Hey Conscious Church Fam

Firstly, Happy Easter!

I’m trying something different in the email this week. More musing (less news-ing). I thought I’d share what I’ve been using ChatGPT and AI practically for this week in life/work, and show you the prompts, the outcomes and the things that did and didn’t go to plan.

So no news/recap per say. But please let me know by replying or in the poll if this kind of content is up your street/helpful or if you want it to resume to business as usual with NEWS. 😉

Hey! I’m on a mission to help 10,000 churches navigate AI with practical tips and tools to help them thrive. If you know someone who could benefit, would you mind forwarding this email to them?

💭 Josh’s Musings

The past week or so, I’ve been leaning on ChatGPT more than usual—notes, feedback, image ideas, even generating QR codes (give it a go!).

Nothing wild. Just… everyday creative things. A bit of friction removed here and there.

I also tested some newer tools—Sora for video, Kling 2.0, Google’s VEO 2.
(More on those further down.)

Meanwhile, design work’s been full-on.

Branding for churches, signage, Sunday screens, printouts, booklets, banners.
A proper buffet of design jobs.

Now, I don’t use AI much for visuals—occasionally for a texture or maybe specific photo if I can’t find a suitable one in a stock library—but I did experiment with a puffy, balloon-style 3D logo. Thought it might go somewhere. It didn’t. But that’s okay. The process still shaped the outcome.

Then midweek, I was hit with a rough bout of sciatica and back pain.

The kind that makes lying down feel like the best move you’ll make all day.

Maha (who’s definitely more NO AI than YES AI) decided to see what ChatGPT might suggest if she gave it some info—my pain, the meds, my goals. Mainly just looking for meal ideas or stretch routines to reduce inflammation. Nothing weird. No “eat the hoof of a mountain goat at dawn” kind of stuff.

But here’s the thing…

A lot of what came back was eerily close to what I’ve heard from proper consultations over the years from when I do deep cellular analysis. Down to the supplements, order of eating, type of movement.

It wasn’t revolutionary.
But it was clear, helpful, easy to follow.
And in moments like this—when you’re trying to stay on top of work, family, healing—it’s good to have something that simplifies.

Then Easter came into view.

I wanted to make something meaningful.
A visual. A moment. A sense of wonder.

Weeks earlier I’d tried generating some images and had a dream of turning them into video. But the quality just wasn’t there. Nothing landed right. So I shelved it.

Here were a few initial ideas (when I was testing creative direction) I created back in March on Midjourney:

Then, Saturday morning, I decided to try again.

I used this prompt in Sora:

A hyper-realistic miniature diorama placed on a rustic wooden table, inspired by the iconic Snowrunner Game. The scene is enclosed in a transparent acrylic display case with gentle natural lighting and soft shadow play.

The empty tomb of Jesus.

A small placard beneath the diorama reads:
“The Empty Tomb”

Style: Ultra-detailed, cinematic realism with emotional authenticity
Lighting: Soft golden hour sunlight with gentle shadows and ambient natural glow
Camera: Macro lens, shallow depth of field, zoomed out to capture full scene including surrounding garden
Mood: Reflective, and peaceful — evoking a sense of hope, tranquility, and wonder

And it worked.
It really worked.

So I tried turning it into a video using Sora.

Here’s what followed:

1. Prompted with the same prompt I used to make the image. But it came back with this. Not ideal

   

2. I then moved to Kling to try:

   

   That was the wrong stone rolling away. Haha!!

3. Tried again and tweaked the prompt

Slow-motion panning shows the stone which is in front of the tomb is being slowlyrolled away from the tomb to the side, a radiant glow emits from the tomb opening, the dust particles and light give a sense of wonder, while a peaceful, orchestral score underscores the sheer power and finality of the event.


Still no luck, why is it moving the glass?. Burned another $1.40.

4. Thought I was clever. Used a different image with the stone clearly in front.

   

   I mean it rolled… because the ENTIRE TOMB ROLLED..

5. Finally gave up on the stone. Just asked for Jesus to walk out.

   

   Kind of cool, kind of creepy, kind of not what I asked for….

At this point, I jumped over to VEO 2.
Much faster to generate. A little more intuitive. Albeit more costly $2.50 for a 5 second clip

I used the original image with this prompt:

slow-motion sequence captures the glow from inside the tomb as a man with long hair, a beard and white linen clothes appears from within and stands at the entrance. Style the same as the composition

It still wasn’t exactly what I imagined.
But it had something, and was quirky.. I could make it work.

And I didn’t want to waste any more money!

So I popped it on instagram with some audio and let it ride.

After that, I started playing again.

Made some other pieces using Sora. Some deeply reflective, some tongue-in-cheek.

One of my favourites was this “accidentally awful iPhone photo” of Jesus walking out the tomb. Another was a layered double exposure—Jesus’ silhouette filled with images of his journey, his people, the open tomb, the lambs.

Sometimes the wandering and the curiosity is where the good stuff happens.

So yeah.

The robots aren’t taking my job……yet lol.

Did you use any AI to create something for Easter? Or for some personal admin this week?

Stay Conscious Stay Wild
Josh

Stay conscious,

Josh

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