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It is more than 20 years ago now that I first led a team of people in an outreach at Adelaide’s Body Mind Psychic Expo. Every year, such an event is held at the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds. On average, it is estimated that over the two days of the Expo 5,000 people attend. It is a large event in the city of Adelaide and is well known.

Having a look at the Expo

The publicity for the Expo contains the following information:

“The Body Mind Psychic Expo is a weekend of adventure and fun for those whose minds are open to “the alternatives” — people who think for themselves and those who are willing to try something different.

Workshops, Live Entertainment, Music, Yoga & Falun Dafa, Meditation, Cacao Ceremonies, a fun kids interactive corner and talks about Spirituality, Live Audience Psychic Readings, EMF Protection & 5G,¹ Healthy living, Past Life Regression, Live Entity Clearings, will be available.

Showcasing over 160 exhibitors, including psychics, natural products, food (including vegan options) and products, crystals and gemstones, natural soaps, herbal wines and teas, chocolates, dream catchers, incense, Feng Shui, home-wares, clothing and jewellery…”

As this indicates, there is a huge variety on offer, and some are spiritually based while others are health-based options.

Who attends?

My observation and involvement indicate that most of the people who attend the Expo are looking for something. Some are seeking healing for their bodies or emotions. Others are interested in receiving a “prophecy” or a message about their future.

A surprising thing is the number of supposed Christians or lapsed Christians who attend. We meet Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, and Pentecostal Christians.  I recall having a fascinating conversation this year with the son of a Uniting Church minister.

Clearly, most of the attendees are not “witches or warlocks”. They are people seeking some answers for their lives or needs.

The first time I led a team, I encountered some opposition from members of the church. Even one staff member felt that what I was doing was wrong. We were going into Satan’s territory, and this was not right.

As an aside, Satan’s influence is not limited to the Expo, and as I have already stated, most people at the Expo are searching for something.

What do we do?

It is costly to be an exhibitor at the Expo. We must hire an area on which our booth is sited. We operate from the booth. We have literature available – Why Jesus? and my Can you believe it? booklets, as well as other pamphlets and information about our church.

As people move past our booth, we greet them and ask if they have a physical healing need. Many respond positively and so we pray for them. We also offer to give them a prophetic word, which we suggest is an encouraging message from God. This interests a lot of people – after all, the reason they are at the Expo is to find some encouragement for their life.

Once they report an experience of healing or a positive response to the prophetic word, we find it quite easy to share the gospel with them. Also, we always give them a pack which includes one of our booklets, a pen and information about our church. Over the years we have had numbers of people attend our services because of meeting us at the Expo. Currently we have one person regularly attending church whom we contacted at the Expo.

I have developed a good relationship with the organisers of the Expo. I have spent time sharing the Gospel with their children, and this has received a very positive response.

The Entertainment Stage

A major feature of the event is the “entertainment stage”. All day, a variety of “acts” present for about 30-40 minutes. Among the performers are belly dancers, psychics, hypnotists, clairvoyants, Buddhist monks, angel singing, Aboriginal music, and me!

Yes, I get to go on stage. This has happened in recent times. As I have noted, I have a good relationship with the organisers and for some time, I felt that I needed to approach them about doing a stage presentation. They agreed and each year I present on the Saturday and the Sunday.

What do I do?

My focus is healing, and I am introduced under that banner. I tell a healing story that subtly points to Jesus as the healer. Then I seek to share words of knowledge for healing. Here is a portion of a report about my stage experience:

On the Saturday, I looked at 18 people and told them what condition they had and that we would pray for healing. These people were all nonbelievers. What I was doing was new to them all. 17 of the people responded positively and allowed my team and me to pray for them. We gave them information about our church and a “Why Jesus?” booklet.

My next session was on the Sunday morning. It may be a little difficult to describe, but I will do my best. I had this sense that the Lord wanted me to point at people, describe their healing need, and then state that the power of God was coming on them to heal them. At first there was some resistance, but I persevered. Then people responded and were instantly healed! It was amazing.

The key to this outreach ministry is the leading of the Holy Spirit in prophesying and praying for healing. This gives us the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with people.²

May 2025

In May this year, we were at the Expo once again. We set up our booth on the Friday afternoon. Then on the Saturday and Sunday, we carried out our ministry at the booth. Here is the report that I presented to our church about what we encountered this year.

Saturday

Our team has had an amazing time at the Body Mind Psychic Expo. Many at the booth received healing and were very open to conversations about Jesus. One person clearly professed faith in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

At the stage presentation, what a superb response! Two people publicly reported their eyesight clearing, numbers reported healing of back and knee problems, and one person struggled forward. They had pain in the neck, back, hips, legs, and ankles. After prayer, they felt tingling all through their body and walked freely. Later that day, they came to our booth to thank us for praying and said they were going home, unbelievably amazed.

One more: parents brought their child for spiritual cleansing. The child ran away, then dad caught her and brought her to me, holding onto her. As I prayed, the contorted face changed to a wonderful peaceful look and they were relaxed. Praise the name of Jesus.

Sunday

People were very open to talking about Jesus and took our pack, which included a booklet, “Can you believe it?” We prayed for many people who experienced healing. At the stage, we had more people in attendance than last year. People were amazingly open to receiving prayer.

We prayed for 19 people and were still praying when we had to stop for the next presentation.

Some highlights: a lady was suffering from plantar fasciitis with very painful feet; after prayer, all the pain went.

A little girl, a real cutie, came forward for prayer for a painful back. After prayer, I asked her how she felt. All gone, she said. Later, I saw her at our booth and gave her some children’s tracts. She asked me to write my name on a piece of paper for her.

Back to the stage: a woman had a very painful right breast, breast cancer. After prayer all the pain went. She said that the pain was 8 out of 10; after prayer, 0 out of 10. There was a lady with serious immune disorder and pain all through her body. We prayed and all the pain went.

We prayed openly in the name of Jesus and committed each one to the loving care of Jesus, and no one expressed any disagreement with what we did or said. So many people reported healing and were so open to hearing about Jesus

One very sad thing: too many women are living with domestic violence. One lady in such a situation asked us to pray for her little boy, who was experiencing a lot of trauma because of the domestic violence. After prayer, he said, “God will protect me!” Then I gave him a tract titled “Jesus loves me.” He read it and said, “Mum, Jesus loves me.” I am overwhelmed.

At the booth on Sunday, the team had some very positive experiences of praying for people. Some notable encounters: A backslidden Christian received prayer and felt the presence of God. Another man was attending church but had never prayed the sinner’s prayer. He did that, and we will follow up with him.

Effective Witness

I have written this to encourage believers to consider presenting the love of Jesus at “New Age” events. There are many of them all over our country. People who attend these events are seeking, and many are open to hearing about the love of Jesus. However, we need to be equipped to witness at these functions.

Some years ago, at the Adelaide Expo, there were about six Christian groups. They exhibited in different ways. One tried to sell “heavy religious books”. They were unsuccessful and gave up. Another did “dream interpretation” and received a good response, but stopped after their main person moved interstate. Another church group focussed on healing but gave up because they had little response. Now our group and the Seventh-Day Adventists are the only ones still present at the Expo.

Why do I think we have been well received and have had a good response? We have a clear focus as to what we are to do. We present as offering prayer for personal needs and then use the positive results of our prayer to share the Gospel. We train our people for this outreach. They are instructed in how to pray and witness. They are given strict guidelines on how to approach people. We tell them what to do and what not to do. This has been significant in us obtaining a good reputation with the organisers and seeing God work at the Expo.

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[1] EMF protection refers to strategies and products designed to reduce your exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs)—invisible energy waves emitted by electronic devices and infrastructure. These fields are everywhere in modern life, from mobile phones and Wi-Fi routers to power lines and household appliances.

[2] Barry Manuel, A Life Journey with the Holy Spirit (self-published: 2025), pp. 47-8.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.