Today was another great great day at Hillsong 2006 for me.

Brian Houston kicked it off with a message from Ex 18 on the need to “be one of a few”
1. Leadership is proven when we are able in the practical issues
2. Fear God, not man
3. Be able to see past the small matters, being annoyed or frustrated at people will only hinder you
4. Do not get sucked into anger about small things (Tit 3.5)

Bill Hybels 2nd session
Awesome! What a wise man. He talked about
1. Keeping the vision clear
2. Get the people engaged
3. Make your gatherings memorable
4. Pace yourself for the long haul

Charlotte Scanlon Gamblin
Charlotte is the daughter of well known Pastor Paul Scanlon from Abundant Life Fellowship
She talked about identity theft, using the story of Jacob, who became Israel. It was interesting, touching and helpful.

I went to the 4.30 and 7.30 sessions.

Bill Hybels 4.30 session
Bill shattered misconceptions some may have in this talk.
It was great. He was quite prophetic and said he was worried that while many churches were growing, they were not focused on evangelism. He told three stories of how he has led people to the Lord. His neighbour, a tattooed guy and a black man who was the victim of racism. It was excellent to hear him talk about the priority of relationships, friendships and personal love in leading people to Christ. He did not mention big services, seeker friendly sundays or anything like that. He said that stuff was needed, but was secondary to Christians reaching out themself. Bill also talked about the priority of listening to the Spirit’s prompting in leading you to people who are open to God, seizing the divine opportunity.

Franklin Jentzen 7.45pm
Franklin is a very energetic and passionate preacher. He talked about the need to be balanced, and accept that we will always have Christians with different views on a whole raft of issues. He also talked about meeting with God in a covenantal relationship.
It was a very pumped up session.

SPECIAL MENTION
Must go to Darlene and Martin Smith (Delirious) who combined to do a duet of U2’s “One”. It was awesome. They did a great rendition and it was fantastic to hear U2 recognised for the passionate Christians they are.

Today was an awesome day for me.
God had some things to sort out in my spirit, a few strategically placed swift kicks.

Rick Warren kicked off the day with a rehash of the first four chapters of the “Purpose Driven Life” However I dont mean that in a disaparaging way. It was great to hear it from him, hear his heart and passion. Such simple principles, yet in their genius is found their simplicity. I think Rick has mastered the fundamantals of what it means to be a Christian in a way few before have been able to articulate. I was speaking to one of the translators (for the deaf) and they commented that he is a very clear and articulate speaker.

Next up was Brian Houston, and he spoke on being a leader of a small group of people, and the importance of every type of leader to the kingdom of God. It was a great message.

Thirdly we heard from Rick Goodwin, who also spoke in the evening. Rick was probably the most direct and convicting speaker so far. He spoke from Is 6 and said something which really resonated with me. He said, “its very easy to identify the problems, a potplant can do that. It is a lot harder to come up with solutions. So much of what we hear, particular on the internet, is problems people have with organisations, their own church etc. So what if you can identify problems, what good does that do. Value to the kingdom, and to Jesus is found in solving problems, seeing the Kingdom of Jesus grow.”
Rick talked about the value of imparting authority to your leaders, making sure they were allowed to use their own intitve, in fact demanding this of them. Not moddle coddling people, but showing them respect. He talked about the important of principle over policy. In other words do what is right, not what the constitution says.

He also spoke at night, and was good. He talked about being the salt of the earth. At the end he had arranged for us all to be handed a mc donalds salt sachet and asked us to take it, and in two or three days, spill the salt out and pray about how God wants to use us as salt in the earth. I am going to do a similar thing at Bedford.

But I am saving the best for last,

DELIRIOUS WERE AWESOME
I love this band anyway, but to hear them live was just so good.
The sense of God in the place was incredible, and I found myself crying tears of joy, conviction, peace and …… just plain joy at sensing God moving and speaking to me.

About three or four hours later, I am rejoicing at some conviction and renewed purpose God has put in my heart. He was able to speak to me, in the middle of a loud rock music concert. He spoke to my heart.

Can’t wait! This is only really day one. Praise God and thank you God I can be here.

Rick spoke from Exodus Three where Moses approached the burning bush and God asked him some key questions. Of course God knew the answers, it was for Moses’benefit.
His question was, “what do you have in your hand” The answer of course was the staff, which represented his identity, as a shepherd.

Ricks’application was that we are to accept God’s agenda for our lives, give up who we are to advance his kingdom. Rick’s definition of The Kingdom of God is wherever Jesus rules, thats where the Kingdom is.

He talked, humbly, about the social and justice work him and his wife have been involved in, particularly amongst aids sufferers.

Rick has brought a humble, credible and prophetic voice to this conference. It was a moving and personally challenging time for me.

Ps 72, Exodus 3 and 1 Cor 9

That’s right, come on down next week, while I am away…………..

Its funny how we associate the known with the unknown. (Karyn is the known, her husband is still a relatively unknown)

Hopefully when I get back the church has not fallen apart and the members have not left in a state of dislusionment. 🙂

Actually I think he and the church will really enjoy it. From what I know of Karyn’s husband he is a great communicator, biblically solid, relevant and I have it on good authority that he ‘preaches from the heart’.

Praying for Karyn’s husband and the church.

Packing suitcase, leaving tonight.

Cant wait,
should have internet access over there, will post about it right here.

If we lose next week against Essendon, this season is gone, and Chris might as well try and find another club, because he wont be our coach in 2007.

Actually I’ve got to think that our season is probably gone already.
I hope they suprise me, but they are failing to play as a team.
Without Pavlich and Josh Carr, we would be sunk.

Haselby looks out of sorts, Farmer is out of form, and needs to be dropped.
Marcus Drum (pictured) made his debut, and sounds like he went alright, and Johnson was excellent, keeping Barry Hall to one goal only.

I have always been a big Chris fan, but I am sorry, I am starting to lose faith in him, because I think the players have. We actually have a very good list. What is the answer? I dont know.
9 games to go, and we will see what happens. Lets hope we can do something.

Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling
there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those
selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a
house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.

In my view, the money changers made Jesus mad for two reasons. They were taking up space which was meant to be for the God’seekers, those non Jewish folk wanting to worship God in the outer part of the temple. They were selling doves and other things for sacrifices at exhorbitant prices. While what they were actually doing was okay, the way they were doing it was wrong.

I put this forward because so many churches and Christian individuals are flogging their products nowadays. Maybe we need to be careful what we buy, and what ministries we support based on these two questions.

1. Does it help non Christians to come to Christ, or does it turn them away?

2. Is it a fair price for a product, or is it exhorbitant?