Hey pensyko3,
I have to say I appreciate your boldness with regards to your call to preach the gospel. I would love to hear your story sometime. You are right to not try and hide the faith, but to let your light shine in all that you do (
Mt 5:16,
1 Cor 10:31). Far too many Christians only live for Jesus at church.
And don't get caught up with those who say "Magic and religion can't mix" because that's like saying "remove all your personality from your magic - they shouldn't mix" It's an uninformed thing to say that doesn't understand what being a Christians is like.
That said, there is wisdom in the approaches that people have mentioned. In our very "all about me" centered society and culture, people don't want to be told to 'do' anything.
Magic, much like music, is a very powerful communication tool. And there are countless ways you can use it to share your faith. One way would be to do magic with non-religious patter, and
break down walls with the individual. Then let the spirit guide you as to what to speak.
A second idea would be to take your own personal story (your testimony) and weave it onto an effect or series of effects. Remembering to make it easy for a non religious person to understand, without the church lingo.
There are pros to both approaches. I personally think that one must be very careful to not make the magic cheesy. That's why I really like adding your own story to it. It makes your magic more intimate and personal, and it keeps it from being non threatening (because you are not talking about them, you are talking about you - they can't really argue with that or be offended by it).
I personally really like the first approach for a number of reasons. One being that I'm not super creative in the patter department. Another being I think we should use magic much like Jesus used parables. To teach an idea or a concept. Do a trick, then talk about how that concept related to the Gospel. (like Jared Hall does a straight Jacket escape, then talks about how that is like trying to escape from sin). And the third biggest reason is that I really feel that when you share the gospel, you should be you. Not Mr. Magician. Because the gospel isn't part of a show, it's real life. I think you will have a much better response from people when you are real with them, as yourself. Nobody wants the canned gospel presentation. As you read through scripture, there is no formula for presenting the gospel (to the dismay of many who think otherwise). It's different each time, for different people.
So don't can a gospel presentation, but rather use your magic to entertain and break down walls, and then let the spirit
guide you as to what to say from there.
Hope that helps. A search will bring up a few other topics in this area that are pretty good.
Justin