A new semester has begun. Yesterday was a pretty busy start: An entire afternoon of sitting and listening to lectures (Piano Class; then Literature, Culture, History), plus going to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in Camberwell at night, which involved group discussions and listening to a lecture/sermon on Romans 9:6-29 (we're studying the book of Romans for the year).
Anyway, here's the promised post about the Hillsong Conference.
Day 1
1st July. Night time. After some considerations, we decided to take the train to Sydney. It's around $60+ for students, and most of the cheaper flights were already fully booked. Lydia (my housemate) had bought the train tickets to Sydney a few days prior to our departure.
On the train - Dawn and I,
Grace and Annette (my other two housemates - they're sisters),
Kel and Ben,
Lydia (the other housemate) and Yih Wen! There's one more person in our group,
Jon, who was sitting in front.
Jon, who was sitting in front.
It was the most uncomfortable and longest 12-hour train ride ever. Sleep was rather disruptive as I awoke every hour or so to readjust my position.
We took yet another train to travel to Central Station to the backpackers accommodation where Dawn had booked for the 9 of us. The sky was blue, and it was sunny - I love Sydney weather! (Especially coming from the cold, dark and gloomy winter in Melbourne.)
Sydney Backpackers, our accommodation After having brunch, we left to Olympic Park which is the venue for the Conference. Almost everyone on the train was headed there. I had bought Marianne's ticket (she couldn't go at the last minute), and she had signed up for the Worship Leadership stream, so that was my stream.
Breakfast at 10-ish on the morning we arrived, in Chinatown.Very Chinese breakfast.
Kel, Dawn and I had the tickets for the 7.30 p.m. night rallies, but we decided to go for the 4.30 p.m. rally, which was the Opening Ceremony. The structure works like this: each delegate holds either a 4.30 or a 7.30 p.m. ticket, so if you had the 7.30 p.m. ticket, that's the rallies you would go for. If you don't have the 4.30 p.m. ticket, you either buy a separate ticket to attend that particular rally, or you queue in the Public Queue (where they let you in after all the ticketed people have been let through). We did the latter.
The Degraves household arrives at Olympic Park! Me, Grace, Annette, Lydia.
Acer Arena, the main venue for the Conference.
Kel, me, Dawn - a.k.a. 7.30 p.m. rally tickets.The others were all in the 4.30 p.m. stream.
We managed to find pretty great seats for the first rally. Gary Skinner was the speaker for this rally, but it was more of a testimony of his serving in Uganda than a sermon. The Watoto Children's Choir performed as well. The choir is dedicated to improving the way of life for children in Africa. Based in Uganda, they're made up of African children who have lost one or both parents to the AIDS epidemic.
If I had to state the theme for this rally, it would be one centred around serving and loving the community, and a challenge for the church of God to rise up to become a beacon for and the solution to the problems faced by the world. In other words, we should be living the truth, and not just merely preaching it. One prominent message (which would resonate in the following days) is the fact that God will give His Kingdom to those who will produce the fruits (Psalm 80:16 - 17). John Bevere's sermons the next day would expand on that, tying it with the message about the destiny God has given us, and growing into that destiny.
The Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony opened with much fanfare, and featured Eminence Symphonic Orchestra on the stage while the pictures and messages flashed across the screen. The night opened with Amazing Grace, the opening lines sung by Marty Sampson (a longtime Hillsong songwriter), and then Chris Tomlin ("Chris Tomlin!!!") took the stage to lead the congregation in Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), the wonderful new song which is his rendition on the beautiful old hymn.
Marty Sampson
The 7.30 p.m. rally had Ed Young, Jr. as the speaker, and he gave a rousing sermon on "creativity" - "the God-given ability to be consistently inconsistent and to be comfortably uncomfortable. Confusing? It does at first, but at a closer glance, it makes a lot of sense. In a nutshell, we are God's creation, and God is our Creator. He invented creativity, Jesus modeled it, and the Holy Spirit enables it in us. As followers of Christ, we are called to a purpose and glory whereby we are transformed into His image and likeness, and it's important that we get out of our comfort zones - living for Him is to be uncomfortable for Him. God wants us to be riding on the crest of creativity but most of us are simply splashing around in floaties in the shallow pools. We ought to incorporate that creativity into every aspect of our lives, and pray for God to unleash that creativity in ourselves and in our lives.
The first night was great. The rallies opened with worship led by Darlene Zschech and the Hillsong United team (with Joel Houston), so it's just awesome - there we are, 20,000+ people gathered in the stadium, singing as one church to the amazing God who makes everything possible.
Day 2 to follow... it'll come when it comes. =P
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