'Big Vinny' has big heart for kid's ministry

After being cleared by the bio scan, two youngsters prepare to venture back in time.

As smoke billows around them, they face a time machine with flashing lights and electronic sounds.

The youngsters disappear into the time portal's black center and then reappear wearing clothing from long ago with the body of deceased soul from hundreds of years ago.

Of course, the time machine is not real, but the man behind the machine (actually standing in front of it) is real - he's Vince "Big Vinny" Saum.

With the help of his family and some imaginative props to tell a story, Saum is big on spreading the word of God to children everywhere.

Saum grew up under his parent's ministry. His father used a pirate/Dr. Hook persona to reach children with the message of God.

A traumatic life-changing event guided his father into the ministry, Saum explained.

When he was 16 years old, Saum's father was riding with a motorcycle gang when an accident cost him an arm and a leg.

"In the hospital, he gave his life to God and said 'If you get me through this, I will serve you the rest of my life,'" Saum said of his father.

"He ended up going to Bible College and he met my mom and they did this - they did all the churches and had a television show and did children's ministry for over 30 years," Saum said.

Saum was raised on the road and home schooled along with his brother and sister.

"My dad taught us how to do this. He gave us a passion for reaching children," Saum said. "I've never been able to shake it.

"This is what we do ... and now I'm teaching my kids how to minister to kids."

How did he get the nickname "Big Vinny"?

When Saum was working at a church in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 1995, a fellow tongue-twisted his name and ended up saying "everybody go out there with Big Vinny."

The moniker stuck.

After serving as children's pastors in Albuquerque, N.M., Saum and his wife, Stephanie, moved to Sebring in 2003 and started their full-time traveling ministry to churches all over the world including, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Africa and India.

The Saums have three biological children and are in the process of adopting their third child from Uganda.

In 2003, Saum's in-laws founded the Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja, Uganda, to provide care for orphaned and abandoned children.

"When we visited, I always joke around - what am I thinking? I'm taking my wife to an orphanage; she loves having kids, everybody else's kids, our own kids - I take her to an orphanage and that was the end of that."

The love of kids and trips to the orphanage led to the Saums adopting three little girls, who are all 6 years old.

Currently, all his family is at the orphanage with the new little girl who was named "gift," because she was abandoned under a church pew.

"I've never met her; I've talked to her on the phone and it's kind of neat that here at Christmas season we will be spending it with a new little girl over there," Saum said.

Saum will leave Dec.10 to travel to the African country and return in January.

Currently, he is volunteering at the First Assembly of God Lake Placid.

Those with satellite television service can see "Big Vinny and the Time Travelers" on the Daystar Television Network's Kidz Network. The show, which is taped in Indiana, airs at noon on Saturdays.

To learn more about Big Vinny, go to www.bigvinny.com.