Photo: Narya Howard helps out magician John Michael Hinton. Photo by Vada Snider. 

“You know what kind of magic tricks I do? The fake kind. No real magic here.”

This is what John Michael Hinton told his audience Thursday evening at his magic show for families as part of the Mennonite Church USA Convention children’s program in Orlando.

Hinton is a speaker and magician who used his time to remind each person they are one

of God’s masterpieces. He illustrated the point with a trick where he bent a coin inside an audience member’s hand. He explained that the coin was now marked as his work just as each of us is marked as God’s workmanship.

This is the first MC USA Convention to feature a family activity program in an effort to allow attendees to bring their whole families to the convention, according to Jenny Castro, coordinator of Mennonite Church USA’s Women in Leadership Project and communications associate.

Child care has been provided for those who are too young to attend the daily junior youth events and evening family activities, such as Hinton’s show on Thursday evening.

Families attending the convention said they were grateful for the spaces provided for families.

Jesse Wenger of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is attending convention for the first time as a youth sponsor and said he came into the week with some trepidation about bringing his whole family, but it has be a positive experience for all ages.

“It seems like they’ve got all the ages covered,” he said.