Reverend James Wilson Knorr aka ‘Foo Ling Yoo’, 1st President of the FCM November 27, 1953-July 16, 1954

“…the news of the progress of the FCM has been heartening.”

Jim Knorr in letter to Stan Adair, quoted in What a Fellowship, p. 122

“I have longed believed that Christian workers in various fields of service would find a unique advantage in the proper use of magical skills and object lessons particularly in relation to children’s and youth work, but certainly not restricted to those two uses…

…In 1947, the Rev. Dr. John Bieri, of Philadelphia, an outstanding magician and churchman, shared with me his desire for providing information to missionaries to assist them in combating the growing influence of witch doctors, medicine men, and so forth! This story…was the spark that eventually brought the Fellowship of Christian Magicians to reality in San Francisco in 1953″

Jim Knorr in letter to Stan Adair, quoted in What a Fellowship, p. 17

“James Knorr got his start in Magic when he was 7 years old. He used magic for object lessons in church…

He used magic along with object lessons…Also, he has been increasingly called upon for public performances in a program which features Oriental magic.”

Magic for Christ Northern California, 1954

Rev. James Wilson Knorr, D.D., nicknamed ‘Jolly Jim’, was a Methodist pastor serving St. Paul Methodist Church in San Francisco when the FCM began. From there he pastored churches in Northern California, Florida, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. He also served as Chaplain on cruise ships…He had over 60,000 slides from all over the world… Rev. Knorr went home to the Lord on November 27, 1985 after being in ill health for several years. _{What a Fellowship, pp.122-123}

Rev. Knorr states in a letter to Stan Adair in describing his feelings on going to the Winona Lake Conference in 1979 “I was contacted by Ralph Mills and invited to come to Winona Lake. I felt greatly honored to be asked…I was also thrilled, for my parents had met while singing in Billy Sunday’s Choir, under the leadership of Homer Rodeheaver, during his campaign in Philadelphia in 1913. So, it was also something of a pilgrimage to Billy Sunday’s grave, and home, and to the Billy Sunday type tabernacle which I had known as a small boy in Ocean City, NJ, where we frequently heard him preach.”

_{quoted in What a Fellowship, p. 123}