Brock Gill hopes that by making things disappear he can makeaudiences see Christ.

Gill, a nationally renowned illusionist, will perform freeThursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Lincoln County Multi-PurposeComplex.

“It’s a show like I’ve never seen before,” said Nathan Case,associational youth minister for the Lincoln County BaptistAssociation, the event host. “He does Las Vegas-styleillusions.”

Gill’s commitment to Christ, however, is no illusion.

Since his first outreaches in 1997, his ministry has taken himacross the United States and into Mexico and Australia. Gill hasbeen averaging about 120 performances per year since 2000 and thecrowds have grown steadily from just a few hundred to an average ofmore than 6,000 in 2006, according to his Web site.

“While he’s doing the illusions he shares the gospel of Christ,”Case said.

Gill understands that students of the MTV generation have shortattention spans and a need to be entertained visually, so he haslearned how to get an audience’s attention quickly and keep it.

“Once he gets your attention, he holds it. That’s what we likeabout him,” Case said. “There is a lot of audience participation inhis shows. It’s a show like I’ve never seen before.”

In 2005, Gill filmed a documentary project produced by theBritish Broadcasting Company (BBC) and Discovery Channel called”The Miracles of Jesus.”

According to Gill, the project gave him the opportunity toobjectively investigate firsthand the miracles of Jesus in the NewTestament.

He handled the role of lead investigator in the project, anassignment that took him all the way to Israel and Malta. Thethree-hour program debuted on Christmas Eve of 2005 on DiscoveryChannel. It can still be purchased directly on Discovery Channel’sWeb site.