'Tall grass magician' recalls personal mission

By Bob Shimer
Special to the Hoosier UM News

In the early and mid parts of the 20th century TV and travel was limited. People living in the Midwest rarely got to enjoy the great magicians such as Houdini, Blackstone and others. A group of magicians started touring the Midwest, putting on shows in school auditoriums, and bringing live shows to the people of the Midwest. They became known as "Tall Grass Magicians".

I thought about this when Tim and Carol Crawford from Henderson Settlement visited a Mission Fair at our church. While we in the Midwest now can see the great magicians and entertainers doing live shows and TV, the people of Eastern Kentucky don't often get that opportunity. Since I am a Family entertainer, Storyteller, Ventriloquist, and Magician, we discussed the possibility of my coming to Henderson to do shows.

Last year was our first year to do this personal mission trip. It was very successful and in July of this year we went back. This was a time when the summer recreation programs were running at both Henderson and Red Bird so we could do shows for both.

We did a total of ten shows during five days for all ages, from young children to senior citizens. We traveled miles of twisting, white-knuckle, mountain roads - sometimes in dense fog - to get to the various places we performed. It was especially gratifying to do shows for the children. In this part of Kentucky it is difficult to get adults to church. The unchurched rate is 80 percent.

Many churches try to reach these mountain kids with programs that are fun and provide a Gospel message. That was something that I helped to provide. These churches work with very little, many with memberships of 20-30 and weekly offerings of just $20. I felt it a real privilege to be able to offer my shows to them.

There were humorous moments too. When we went to Camp O' Cumberlands to perform for high-school age campers, I could see the expression on the director's face when he saw Drango Dragon and me, "Oh great! Just what we need, a puppet show for high school kids!" However, we're not a puppet show but a variety show of magic, stories and characters, and we quickly won them over.

God has given me talents as an entertainer and now I have the opportunity to use those talents in his service.

Another fun thing we did was to do a show for the work camp at Henderson Settlement. They have many groups that come to do projects there. One group we talked to was building an addition to a two-bedroom trailer where a couple with five children, five cats, and three dogs lived. To that family it must have been a gift from heaven! During the week they have programs for the work camp volunteers in the evening. One of these has Kay Robbins, a talented mountain singer, entertaining the group. The week we were there we performed with Kay, a great experience for me.

This was an unusual mission project. God has given me talents as an entertainer and now I have the opportunity to use those talents in his service. We are planning to return next year.

Pictures of our mission trip are on the web at drango.com/hs.

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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