The Bermuda Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is celebrating its 37th annual Camp Meeting.

The event started yesterday and runs through to July 6. The theme of the meeting series is closer, celebrating the promise and living the hope. This series emphasises the total wellbeing of those in our island community and looks forward to the potential attendance of those in the community.

Kenneth Manders, president of the Bermuda Conference, said the Camp Meeting series was due to start with a “gospel treat” at the Bermuda Institute yesterday evening. . “We come to pray, praise, and preach,” Dr Manders added. “We have invited David Trofort, as well as Pastor Edsel Cadet.”

“Dr Cadet will be dealing with mental health, which we think is a crucial piece to our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing – especially in times like these, when people are stressed out, grieving, and losing loved ones, people are struggling financially and burnt out. We can all use some guidance and counselling.”

Dr Cadet will be available at 6pm in the Bermuda Institute auditorium on each day of the series, where all residents are welcome.

“It's a free gift to the community,” Dr Manders said. “We want people to come and benefit from the information and inspiration, and experience transformation.”

There will be workshops focused on mental health with Dr Cadet, a clinical mental health counsellor, as well as a couples and family therapist.

Mr Trofort, an author, speaker and educator, will lead workshops and seminars with a focus on physical and nutritional health.

Mr Trofort described how a serious injury was the inspiration for his book, Eat. Pray. Run.

“In 2009, I tore my anterior cruciate ligament, and I thought that was the end for me,” Mr Trofort said. “I thought I would be walking with a cane.

“I told the Lord, ‘This is not how I want to go out.’ I was 35 then. After two years of physical therapy, I walked my first mile. It took about 16 minutes, and it was excruciatingly painful.

“Still, I heard God say to keep pressing, and one day, that one mile turned into two and two miles into three, and in 2018, nine years later, I ran my first marathon, 26.2 miles in Chicago.

“I celebrate that; I thank God that he allowed my body to heal, and I have been running and moving ever since.”

He added: “One of the key premises of my book is that we often eat more than we should, and don’t pray enough. I want to encourage anyone who picks up the book to read it.

“It will inspire you to move more, examine your nutritional and dietary habits, and most importantly, to focus on the spiritual component of praying. There is so much that we can gain from this holistic approach to health and wellbeing.”

The process of healing and journeying with God through fitness and nutrition, prayer, and writing impacted Mr Trofort, leading to a mind shift that he hopes will be shared with those who read his book and attend his workshops.

Mr Trofort said: “There is a mind shift that must occur. After I wrote the book, it was released the first week of November 2023. The book sales and signings have been going very well.

“However, I have discovered that there is a cultural problem that we as a people have, and that is we have placed ourselves as the tail; we’re subordinate.

“We have not taken the leadership role that we should have regarding health and wellness, spirituality, and fitness. During these couple of nights, I aim to teach that we have been called to lead, God has chosen us, and many of us do not feel that we are born leaders.”

He added: “A snippet of my message is we all have been called to lead in our area of function, but many of us don’t believe that.

“I believe that once we understand we have been called to lead, it will help us with diet and nutrition because most of us are struggling, we are eating socially, eating because of an emotional need, not necessarily eating and applying nutrition principles to lose that weight.

“There are so many of us who are overweight and want to lose pounds and to tighten up and firm up, and many of us feel that we are too old or we missed the threshold, so we accept the sedentary lifestyle, we accept the fact that were just going to have a little bit of a bulge here and there, or because of a certain age we cannot apply those principles, but I am here to tell you, once we acknowledge we should be in the position of leadership it will allow us to transform our mind, it will allow God to use us and to make those changes we need to make.

“We will also discuss applying certain systems to our lifestyles; I promise it will be transformational for anyone attending the workshops and seminars.”

The workshops on mental health with Dr Cadet will be held daily during the Camp Meeting at 6pm in the Bermuda Institute auditorium, while the workshops with Mr Trofort will take place at 6pm in the music room in the administrative building of the Bermuda Institute.

The main services for adults will be held at 7pm in the auditorium, and a youth service will be hosted at the Southampton Seventh-day Adventist Church at 7pm.

Mr Trofort's books will be available for purchase at the Adventist Book Centre, and there will be a book signing on Monday, July 1, at 5:45pm.

Mr Trofort encouraged people to come to the workshops. “I hope they attend so that they can understand that the tools are in place,” he said. “God has given us the intellectual resources to make better decisions. We are leaders, we are the chosen of God, and God has purpose in each and every one of us.”