Canvas Chronicles

In a conversation with Kyle where he was talking about his upcoming film, The Hopeful, I asked if he could see God’s hand throughout its production. His response was truly inspiring:

“The miracles started with the availability of an incredibly seasoned and sought-after crew for the exact dates we needed, and this happened with multiple people. For example, Brett Manson, the colorist for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and David Michod’s The King, had exactly 10 days open up when another film he was working on pushed their schedule later, allowing him to make The Hopeful a look stunning and a truly world-class cinematic experience. Also getting one of the most sought after foley and effects teams, not only in Australia but globally, was made possible because they also had another film push its schedule back for the exact number of days we needed.

Originally, we had booked the smallest Disney mixing room in Sydney, but God intervened again, gifting us the use of the main mixing cinema to complete the final mix of the film. In isolation, you might call one or two of these events a coincidence, but when you experience a chain of over a dozen of these examples spread out before you, it’s impossible not to acknowledge the golden chains of providence linking together this project to share His precious and vital message with the world.”

Kyle’s testimony speaks volumes about how God orchestrates even the smallest details to accomplish something extraordinary. Keep an eye out for The Hopeful—it’s being released October 17 in cinemas across Australia, however, you can book in to watch it first at a special pre-screening on October 8… just ask for the special link at the Signs stand in the Expo Hall today. www.thehopefulmovie.com
Purchase these tickets at https://thehopefulmovie.com.au/premiere-events/ to order tickets today for that special pre-screening.

Dr. Emma from QUT gave an insightful talk to the women at Big Camp, sharing how to use GenAI to create lists of Bible verses tailored to support people in various life situations. She explained that, with the right prompts, GenAI can be surprisingly useful. However, she also urged caution, reminding everyone that GenAI doesn’t have the Holy Spirit, so it can be wrong. The verses it generates should be checked for accuracy. As a tool created by men who aren’t religious, it’s something that will probably be taken away from us one day.

Here’s an example of the results when asking GenAI to suggest Bible verses to help someone struggling with distractions…

And here’s what they did with that insight: if you visit the Women’s Ministry tent, you’ll find lists of Bible verses for various real-life situations—yes, even something as specific as “living in a house under renovation!” Come and read them to feel encouragement from the relevant bible texts written inside.

Participants were surprised to see how accurate the results were for various life situations they might find themselves in, showing just how helpful this tool can be in unexpected ways.

However, Dr. Emma did caution that GenAI should not be used for professional or uni work. In fact, at her university, if you’re caught using it for assignments, you will be removed from your course!

You’d never guess George Stefan’s age. He asked me to guess, and I was off by 20 years. He looks far more youthful than the number of birthdays he’s had. Want to know his secret? Well, you’re in luck! I don’t just mean attending the 6 am exercise class at the school gym (the big building near the pool). Although that’s a good start, George has graciously agreed to step in to host some workshops today and tomorrow, in place of the cancelled sessions, that you can attend.

George is going to share research-backed ways to add 7 to 15 extra years to your life—and not just more years, but healthier ones as well! I was going to share some of the highlights here, but you’ll have to attend the workshops instead to find out his secrets. Don’t miss it!

David Stefanescu (left) and Jadon Kane (right) show one of the simple joys children can experience around Big Camp. Children have an environment where instead of being glued to devices, or homework, they can experience a week of being kids. Enjoying the simple things like finding flavours of drinks in the camp store and mixing them to create new taste sensations. It gives them time to hang out through the day, do various activities with other children their age, and learn about God at the same time.

Running through camp with their friends was some of the happiest times the editor can remember of his childhood. The only negative of camp is it takes a whole year for it to happen again. But don’t fear, it’s only Wednesday, half of camp is yet to come.

If you click on the What’s On Today option in our app, you will be taken to a page where you will now be able to select a day of the week then scroll left and right to view the schedule for each of the various divisions. It’s faster than going to each tents’ page.

Many attendees benefitted from yesterday’s Pain Management Workshop, which was presented in a scientific, well-researched manner. It also included a theological component of the impact God makes on healing.

There is another workshop being hosted today where you can hear about reversing painful chronic illnesses like arthritis. It’s a new one that has been added to the workshop schedule for 10am this morning. Keep an eye out for a push notification on your phone for the location. (Make sure you’ve allowed notifications in the Big Camp app!)

Back in the day, Pr. Kevin Geelan was working as a Literature Evangelist in Wollongong. While there, his daughter was attending violin lessons. One day, the violin teacher asked the Pastor’s wife what Kevin did for a living. She replied, “He works on projects for the community. It’s hard to describe, it would be better to just make an appointment and let him show you.”

The teacher agreed and made an appointment, but forgot to tell her husband. When Kevin arrived at their address to give his presentation, he saw they lived in a beautiful house right on the mountainside overlooking the harbour. He found out that the husband was a world-class viola teacher with international students that would stay at his house while he taught them. Undaunted, Kevin started his book presentation to the family.

There were three children in the home – a 15 year old girl, a 10 year old boy, and an 8 year old girl. By the end of the presentation, the mother wanted the home medicine books, the daughter wanted the teen book, Everything a Teenage Girl Should Know, the son wanted The Handbook For Boys, and the youngest? She wanted the entire Bible Story Set!

While taking it all in, the father starts asking questions. Pr Kevin, without missing a beat, said, “I’ve got just the thing in the car, I’ll be right back.” He returned with the entire Conflict of the Ages series. The father told Pr Keven that had he come two weeks ago, he would’ve said no to all of this. But for the last two weeks, he’d had a Mormon student from Utah in the USA keeping him up until 2am every night talking about God.

So at the perfect time, God filled the home with two health books, two teen guides, the 8 volume Bible Story Set, and the entire 5 books series of the Conflict of the Ages—an LE’s dream and a decent commission for all those books!

When asked if the family became Adventist, Kevin humbly says, “That’s not my business,” and then quotes 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gives the increase.”

The editor would like to give a special shout-out to Tash Salanitri for removing a stressor in the editors’ life by correcting typing errors, grammatical structure of sentences and even gives them an extra punch early each morning. It gives the editor great delight to have emails coming in saying: I didn’t find any mistakes in this edition.

A tiny, gold butterfly earring has been lost in the ladies shower block behind the LE Hall. If it flutters across anyone’s path, please let Pr Ben know at the Communications Hut or by calling 0414 642 504.

Today the specials are on Theology Books, Family Books, Bible Study Guides and Helps. The discount is 10% so buy your church’s stock for the whole year!

The expo hall has been a busy place of connection. The first day this busy ‘market place’ opened, ADRA handed out 1,000 fans and all week campers have by stopped by to spin the prize wheel, pick up Justice Compassion Love shirts, hoodies and caps; contribute to ADRA’s ‘daily question board’ and chat. Some chats have been surprisingly deep. People have shared passion projects; amazing stories of service; death and grief; hard times. Stories of campers having supported ADRA in years gone by and the campers that have received support from ADRA.  Kids sharing the joy or random acts of kindness done that day, elderly sharing stories of sacrifice and God’s faithfulness and everything in between! It has been a privilege for the ADRA team to hear your stories and pray for you this week. What a privilege it is for us all to share our stories with one another and walk beside each other and our communities sharing God’s love and being the hands and feet of Jesus.