Felix Snipes

Bio of Felix Snipes edited from Wayne Bristow and additional comments from Felix himself.

Felix's roots are firmly planted in the traditional soil of crusade evangelism. For 22 years, he was one of the best students and most dedicated practitioners of this method. For eight of those years, he was the music associate of the international evangelist, John Edmund Haggai. For ten years, he joined his hands and heart with those of Jimmy Hodges and me. We often worked in as many as 18 states in one year for local church and area-wide crusades. We traveled together to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. During our time together, we averaged seeing 125 public professions of faith in Christ per local church crusade.

Felix began to realize that traditional evangelistic crusades were attracting more church members than unchurched people. He understood that people could still be reached with the gospel, if they could only be brought under the preaching of the gospel. He also understood that people are event oriented. He knew that the day of mass evangelism was not over, but he accepted the fact that reaching people in an increasingly mobile society called for fresh approaches.
Over the years, he had been honing his skills as an illusionist. During our time together, he had employed these to attract large crowds to our "Midnight Specials," where he did ESP and psychic phenomena demonstrations. I watched with growing appreciation as he matched the feats of the world's leading psychics and exposed them as charlatans. I saw God draw multitudes of people to Christ as Felix concluded his demonstrations with a biblical explanation of God's plan for our lives, as opposed to Satan's plan.

In 1981, Felix's ministry took a revolutionary turn. Since then, he has been used of God to reach thousands of people through entertainment evangelism. Working in local churches, he captures the attention of entire communities through magical entertainment.

A high percentage of the people who attend these events are unchurched and totally secular. Most of them would never attend a traditional evangelistic event. They come to be entertained, and that happens; but they also hear a clear, biblical and powerful presentation of the gospel. In most churches, this innovative approach to mass evangelism has resulted in record attendance, a record number of unchurched visitors, and record numbers of decisions for Christ.

Felix's event strategy recognizes that it is difficult to attract people to consistently attend events that extend for five to eight days. They will, however, commit one or two nights to an event which promises a world-class performance. For this reason, Felix comes to a local church for a weekend. Christians are able to bring spiritually lost friends, classmates, business associates and family members to a non-threatening entertainment program. They are entertained, warned about playing with fortune telling or the occult and enlightened regarding the difference between magic that is supernatural and that which is actually illusion or slight-of-hand. The evening concludes with a clear, easy to understand presentation of the gospel. Since 1981, this approach has resulted in an average of over 8,000 people per year making public decisions for Christ.

Felix Snipes is being used of God to demonstrate that churches must reach people in order to reach people. For many years, he has insisted that a crowd is not a miracle. It is the result of hard work. The miracle is what God does with the crowd.

Yes, mass evangelism is alive and well but, in the 21st Century, the most effective methodology will probably be brief special-evangelism events.

Since Dr. Bristow's writing the above article, Felix has been diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis).

Here are the words of Felix in announcing this to his prayer-partners in JANUARY, 2005.

GOOD NEWS
I have been diagnosed as having MS (Multiple Sclerosis.) This is good news to me because it gives me an answer to a very frustrating problem I have been experiencing with my preaching.

BETTER NEWS

God has provided Greg Davidson to carry on the preaching ministry of the WONDER-FULL WEEKEND Crusades.

GOOD NEWS. I first became (subtly) aware of some problem with my ability to communicate verbally, in a clear way, during a Crusade in First Baptist, Ovieda, FL, in March of 2002. I did not know what was wrong, but knew that I was not as articulate as I had been in previous Crusades.

Instead of things getting better, they gradually degenerated to the point that Pastors were trying to counsel me about my speaking. One Pastor went so far as to suggest that I had a "canned" approach and was just speaking by rote. This has never been true with me, because every time I preach, it has always been so exciting to me that is was as if it were the very first time. I was earnestly trying to reach people for Christ.

Several months ago, one Physician suggested that my problem "could" be MS. I did not think it possible. He even had strong doubts about it because it is most unusual for anyone 70 years old to develop MS. This is something that usually attacks a much younger person.

As things got worse, both in my speaking ability and my stumbling as I walked, the Doctor ordered a brain MRI. He read this and then sent me to Dr. Ben Thrower, who is a nationally recognized expert with MS. He confirmed that indeed it was MS that I was experiencing. This gave a "name" to the problem with my speaking ability, which I had so frustratingly been trying to correct. In an odd sort of way, it was good news to me, to know that this was NOT something I could control ... nor cause!

This year as things deteriorated more, I took speech therapy and have tried numerous remedies suggested by friends, such as various vitamin supplements, etc., all of which have been touted by their manufacturers as "having good success with MS." A couple of these we have spent over $1,000 each in following the recommendations of good friends. None have so far improved the situation.

The amazing thing has been that even though my communication skills have been at a minimum, God has continued to bless with many changed lives ... even as some Pastors were complaining that I was preaching in an incomprehensible way. God was speaking to some hearts even though I was not able to speak to the ears of others.

At the end of our schedule in 2004, God spoke to my heart that it was time to bow out of the platform presentations. This has been my life, my PASSION, my calling, for over 50 years, in over 1,000 churches. Even though there is a strong degree of sadness as this phase of our ministry concludes, THERE IS A PEACE IN MY HEART IN KNOWING THAT GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!

BETTER NEWS. About two years ago, the Lord brought to my attention, a fantastic young (42 years old) Professional Magician by the name of Greg Davidson. Greg has been an internationally recognized magician for many years. He has worked in Las Vegas, on the top cruise ships, on stages and TV the world over (such as the Oprah Winfrey show), and more recently as a "high priced" and very successful corporate entertainer. In the midst of all his secular success, he realized how "hollow" this existence had been. He gave his heart afresh to the Lord and moved to Atlanta to get away from the un-Godly influence of Las Vegas. He became very active in a strong church in the area, began a soul-searching study of the Bible, and to grow rapidly in the Lord.

I shared my vision with Greg. He was rather overwhelmed at the thought. After he and his wife, Jane Riley (by the way, she is a very successful motivational speaker in her own right ... and is equally dedicated to the Lord) prayed about the offer, he felt impressed to accept the challenge and assume the responsibility of carrying on with the WONDER-FULL WEEKEND Crusades. The Biblical message in an even more contemporary way!

MORE GREAT NEWS AS GOD CLOSES ONE DOOR, HE OPENS OTHERS! As you know, about a year ago, well before I knew what the problem was, God began laying on my heart a ministry of writing. I had "assumed" that this was to be in addition to the Crusade ministry. Again, just like Jesus, He was preparing me for another ministry. I have always lived by faith so trusting God for our personal income will not be anything new, even though I am concerned about my family's needs. I do NOT know all the details of the future, but I do KNOW Who holds the future!!! I am so excited about what He has for us in coming months!

I am aware of at least two books I believe God wants me to write, and several other projects to help get the Gospel to a lost world. In other words, God is not stopping a ministry, He is actually MULTIPLYING THE MINISTRY !!! Praise HIM!!!

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Greg, Jane, Patsy and I, URGENTLY NEED your prayers. Remember, we are involved in a supernatural battle with Satan. This is a battle that can ONLY be won by the SUPERNATURAL POWER OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT! God has chosen to move in response to the prayers of His people. PLEASE, PLEASE, MAKE OUR MINISTRIES TOP PRIORITY IN YOUR PRAYERS!

GREG DAVIDSON may be scheduled in your local church for a WONDER-FULL WEEKEND EVANGELISTIC CRUSADE by contacting FELIX SNIPES at 770-938-8073 or e-mailing him at fsnipes@ix.netcom.com

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