month.

The team I’ve been working with throughout central Asia the past few years, TACO, has launched a new initiative to reach students in North Africa. It’s not only a new initiative but we’re working with some key churches in a profound way.

The first TACO team to go to North Africa and launch this initiative, Unishow, of which I was a part of in Turkey this past summer, was comprised of a band, two dancers and our world champion unicyclist. They reached 13,000 people with the gospel in just 10 days, with thousands of pieces of bible literature being given out. The team experienced such an impact that even new bible studies were started up for many interested students who attended the events!

As I’ve seen many times partnering with TACO in doing creative performing arts outreach in that part of the world, throughout these recent performances in North Africa, God’s presence was felt as He did some pretty special things in many students’ lives.

At one event, a girl’s high-end smart phone had had been stolen by boy during that actual program, leaving her absolutely devastated. Sadly, she was certain to face a beating as a result. Amazingly, after the show this kid realized how much God loved him and became so convicted that he confessed to the theft and returned the phone!

In another instance, four boys snuck into the performance without paying the very minimal entrance fee. After the message, they confessed feeling God’s love, then confidently confessed to the leaders of their transgression and willingly paid their fee. According to local organizers, these acts of repentance are unheard of and a sign that God was at work in changing hearts.

Even the owner of the light and video company the equipment was rented from for the tour, a Muslim man, came to one of the events was very affected. He said he’d never seen this kind of event and this much joy before. He asked our organizer, “How did you get these people so happy?”

To my disappointment, I wasn’t able to join them, however, I was there in spirit as the team often had a giant screen with them where they showed video clips of my performance and message I developed just for the North African students.  Due to the sudden transition in sending organizations, I had to postpone my involvement in this project. However, reactions from students were great and the individual event organizers have already asked when I can come… this time in person, of course.  Seeing the wonderful work they did in organizing events, I can’t wait to serve with them!

Here’s what DW, founder of TACO and lead tour team leader shared:

“From working with Adrian Van Vactor several times over the past several years we know he will add a key component to the North Africa tour team we’ve put together. The combination of a world class illusionist with our other artists is a hard combination to beat. Added onto that is Adrian’s unique ability as one of the best communicators I’ve ever met of the greatest news that has ever hit the planet.

It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that Adrian wasn’t able to come on the first tour. What helped to redeem the situation was Adrian being able to share his art and his unique gospel illustration and message while not actually being there. Another great thing is we now have this video to use in the future as needed. It’s not the same as a “live” Adrian, but it’s the next best thing.”

I am already scheduled to be in North Africa in the fall and have eager invitations to serve in South Asia as well as partnering with TACO. In fact, I was invited to join the team for tour 2 in North Africa as early as February! Planning is already under way. You can see some of the excitement in the event hosts towards the end of the video above.

DW went on to say,

“We hadn’t been to North Africa for years and we wanted to move forward knowing that we we’re not just doing glorified entertainment but something on the cutting edge for the kingdom. After doing this ministry for 20 years in many countries, our ground team event hosts were the best national ground team we’d ever worked with. They had a vision to reach the whole country and are organized for the long term to work with us.

You don’t know how wonderful it is to work with the largest “Christian” church entity in the Middle East/North Africa. This is unprecedented and a key evangelical presence in North Africa. I was amazed that we were able to obtain such a key connection in such an un-reached part of the world. So, that gives me another reason I’m totally behind Adrian’s focus and ministry. Unlike many ministries and churches, he has a heart to focus on the most un-reached peoples in the world.”

It seems, for international projects, my efforts in reaching the nations is not going to pause in the least, but I need your support to continue this work.

Here are just a few of the projects your support will allow me to accomplish in 2016:

• International Ministry Outreach – North Africa and South Asia
• Operation Armor – Youth training workshop to help equip teens to defend their faith when they reach college
• Secrets of the Supernatural Exposed – I’m writing a book along with Dr. Don Bierle, President of FaithSearch International.
• Outreach events throughout the U.S. with a focus on youth and college students.

Join the 35/35 Team

My goal is to reach $2,200 in monthly support by the end of 2015. I am 45% of the way there! That’s exciting.

I need 35 new monthly partners to reach my goal. I would like to invite you to be a vital part of what God is going to accomplish through my ministry with FaithSearch in the coming year. Would you prayerfully consider making $35 monthly commitment so that I can continue sharing the gospel with evidence with thousands of people around the world?

Of course, your monthly commitment of any amount is deeply appreciated.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed Christmas!

The post Hearts convicted and lives changed in North Africa appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

I wanted to take a moment to share how significant the work we are doing with FaithSearch is, by sharing a bit of background–my “ministry story” if I may–and how this great organization has been a privileged to learn from and serve with. 

God’s Call

I was raised in an “irreligious” home. An environment downright hostile to all things of faith. When I first came to faith in my later teens, I remember the reactions I received… they were unpleasant to say the least. I was not permitted to ask questions, to talk about spiritual things, to challenge assumptions… the works. It felt more closed than some of the closed countries I’ve been in as an adult.

On the one hand, I can’t blame people around me when I first believed as I was super energetic about my new-found faith and immediately had the need to share with every person I came into contact with, stranger or not. Let’s just say, I wasn’t perfectly tactful on every occasion. On the other hand, there was definitely some pain experienced by my family from their own upbringings which clearly led to an anti-Christian bias that I was never really given the chance to learn about. To this day, as far as I know, I remain one of the only evangelical followers of Jesus in my immediate family.

At that time, I was already competing as a stage illusionist. My faith challenged me to give my gifts and abilities to God, so for a short while, I put out of my mind the idea of being a professional magician (my dream).

Then I met Andre Kole, world renowned illusionist and ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) and he graciously put me onto his touring team in summer of 1993, as his technical director (lights and sound) and a guest performer. I was still a teenager as our eight-member team traveled around the country with five tons of equipment doing about twenty performances every month.

During our off time, I was doing a one-man, anti-drug-and-alcohol school assembly show for K-12 audiences. I think I put fourteen thousand miles on my pick-up truck in one month as I did about 125 performances throughout the midwest, almost each in a different town!

A Vision Inspired

Through Andre’s stellar example, day in and day out on the road, and the discipleship of another road team member, one of my most cherished God-given friends (Dana Tison) I was taught how to walk with Christ, to share my faith, and to use the art of illusion as a tool to share Christ with those outside of the context of a local church.
After I had won the internationals at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas in 1994, I ventured out in faith with another great friend, comedian Rod Robison, along with Dana Tison, and other variety Christian artists to produce my very first variety arts outreach program in December of that year in my home church, Casas Church, in Tucson, AZ. Over 800 people came to witness the show, with me headlining the program. I shared my Gospel presentation which Andre Kole and Dana Tison so generously helped me develop. Granted, eighty percent of those present were probably from a church background, but out of that audience we had fifty-six people indicate commitments to Christ!

Upon completing the finale, I remember weeping as I ran off the stage, experiencing this sense in my heart that this is exactly what I needed to devote my life to: Sharing the Gospel with the lost… with an emphasis on those who have never heard. Andre Kole was instrumental in encouraging me to focus on unreached people groups internationally, and to keep my program versatile and easy to transport. Making me a part of his touring team was so vital to my spiritual growth and my performance.

As of today, I’ve now been on over forty-five missions all over the globe with hundreds of thousands in attendance, thousands coming to Christ, new churches started… in some of the most closed places on earth, yet opened wide simply because I showed up as an “entertainer.”

I have refined my mission and vision over the years. Being that most of my events have been on university campuses and high schools with my customary Q&A time afterwards… I quickly found that to reach the lost I could not simply share the Good News, but, also needed to provide a reasonable defense of it.  In other words, clearing every stumbling block (doubt) so that a person could have an unobstructed view of Christ. This became a core value and naturally, the majority of my studies has been in the area of apologetics and world-views.

A Mission Refined

Over time, however, I became somewhat disillusioned. Individuals who indicated a commitment to Christ were not always becoming disciples (Christ followers). There were times I would return to a country I had ministered in previously, to discover large stacks of response cards from students who had attended my programs before and even indicated commitments to Christ–and no one ever contacted them, or invited them to church or an on-campus Bible study! It seemed like I was doing all of this for nothing. I discovered another core value–that it wasn’t enough to simply share the Gospel… with evidence; I also needed an intentional strategy in place which would maximize our efforts to make disciples, not just “decisions”.

In 1999, I met Dr. Don Bierle, president of FaithSearch International who has become another wonderful, like-minded/hearted mentor for the past fifteen years. He had also experienced some of the same frustrations I have in working with local ministries being responsible to follow up the fruit we started. Being a scientist and in ministry for nearly forty years, he developed the strategies, the curriculum, and the ministry philosophy to maximize our work as outreach specialists in a way I had never seen before.

I have worked with FaithSearch and Dr. Don Bierle off and on for the past fifteen years. I have implemented much of what I learned from this ministry. I was so touched witnessing one fruitful result of these strategies during my first tour in “name”-stan (several workers have been deported so I’m going to keep the name of the country off my blog) several years ago. I met a worker who came up to me at one of our programs on a university campus. This person shared that he/she had seen me at his/hers own university campus in his/her home country in East Asia 5 years prior. Keep in mind, this person’s home country was a completely closed one that I had toured in 3 times. Now, here he/she is, serving in another closed country! That’s the kind of fruit I wanted to see and experience. Multiplication! In 2012, Don began to challenge me to join full time with FaithSearch and I have been praying about making this move since.

A Partnership Comes Together

In the summer of 2015, I had several teaching opportunities to present what I now call, Unmasking the Masquerade … a presentation I’ve been refining since I met Dr. Bierle, which is a hybrid of his FaithSearch Discovery presentation I was trained to teach, and my own performance and teaching. Unmasking the Masquerade is the title of our recently published book too which you can learn all about here! All summer, the Lord had been really impressing upon me to do this presentation more and more. I have found it to be very effective in helping Muslims overcome the common misconceptions they hold about Jesus and the historicity of the gospels (the Gospel… with evidence).

As a result of the positive fruit I have seen working with FaithSearch over the years as well as several other life changing factors, I’ve accepted the challenge. Dr. Bierle recently presented a proposal to me and to the FaithSearch board of directors. They voted in favor of having me become the international and southwest regional director for FaithSearch International!

How will this change my mission? Not much will change. As you’ve probably read in years past, my mission has always been simple and clear:

The primary mission of Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries (AVVIM) is to utilize the art of illusion as a tool to bridge cultural and generational gaps and communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the distinctive combination of apologetics and entertainment.”

A Vision Recast

My new position will have some added responsibilities, all of which fit very well with the work I already do. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing what I have learned and have implemented in many ways already into my ministry work, but will now be much more intentional about in the years to come with FaithSearch.

To support Adrian’s new ministry with FaithSearch, BECOME A PARTNER TODAY!

The post My Story a New Direction appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

As an illusionist, I’ve spent quite a bit of time explaining and exposing various claims of the supernatural, comparing and contrasting these “modern” day claims to the claims and miracles performed by Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, unless you are a first time reader, the conclusion I’ve made, as a “magician”, is that the kinds of things Jesus did are unlike anything any magician, psychic or mystic can do or ever has done. Jesus proved his claims of being divine.  I prove these other claimants to be false. 

In my travels across the globe, having spent time with these other claimants, I’m always reminded and saddened by just how gullible and easily taken in, people are. I had hoped that those who have come to know Christ would be a bit more like the Bereans who tested everything that even the apostle Paul taught against the scriptures. This current astronomical obsession prompted me to throw together some words today, that I hope can serve as just a little reminder as to what (or more accurately, Whom) we should be putting our focus and energy on.

Back to Basics

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

“Spirit” here can mean message or messenger. It’s like saying, every “wind of doctrine or teaching”. What is troubling to me is how popular certain teachers or authors have become through questionable newspaper apologetic predictions about when our world is going to begin to unravel and bring about the end of this age. The simple question is, on what basis? Jewish festivals and lunar eclipses? Really? As followers of Jesus, we are to test everything to see if it is true. I don’t have time to write an essay on blood moons and the shemitah here, but, there are some basics of the faith that suffice for an answer. 

My Personal Thoughts

I am confident that tonight will pass and the world will continue as is. Except the damage done to the credibility to the gospel. I avoid those who use fear tactics to sell books (and pad their pockets) based on esoteric interpretations of ancient Hebrew traditions and astronomical occurrences.  At best, it’s a waste of time reading their books. At worst, it’s divination. I was surrounded by such individuals during the early years of my faith and saw the damage that date setters caused to all those around me, including family members. Members who are today, still paying the price in falling for these pseudo prophetic predictions. When I read what some of these very popular authors write, they claim to have special vision and insight into these matters. We used to call this, astrology! I’m not suggesting this is what some of the popular teachers are doing, but, it comes dangerously close. 

It’s ironic to me that, in some cases, not often, believers will express great concern and sometimes even disdain for what I do as an entertainer and apologist, that is, sharing the gospel with those who have never heard through the platform of an illusionist. Since I make it crystal clear what I am doing and how I am doing it during my presentations, those concerns almost always vanish.

Yet, in that same church will be posters, books, and even sermons about blood moons and ancient calendars and how to be ready for the return of our Lord on a specific soon to come time frame. In other words, looking to the stars for signs and meaning (astrology). Dates are set, bags are packed, and the guessing game goes round and round. And when they are wrong, as they have been 100% of the time (Jesus has not returned yet and we’re still all here), they have to search deeper into the scriptures and claim and special vision or interpretation that God gave them and write another book adjusting their dates, pointing to new signs, events and Jewish traditions. Here’s an interesting angle on the history of date setters.

The Truth of the Matter

Hear what the apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the church in Colossae:

Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practice and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind.  (Colossians 2:16-18).

All that the ancient Hebrews practiced, as commanded by God, from the temple sacrifices and the keeping of the law, to Sabbaths and festivals, were types and shadows pointing to our only and true substance, Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all of those types and shadows. This is where the cookie really crumbles. To apply meaning from these ancient traditions to the USA in some 21st century context not only abuses scripture but confuses believers and puts a stumbling block before the unchurched when these predictions do not take place. Jesus will return, some day, and no one will know when that will be. The purpose of these passages of scripture is so that, when they DO take place, the world will know that it is true, even though they’ve had plenty of evidence already. Newspaper eschatology has and always will be a dangerous game when trying to make predictions and in my expertise into similar predictors and practices outside of the church, I’ve found it to be as great of a deception within the body of Christ.

Just another Fortune Cookie Prediction

As for the blood moons, I would say the same thing I say whenever a person asks me about how a psychic made an accurate prediction. Yes, sometimes they get a lucky guess and the crowd goes oooooh and aaaaaah. But, what people quickly forget is, first, anyone can get a lucky guess every now and then. Remember, people still win the lottery against pretty bad odds. Second, what you need to remember is how often the psychics get it wrong. The same can be said for these blood moons. Could something happen tonight? Tomorrow? Sure could. But, how many times has nothing taken place during such rare astronomical events?  Getting one out of a hundred guesses correct no more makes you a psychic than a few blood moons falling near significant events in jewish history when many others did not. Finally, just like fortune cookies, it’s easy to search for meaning in an event or occurrence. That is to say, individuals who already want to believe will “make up” meaning and application. Just as a psychic will share some vague prediction that would apply to most people and still have people believe that message pertains specifically to them, so to, these esoteric prophecy pushers prey upon that same human habit… to search for meaning that isn’t there. In other words, the same reasons why people still go to psychics and read their astrology charts are the same reasons why these authors can keep writing books, even if they are getting most, if not all of their predictions wrong. People are looking for hope, affirmation that they are right, correct etc and in doing so, will always search for meaning where there wasn’t any to begin with. 

Jesus alone is Enough

This morning, my worship pastor sang an original song he had recently wrote. It was awesome! Before he started, he shared how he had been challenged in his conscience with this question: “Is Jesus enough?” I would like to say, yes, for he is the substance of all that has passed in God’s redemptive history. All things are fulfilled in Christ. We don’t need “christian” astrologers to divine the meaning of current events. All we need is to proclaim and defend Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. And when events to occur and times change, if it is THAT time, the world will know. Until then, I’d rather spend my time and resources proclaiming the gospel and making disciples with the message concerning Christ. 

The post Don’t Fall for Fortune Cookie Predictions appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

It’s easy to plan a long vacation or just a weekend family get-away and find Murphey’s law creating some good tests to your patience. When planning a mission, on the other hand, for some reason I tend to think, “I’m doing this for you God. Everything should go just as planned. Right Lord…. Lord?”

Unfortunately, even the most worthy of causes are not immune to the laws of human error and chance.  I might add, the closer you follow God’s way, the more of a threat you are to the enemy and his futile schemes.  So begins my fourth visit to Turkey.

There was nothing unusual about the long journey to Istanbul. In the over 40 missions I’ve been on, one thing I’ve been fortunate to rely on are those faithful men and women who handle and guide my equipment (insert sarcasm) from flight to flight. I’ve actually never missed a program due to a delayed bag and I’ve never had an airline tell me that they lost my luggage. I guess my time had come.

My flight landed at midnight. As the belts and gears stopped running, I thought to myself, surely my baggage is just one of the last bags to come out of the mouth of this metal luggage dragon (I was tired). Nope. Surely it will be on the next flight the following afternoon? Nope. Surely one of the 4 or 5 flights arriving that evening? Nope. How about the next morning after that… I digress.

After keeping my ride, whom I’ve never met, waiting for over 2 hours as I made my way through immigration, lost luggage claims, and customs, I was surprised to see him still there as I exited the customs area. He was so tired (it’s now after 2 am) he got us on the wrong bus going in the opposite direction for, what should have been, an hour or so long journey to his uncle’s house.

Exhausted from being up for over 35 hours without a full night’s sleep, as soon as I walked in, uncle Safak said in his broken English, “ok, we leave in one hour for airport to meet team and fly.”  “No equipment!” I replied.  Both exhausted, we shrugged it off and went to bed and I didn’t meet the team. But, there was still time to catch a later flight alone and not miss any programs since that next day was just a travel and debrief day.

Anxious and truly anticipating to find my luggage, I made my way back to the airport thinking to myself, well, surely they at least know where my luggage is? And once again… Nope. “We lost your luggage sir”, said the metal dragon keeper with his thick Turkish accent.  “Okay God… no props, no show, no tour.” My thoughts naturally wandered to suppose that I needed to confess some sin. And maybe I didn’t pray enough before I left and instead spent too much time rushing to have everything ready. Whatever the case may be, this is obviously not God’s will, so, “Lord, I come before you right now….” And on goes my feeble attempt to appeal to the Lord to send his metal airport dragon slaying angels to come and subdue the greedy tin beast to relinquish the treasure that is my show… to no avail.

The next two days were all but debriefing and performing as planned. Instead I sat, alone, tired and discouraged at the airport Starbucks or Popeye’s chicken. Yep, they have those here.

Tragedy  Strikes

Meanwhile, in a galax… err, city, far, far away (about a 3 hour flight), called Diyabakir, the rest of the team had been forced to retreat and remain indoors. You can read about that story and update here.  Needless to say, the city was on edge, and the host community of believers thought it wise to cancel the two days of events we had scheduled.  This gave me more time to retrieve my luggage!

Back in Istanbul, after two days of sitting in the airport, my equipment finally arrived! I honestly thought it was gone for good. I kicked the luggage dragon in the head and headed for the domestic airport terminal.

Wait a sec, “how am I going to pay for another airline ticket?” I recalled the night I was with uncle Safak when I asked him what would happen to the ticket they had already purchased for me. He simply blew into his hand and said “it flies away”.

At this VERY SAME time, a dear brother in Germany whom I’ve known for many years (he has even hosted tours for me there) sent me a gift via paypal in Euro’s that more than exceeded the cost of the extra plane ticket. I jumped on the next flight at 1 am to meet the team in Diyarbakir from where we continued our journey to the next schedule city of Mardin. I didn’t miss a thing, except the fellowship I would have had, had I been with the team since the start. I was exhausted and hadn’t had a real night’s sleep in about 4 days.

Just before I got on the plane, I received this message from a dear brother from my home church who was completely unaware of my situation at the time he sent it:

“Adrian… I’m praying for you and wanted to remind you that we serve a God who works at His own pace. He’s never in a hurry even in the times we’d like Him to be, and yet always accomplishes the things He wants to do. And knowing both His pacing and patience in equal measure it’s important to know the things He’s doing in our lives aren’t being delayed.  Just like the things He’s created grow at a very gradual pace and the trees He made produce fruit very slowly, He does this to remind us of how patient He truly is. Not only proving His mercy toward our mistakes, but the assurance of knowing the good and beautiful things He started in our lives will be worth the wait to see when finally in bloom. All we have to do is trust Him and preserve those crops”.

Needless to say, I was encouraged and heard exactly what I already sensed in my heart.

Now that we’ve been on tour, looking back, my situation was trivial and pretty much had little to no bearing on the tour, or at least nothing I could change, anyway.  I was on time, all my needs were met, and we are sharing the gospel with those who truly have never heard.

The post Chaos in the midst of God’s Sovereignty and Provision appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

That was the news as I sat in my room in Istanbul last year prepping to do an extensive tour in many cities throughout the country. In the end, 301 deaths and a time of mourning. The results were a cancellation of nearly half of our events. We had to improvise, since music or “entertainment” of any kind in public would have been considered offensive during a nationwide grieving time.

In the end, we still had a fruitful time despite the challenges. There were even instances that the tragedy brought a very noticeable awareness of our mortality as I shared the gospel, making the message about the need for salvation for eternity all the more captivating it seemed.

Today, I’m on my way for my fourth visit to Turkey with the goal and hope to continue making an impact for Christ in one of the most un-reached countries in the world. I’ll be traveling with a world champion unicyclist (husband and wife team) as well as some other talented artists to do another national variety arts outreach tour, June 10-24.

I’ll be partnering with the same group, Taco, as I have in the past couple of years, whose focus is primarily on the Muslim world. After the gospel message at the end of our program, we always invite our audiences to enroll in a bible correspondence course specifically written for a Muslim audience. The follow up strategy is great!

As I’m prepping for the tour, I get an email from the tour director with this link to another headline:
Two dead, 100 hurt in blasts at Kurdish rally in Turkey

I’m seeing a trend here. I know the enemy is de-toothed and de-clawed, but, he still roams. Perhaps this is coincidence or perhaps there is more to it than that. One thing I know, our battle is not against flesh and blood.  So, please pray for our tour as it starts on Thursday. Our first two days are, yep, you guessed it, DIYARBAKIR, where the bombings just took place.

I am not afraid, or even worried. I trust the Lord to keep us safe for the sake of the gospel to go out. I’ve not worked with a bolder, more faithful group in this part of the world. It’s always a privilege.  However, as I said, the enemy roams… but our Lord God is on the Throne, and prayer is where a large part of the battle is.
Pray that:

• Venues would not cancel our events
• Health and strength for us performers
• For the follow-up teams to keep in touch with those who are responding to the grace and call of the Holy Spirit to come to faith
• And for clarity on how to connect and share Christ with our audiences.

UPDATE: The night before our first program, more violence occurred and we ended up having to cancel our first two programs in and leave Diyarbakir and head for our next city. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for your support and partnership in making projects like these possible.

The post Pre- Outreach Tour Tragedy strikes again appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

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“All my life I’ve lived in fear. Finally I now know I do not have to fear. For the first time in my life I have peace. Thank you!”

Those were the words of a high school student shortly after a program I did standing in the back of a pick up truck as my stage (one of the images above). In Africa, superstition and ancestral spirit worship is at the very heart of the many cultures there. South Africa is no exception.

I remember the first time I toured in South Africa during Operation Sunrise Africa in 2002. Many thought that to bring an illusionist there was a bad idea. “People here are too superstitious,” some would say. “They’ll think you’re a witch doctor”, others said.

On the contrary, my experience has shown me that this is one of the best ways to reach students living in these more superstitious cultures. I performed at several South Africa universities that first tour. When the national campus director for Campus Crusade for Christ, who was a bit skeptical, saw the program for the first time, his response was, “We need to have this program in every college in the country!” Why…?

This year has been one of the busiest. I’m currently in route for the last segment of a seven country tour. I began the year in Kyrgyzstan, then Albania, Turkey, Israel, and most recently completed my 4th tour in South Africa. I can’t wait to begin assembling all the images, video’s and stories to share for you! Please pray for the hundreds and thousands of individuals that we’ve been privileged to reach with the Gospel. Pray for the local follow-up teams who are continuing the work with those individuals who have responded to Christ in faith.

Exposing the Lie
In my program, you might assume I need to keep the effects simple enough so as not to reinforce any beliefs in the power of the local witch doctors (also called songoma in South Africa). In my years of experience performing in so many “superstitious” cultures I have found the opposite to be most effective. I do the most “magical”, mind blowing effects that I can. At home in the USA its just good show. In South Africa however, I had students running for the door thinking I just performed miracles!

As much as my colleagues in the art of illusion would frown on it, after I present these effects, I would always take my audience through a simplistic explanation of the how I (and the SONGOMA!) create these effects. Then, the most amazing thing happens. It’s almost as if my entire audience and I were sitting in a pitch black room when all of a sudden the lights are switched on illuminating every person sitting there.

It’s so powerful… words do not even begin to capture what I see in their eyes or read on their faces and body language. It’s that total “ah ha” moment of realization that they have been getting duped their entire lives.

In much of Africa there is a tremendous sense of fear in many people’s lives. Especially those who have ceded power to witchdoctors who have deceived them for their entire lives. As I would say in each program, “if a person (i.e. witchdoctor) tells you a lie and you believe it, does he not have power over you?” Usually I would get lots of yes nods. “If he has power over you, do you not have reason to fear that person?” Again, yes nods.

“But… once you know the truth, and a person lies to you, do they now have power over you?”

Keep in mind, I’ve just presented several “effects” that would give the illusion that I have great power. Greater than perhaps anything they have ever seen or perhaps even heard. And I’ve just explained how those effects can be done using science, slight of hand, and trickery.

As the audience nods “NO” to that last question… I finish the segment by asking, “Do you have any reason to fear a witchdoctor who lies to you now that you know the truth?” Again, a resounding no as they audience begins to vocalize with great enthusiasm their confident answer.

Sharing the Truth
This would all be a nice humanitarian effort if I stopped right there. But, at this point, I’m only about half way through the program. The next segment, I perform some “for fun” effects and then begin to transition to ask and answer the question that is already on all of our minds… why do we search for the supernatural?

Clearly, in each of us is written upon our hearts to seek what nature has made plain… that which is beyond what we can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell… the invisible, the divine… the one true creator God. In a fallen state and with the father of lies prowling about, how can anyone know Him personally unless we go and tell them the truth?

What a privilege and thrill it is to conclude the program by sharing God’s love and plan for the life of every human being as well as the active demonstration of that love in history through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Meeting students afterwards, hearing how the Gospel has touched them brings a whole new dynamic to Jesus’ words, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free…”.

Next Mission
Saturday, I’ll begin my first day of programs in Egypt. Next I’ll move on to Bulgaria to work with Operation Mobilization once again on a street evangelism tour primarily focusing on Turkish communities. And finally, due to the response from the tour earlier this year, I will be returning to Albania for the remainder of my time before returning.

The post Outreach “Operation Sunrise Africa”… continues. appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.

I was told that Turks have a saying, “To be a Turk is to be a Muslim.” Turkey is considered one of the main centers (or protectors) for Islam. Islam is the Turkish identity, not just a predominant religion. In the 80’s, you could probably find only 50 Muslim background believers (MBB’s) in the whole country. Today, with a population of about 70 million, there are only about 5,000 MBB’s. With such freedom, I’m honestly astonished that there isn’t more evangelism taking place here. In fact, I feel somewhat ashamed I didn’t become more aware of the situation here sooner and involved myself however I could.

During my first tour we did open air programs in one of Istanbul’s busiest boardwalks. It was amazing to see how quickly crowds would gather. I of course thought that as soon as I began to share my testimony, people would quickly leave. Not at all! In fact about 90% of the crowd stayed for the entire gospel message!

Please pass the gravy. I’m not sure what the crowds will be like or what the response will be like when I return to Turkey this Spring. One thing I am sure of is that Turkey has a tremendous amount of freedom to share the gospel yet, I’ve been warned that the Turkish people have an apathy and disinterest in the gospel. They predominantly believe that there is no relevance to the Gospel because, quite frankly, there are no records concerning Jesus’ life to the average persons understanding. Any records of Jesus’ life have all been lost or changed (corrupted).

That’s ok, I have a secret sauce. I not only feel blessed to be here at such time as this, but also blessed to be in partnership with Faith Search International (www.faithsearch.org) a ministry wholly dedicated to not only spreading the gospel but, sharing it with evidence.

I remember back when I first began my training by President of Faith Search, Dr. Don Bierle, in the late 90’s. I was immediately impressed by how quickly and easily my understanding and ability on how to defend the Gospel’s historicity and authenticity (and I already thought myself to be exceedingly proficient in this area of my ministry!). I hope that my dialogue with local people in Istanbul during my next tour will provide opportunities to share those life changing truths and facts… the records concerning Jesus’ life have indeed been preserved and are absolutely trustworthy to know who Jesus really is!

As I continue my journey around the world, check out one of the organizations I’m working with. TACO www.tacoteam.org in reaching people with the Gospel throughout the Muslim world boldly using creative performing arts. If you would be interested in joining me on my next tour and be featured using your performing gifts and talents, let us know!

If you can’t, at the very least, take some time to pray for open hearts, strategic opportunities, and or course, new relationships in this part of the world that will assist in advancing the Kingdom of our Lord. Pray we increase that 5,000 MBB’s to 5,001, or 5,010 or even 6,000!

The post Street Performing in Turkey appeared first on Adrian Van Vactor International Ministries.