Soaring up, down under: Pt 3

Day 5 8th July

The Conference had begun!

The winter mornings in Sydney are really cold and if you are tucked up nicely in a warm bed and the alarm bells ring at 630am, there is no where else better to be than to remain in bed ... oh the luxury. This would have been the case but for the fact that I came all the way to the largest island/smallest continent in the world to experience God, so at 645am (haha), I forced myself out of bed and shivered my way to the washroom.

Our hostess, the wonderful Beth, drove us in a heated car to the nearest station, Pennant Hills and it took us to Strathfield St and then to Lidcombe St, where we switched again to Olympic Park. We arrived at about 815am (the trains in Sydney are very punctual and predictable). By this time, the doors were already opened and people were literally flocking in the cold to enter the warmth of the indoor Acer Arena stadium.

That morning our speaker was Ps Brian Houston on 'Does my donkey offend you'? He spoke about the Palm Sunday story where our Lord Jesus rode on the donkey into Jerusalem amidst praise and adoration by those who would scream for His crificixion a week later. Basically the message was about things that God allows us to have to be used as vehicles for Him (ministry, gifts, etc) and we should never forget that it is not about those vehicles, but about Him. Jesus should always be upon whatever 'donkeys' we have. Amen.

Subsequently, Joel Houston shared his vision (I Heart) that God had given to him and what it meant to him and us as Christians ... to love God and love people with all our heart; God's commandments. It was not really prepared in the sense that you could see that he spoke from his heart. All glory to Jesus.

Our seats were just a stone's throw away from the stage where the Hillsong Team led the morning worship to Jesus.

Tim Costello (World Vision, Australia) also spoke on Freedom being the heart beat of God and about the fact that in today's world there are about 21 million people in literal slavery! We are agents of redemption, not just spiritual but also physical (social justice).

The congregation then broke off into our respective streams: Leadership, worship leadership or community. I had signed up under worship leadership and that morning the elective speaker was Mr Marcos Witt who runs the Lakewood Church Spanish service in the USA. He gave an interesting exposition about worship leadership based on Revelation 4 (the four Heavenly Creatures). It was nothing I have ever heard before and it seemed to make sense. :)

(the picture shows Darlene Zschech (pronounced something like 'Zhjec') introducing Marcos, pictured later in my blog)

Evening approached and by 430pm it was time for the first of two daily rallies. As I already stated, it is amazing worshipping Jesus with 25000 of my brothers and sisters in Christ. The Hillsong Team led again and the evening's speaker was Paul de Jong (of New Zealand). Paul is a good preacher and can be funny at times (if you look closely when he grins, he looks a little like Sean Connery, haha).

He spoke of faith and confidence (being attributes we are actually born with) and how to restore God centred confidence in times of trial. Powerful words.

730pm's rally (and it was getting colder) started again with worship to Jesus and this was followed by Mike Pilavachi (I think he started Soul Survivor ministries and is Matt Redman's pastor in UK). I loved his British humour and he was hilarious. Really funny guy, and with an inspiring message: the relationship between worship, evangelism and justice (worship is an expression of our love to God; evangelism is an overflow of that worship (if you love someone, you want the world to know that person) and justice is a consequence of that (helping the poor, widows, orphans, oppresed, etc). He also remarked something very interesting: Evangelism is a church without walls which doesn't preach the gospel but IS the Gospel.

(picture above: Israel and team, picture below: Mike Pilavachi)

Israel Houghton also led a short time of worship along with the Hillsong Team and for those who are wondering, he is a gifted and anointed worship leader and song writer with Lakewood Church in USA. His songs were really upbeat and lively (e.g. Let the Redeemed).

What a day. What a great start to the conference proper ...

... and there was more to come. :)

Jesus be blessed.

Soaring up, Down under Pt 2

DAY 4 7th July
(Day 1 of the Conference)

Pancake on the Rocks. :) That about summed up our morning. The gang met up at about 10am and made our way to The Rocks for a pancake brunch. To cut a long story short (it was not really that long anyway), here are the pictures of the pancakes. The bacon (for the savoury pancakes) and the 'original' pancakes were especially good (soaked in rich, golden, shimmering maple syrup).

We then visited the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and before we entered, took this picture.

Let me say this without prejudice, art seems to be anything today. I mean anything. There was this exhibition where the object on display was a table with some tools on it. Also some pictures of people framed up ... So much for that experience. The picture above would also be an 'exhibit'.

A few hours later found us at the Acer Arena in Olympic Park for the opening rally of the Conference.

(Due to the fact that I have been told that I tend to write theses when blogging, these entries are short, sweet and picture packed. I took over 400 pictures and videos. Please visit my Multiply site for all of them by clicking on the link in the Links section).

The initial rally opened what eventually turned out to be an awesome experience for me personally. I worshipped Jesus like never before, some nights literally singing my heart and lungs out, crying and crying out to my God, Jesus. Proclaiming freedom, proclaiming the promises of Him who reigns forever. More pictures from the first rally (Hillsong Nights). The Hillsong Worship Team led the worship sessions (there are two rallies each day: 430pm and 730pm with different speakers). The first day we had Robert Barringer (I think this is correct) and Ps Judah Smith. The former's message was about being extraordinary in the world, and the latter's was a message about 'Embracing Grace' (Luke 15: 1-24) to which I responded to God in rededication. Amen. What a start to the week.

The fourth picture is Robert and the one below is Judah.



Ok that's all for now.

Jesus bless you and be blessed Lord Jesus.

Soaring up, down under

Picture this: 25,000 people from 69 countries all around the world, united in praising and worshipping Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour: all in one stadium ... wow, wow, wow.

That about sums up my soaring experience at this year's Hillsong Conference at Sydney's Acer Arena: 5 nights and 4 days of soaking/being in God's/Jesus' presence and learning from some of the most anointed preachers in the world; responding to several of God's calls for me personally and getting to know some of the locals.

Sign me up for the next one! Haha ... and it is done ...

Some highlights of the conference and my trip to Sydney.

DAY 1: Friday 4th July

We departed from KLIA (thanks to aunties Susan and Grace for kindly fetching us) at about 8pm to Singapore via SIA. Changi Airport is an impressive airport, but somehow I still prefer the marble (is it?) floors of KLIA to the carpeted ones of Changi. We had wait for a couple of hours ... and then we were off: Sydney here we come. I enjoy night flights as it enables people to sleep easier. As usual, I was excited about catching up on movies, etc and was even looking forward to the food. :) I managed to watch 21 and most of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

DAY 2: Saturday 5th July

We arrived at about 9am the next morning at Sydney Airport and surprisingly it did not take us long to clear customs. My uncle Charles met me at the airport and it was then off to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Yummy ... I am serious when I say this: I think these are the best doughnuts (that I have had) in the world.

Well shortly after that we went to have tim sum :)

This was followed (the rest of the day) by going shopping for food as uncle Yuichi had graciously agreed to cook dinner (ginger and capsicum pork Japanese style, etc) while uncle Charles baked some shortbread. (The last time I visited them, I put on weight like nobody's business ... haha. Thank God for my uncles).

DAY 3: Sunday 6th July

Morning dawned and I was supposed to meet up with the rest of the gang (Yoke Kheng, Soon Seng, Jean and Anne) for worship at Hillsong Hills Campus. Along the way my uncles took me to Ikea for breakfast (walau right? Makan ... makan) (see above for picture).

Finally the bus came to pick us up in front of Max Brenner Cafe and we were on our way to Hillsong. The church is a large one, very 'professional' looking outside and inside it was a mini stadium. Reuben Morgan led worship that day with the team and we had Pastor Judah Smith (see later) to speak to us. What a service. Praise Jesus.

Later, we went back to Paramatta and went around Sydney, meeting up with Mun Yee and shopping at Paddy's Market where I finally bought a hat (g'day mate), a platypus and an echidna. :)

(the Australian girl was a friend of the person who took our picture) :)

Soon we had to go our separate ways as YK and I were to head to Pennant Hills to meet our wonderful hosts: Peter and Beth Kirkgarde (I hope this is correct). They are some of the warmest hosts I ever have had the pleasure of staying with and I really thank Jesus my Lord for them. They arranged accommodation for us, fed us (yum), fetched us to and from the station to get to and back from Olympic Park and were just great examples of Jesus.

We got them some small gifts: for Beth a batik scarf and a pair of origami earrings (from Charmaine) and a sarong for Peter. Jesus bless them.

I shall stop here for the moment. Have to rush off to class at UM. Tomorrow's update: the start of a (in the words of Ps Bryan Houston) 'fantastic' conference, beginning with the evening rally.

Jesus bless you.