Michael Gleason’s passion for illusions began when he was in college.

As a youth minister in Pettus, he uses his hobby to reach out to the youth of First Baptist Church.

How did you get started in magic?

I was working an after-school program with second-graders during college and I went to the mall in Longview, Texas, and they had a little place called Magic Zone. It really attracted me and I ended up wanting to do it for the kids as part of the after-school program.

I needed something to get their attention and bond with them a little. That ended up being the thing that did it.

It was by accident that I stumbled across it.

How do you incorporate magic into your job as a youth minister?

It is no different than a magician that will do a “say no to drugs” performance.

I don’t see it as out of the box. Some people do.

I didn’t start out to be a gospel illusionist. I started out to do a couple of tricks for kids.

What types of tricks do you do?

I do the cut and restored rope. I do a mismade flag routine. I do a lot of color change illusions.

The ones the kids remember the most is I eat some Skittles and I tear up some pieces of paper and put them in my mouth.

I pull out a multicolored streamer of paper and it keeps coming and it is about 25 feet long before it is over.

Most of my show has about half and half of ordinary items and specialized props.

Where you good at first?

It takes a lot of practice.

When I started out I don’t think I was very good but I had a knack for it.

When I am on stage I am a different person. My personality comes out in a better way — a more explosive personality.

I am not shy on stage like I am in front of a camera.

Do believe you are acting out a part on stage?

It is my personality but it is an act.

I have always had some sort of performing thing in my life. I did One-Act Play in high school. I was a member of the International Thespian Society when I was a freshman in high school.

I have always had some kind of acting on my radar.

What was the first trick you ever learned?

It is that trick where you show people that the deck of cards is all different cards and you turn them into all one card.

As I have gone on I have learned to do things with a regular deck of cards and not use a specialty deck.

Was that first trick difficult?

It was very easy. If it had been difficult I don’t think I would have continued on.

Do you ever tell people how the trick is done?

If you knew the secret it would not blow you away but since you don’t know the secret it will blow you away.

If we shared all of our secrets it would not be any fun for anybody.

If we told them the secret they would know the secret and it would not be impressive. There is a reason we keep it to ourselves. It is more fun for everybody.

Your audience likely watches you and tries to figure out how the illusion was done. Do people ever get it right?

They come close sometimes but they are usually not right.

The mind works a certain way.

All magic is a psychological principle that uses the obvious to perform the unobvious.

We use just different principles of psychology. One of my favorites is the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

The brain fills in certain parts you don’t see. You may have thought you saw something but you didn’t.

Magic is very much tricking the brain.