How much it cost to skywrite ‘Jesus is Lord’ during WorldPride march – as the company who did the job gives a big hint about the mysterious church that paid for it
- Skywriting Australia refused to say who booked the job
- But the owner is very adamant to say who didn’t book it
The company behind the Christian message scrawled across the sky during WorldPride celebrations has revealed he pocketed $4,000 for the job.
Skywriting Australia boss Rob Vance confirmed a church in Sydney paid him the hefty fee to write ‘Jesus Is Lord’ followed by a huge cross in the sky at the same time more than 50,000 people marched across the Harbour Bridge to call for equality for LGBTQI+ people last Sunday.
Mr Vance would not tell Daily Mail Australia which church forked out for the message – which high winds immediately blurred – but was very emphatic on saying who it wasn’t.
‘It was nothing to do with Hillsong in any way, shape or form,’ Mr Vance said.
His company has been doing such skywriting for decades and his bookings are often for messages reflecting the conservative side of politics – though the high winds meant this one didn’t last long.
Skywriting Australia – which wrote ‘Jesus Is Lord’ (pictured) followed by a huge cross in the sky above Sydney’s WorldPride equality march last Sunday – was paid $4,000 for the job
Owner Rob Vance would not say which church forked out for the message to the 50,000 people on the march – including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) – but was very emphatic on saying who it wasn’t
In 2017, Skywriting Australia was enlisted to write ‘TRUMP’ in the sky during the Sydney Women’s March, shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in as the US president.
In November 2020, just after the US election which Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden – a skywriter wrote ‘Trump 2020’ over Sydney harbour, which was visible up to 55km away.
Before Australia’s marriage equality plebiscite in 2016, Mr Vance’s plane wrote ‘VOTE NO’ in the sky above Sydney.
Skywriting Australia was criticised for that, but doubled down by refusing to take a follow-up booking from the Vote Yes campaign.
In 2019, during a NSW Parliament debate over abortion legislation, ‘SAVE UNBORN’ and ‘CHOOSE LIFE’ messages appeared above the city.
Last Sunday, though, God and Mother Nature were not on Mr Vance’s side.
High winds soon turned the ‘Jesus Is Lord’ message into little more than a blur.
One of the earliest uses recorded for skywriting was an advertisement for the Daily Mail in England more than 100 years ago.
Skywriting is produced by mixing paraffin oil into the plane exhaust from a small plane and is environmentally safe.
The skilled pilots who do it at times have to manoeuvre upside down to get the letters and messages – such as a love heart for a marriage proposal – they want.
People are pictured taking part in Pride March over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on March 5, 2023
Around 50,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of Pride March (pictured) calling for global equality