So this morning's services went great; as part of the vision for 2010, Hillsong made new service times: 8 and 10 a.m., and 12 p.m. instead of 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 1:15. It turned out to be a very smart move, because every service was pretty much full, which ended up being a good problem. As for the choir, it became quite the interesting situation. We had a original setup for where we would stand on the platforms, but when it was time for us to be in our set position, there were these two random guys already standing there. Since there was no room left on the platform, me, Donny, Alex, and Rafael decided to worship from behind the platform, worshipping our hearts out without being seen. It was funny seeing Gabe Kelly look over at us while playing the drums and laughing at us 4 guys singing and jumping in the VERY back, completely invisible to the congregation but very visible in the spirit of worship; as our fieldwork specialist put it, "God saw us". It was so much fun though; having all that room to move around in joy and peace was awesome. I kind of want to do it again! Joel A'Bell spoke on kingdom greatness today; he gave an excellent perspective on it. He spoke on the story of Saul before he became king, and how it was set that he would meet Samuel. Saul's father Kish sent him along with a servantto find some lost sheep. God used this servant of the house, one whose name is never mentioned. Joel said that this exemplified that greatness comes from anonymity: not being identified or recognized when working. When Saul was ready to give up and head back home, the servant spoke up and mentioned a prophet that was in a nearby town; through this it was exemplified that greatness requires the ability to hear the voice of the Lord. The servant could hear the voice of the Lord telling him of Samuel being in that town. We as servants have the ability to hear the voice of the Lord too; sure we can hear it through sermons and songs and prayers from other people, but WE have the ability to hear it for ourselves. Saul then asked, "What can we give him? We are almost out of food." Then the servant said, "I have a quarter of a sheckel of silver that we can give to him." This exemplified that a servant of greatness is ready. He is prepared. We have to be prepared for God's path so that it can be fulfilled. The final point is that when Samuel was going to anoint Saul to be king, he asked Saul to send his servant down the road so that it would be just the 2 of them. Greatness can sometimes be moving aside so that others can be blessed. This servant, who was used to orchestrate this event, could have stayed, but he wasn't required then. It takes greatness to be a good servant, especially when you won't be recognized for what you do. Isn't that such a great word; I love it. After those incredible services, I got to spend some quality time with Donny, a fellow American amigo, playing around with the piano and having lunch together; it's nice to get those chances to just hang out with people you barely get to see. It was so good. The rest of the day involved just enjoying the beautiful day indoors and relaxing; it is after all a tough week coming up with the Colour Women's Conference!!!
God bless,
Steven
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Day 65: Just What I Needed
Today started with the one thing I love more than worship: outreach ministry. Street Teams was awesome this morning; we helped a friend with setting up curtain rod holders, and we spoke to many other tenants of the Waterloo Towers. Lots of good feedback is coming from the Towers, which is great not only for the ministry, but also the church. After that great morning, I came back to the flat, not expecting to do much else; but my roommate Anders told me about a new bed that's been hanging around. I went with him to check it out, and it's SOOOOOOOO much better than the one I had. So with Anders's help, we carried/rolled the bed all the way back to the flat, and now I have a much more comfortable mattress. Praise be to Jesus, the greatest provider EVER!! I was debating whether or not to go to church tonight; honestly the only reason I saw good enough to go (at first) was for the Welcome to Church Party, but I humbled myself and decided to go in order to receive from the spirit. And boy did God deliver!!! Not only did I get a confirmation through the worship, but it turned out that the one and only Robert Fergusson was presenting the Word!! I felt so refreshed after the service, and it got even better when I was invited to join the Welcome to Church party. So not only was I fed in the spirit, I was also fed in my physical body too! I had a gourmet Bagel Bite (sounds funny haha), a ham and cheese croissant sandwhich, some chocolate snacks, and to top it all off, I was reunited with an old and very missed friend: cheesecake. what a blessing =) So basically I got to eat for free today; AWESOME!!!!! Saving money and enjoying my day to the fullest. That's how it's done.
God bless,
Steven
God bless,
Steven
Friday, March 5, 2010
Day 64: Mind blowing
Today was very good. Despite the fact that I had to get to school at 6:45 for production training, it was a lot of fun. The soundboard Hillsong has is intimidating. Seriously intimidating. Old Testament was amazing as usual; allow me to explain why:
Catrina spoke on the Covenant, as in the covenants God made in the Old Testament. It turns out there's a pattern that these covenants followed: First creation, then sin, then judgment, then grace. Of course it started with Adam and Eve, but that pattern carries on throughout Genesis. For example, after A&E, there was Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, that being sin. Cain gets punished for what he did, that being judgement. Adam's other son, Seth, is the first recorded account of someone that loved the Lord, that being grace. Then we get to all these people that don't care about God. So what does He do? He causes a flood to wipe everyone out. Everyone but Noah, his sons, and their wives. Later on, that same pattern goes with Noah's sons; Shem goes with the Lord, and his other brothers don't. Anyways, it's a good pattern. What really got me was this part of explaining the process of a covenant. First there's the words, speaking the promise. Then there's the act of making the covenant, which during those times had a big process using animal sacrifice and such. Then there's a mark or scar that's made to signify that a covenant has been made; basically in example that whatever one person asks of the other, that person must do in equal. After that is a test of the covenant, to test the trust and loyalty made by the covenant. Lastly, the covenant is fulfilled. The best example of this process is Abraham: In Genesis 15, God spoke the words of His covenant. In Genesis 17: the act (being circumcision) is carried out. In Genesis 22, the test is carried out when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Here's the part that got me: Catrina was explaining this whole scene, and then she said this: "Keep in mind that when you made a covenant, if you asked the other person to do something, you had to do the same yourself. Does that sound any familiar???? If God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God would also have to make a similar sacrifice as well. How crazy is THAT?!?!?!?! Even thousands of years before the prophecy of Christ's arrival, He had it set up. That just blew me away; just goes to show, my God is a God of promise and of glory. In Genesis 24-50, the covenant is partially fulfilled through Isaac, Jacob (and later Israel), and Joseph. He is just so incredible. I could stop this blog right here.... but I'm not done yet!
After that awe-inspiring class, we had chapel. This is when I got to see exactly how these production people handle all the sound mixing, lighting, camera and media, and other things that create the atmosphere of worship during chapel; it's awesome. I want to try it again; I hope I get another opportunity. After a great lunch, composed of a beef kebab with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce AND a Dr. Pepper, we had a Personal Leadership tutorial, which is now one of my favorite classes. We had SO much fun; because of this course, my love for art has been reborn. I get a chance to draw something for someone every week, and I love it. God even made space for me to use my first love in college; how great He is for that! After class, we had practice with the band to go over the performance. So far, I think we got it down pretty well; we just have to work a little on the bridge. Other than that, we're gonna have a lot of fun.
Other than that, the day was a major success; thanks God!
Hope you all have a good Friday!
Steven
Catrina spoke on the Covenant, as in the covenants God made in the Old Testament. It turns out there's a pattern that these covenants followed: First creation, then sin, then judgment, then grace. Of course it started with Adam and Eve, but that pattern carries on throughout Genesis. For example, after A&E, there was Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, that being sin. Cain gets punished for what he did, that being judgement. Adam's other son, Seth, is the first recorded account of someone that loved the Lord, that being grace. Then we get to all these people that don't care about God. So what does He do? He causes a flood to wipe everyone out. Everyone but Noah, his sons, and their wives. Later on, that same pattern goes with Noah's sons; Shem goes with the Lord, and his other brothers don't. Anyways, it's a good pattern. What really got me was this part of explaining the process of a covenant. First there's the words, speaking the promise. Then there's the act of making the covenant, which during those times had a big process using animal sacrifice and such. Then there's a mark or scar that's made to signify that a covenant has been made; basically in example that whatever one person asks of the other, that person must do in equal. After that is a test of the covenant, to test the trust and loyalty made by the covenant. Lastly, the covenant is fulfilled. The best example of this process is Abraham: In Genesis 15, God spoke the words of His covenant. In Genesis 17: the act (being circumcision) is carried out. In Genesis 22, the test is carried out when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Here's the part that got me: Catrina was explaining this whole scene, and then she said this: "Keep in mind that when you made a covenant, if you asked the other person to do something, you had to do the same yourself. Does that sound any familiar???? If God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God would also have to make a similar sacrifice as well. How crazy is THAT?!?!?!?! Even thousands of years before the prophecy of Christ's arrival, He had it set up. That just blew me away; just goes to show, my God is a God of promise and of glory. In Genesis 24-50, the covenant is partially fulfilled through Isaac, Jacob (and later Israel), and Joseph. He is just so incredible. I could stop this blog right here.... but I'm not done yet!
After that awe-inspiring class, we had chapel. This is when I got to see exactly how these production people handle all the sound mixing, lighting, camera and media, and other things that create the atmosphere of worship during chapel; it's awesome. I want to try it again; I hope I get another opportunity. After a great lunch, composed of a beef kebab with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce AND a Dr. Pepper, we had a Personal Leadership tutorial, which is now one of my favorite classes. We had SO much fun; because of this course, my love for art has been reborn. I get a chance to draw something for someone every week, and I love it. God even made space for me to use my first love in college; how great He is for that! After class, we had practice with the band to go over the performance. So far, I think we got it down pretty well; we just have to work a little on the bridge. Other than that, we're gonna have a lot of fun.
Other than that, the day was a major success; thanks God!
Hope you all have a good Friday!
Steven
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Day 63: Service is my middle name.
Sisterhood again! I gotta say, it's so refreshing to be able to be part of such a wonderful ministry. Specifically, being on the logistics team. Basically, logistics is the part of the Sisterhood team that works solely on setting up the environment and breaking it down once it's all over. This particular morning tested my strength, and before I knew it, I was recovering from the most intense "workout" I've had in weeks. I'm still feeling sore even as I type this. But soreness aside, it was good; us men got to show the ladies how a real gentleman serves. I took it upon myself to serve as a water distributor during the first couple weeks of Sisterhood starting, and it's turned out to be a blast; and not just for me, but for everyone that gets the small, anonymous service from me. Whenever I'm done with my logistics duties, I head to the water station, serve myself first to get rehydrated, then fill cups to hand to whoever comes by. Most of the reactions are either gratitude or surprise, which is good to me. I'm just curious as to why Hillsong never had anyone try that out... interesting... anyways..
After all the intense work, I got an hour break before my Old Testament Tutorial class; I'm starting to love this course so much. It's gradually opening my eyes to the wonders and mysteries of the OT in ways I've never seen or thought of before. Our principle, Catrina, studies the Old Testament regularly, and with her knowledge of the original Hebrew language, you can almost guarantee every thing she teaches about is completely accurate. No joke. However, the tutorial is different; it's more of a review of what we learn in the OT lecture from Catrina. We are led by Bill Knock, who is the dad of Sam, one of the rising worship leaders here in City Campus. Bill takes what Catrina speaks about and puts it into the simplest form, making it exceptionally easy for all of us to understand in case we don't get it the first time. That's a great help.
Creative night was amazing too. We got to hear Reuben Morgan speak from the Word, particularly Psalm 34 where it says "Taste and see.." He spoke on how we should prepare to taste and see from God in our spiritual lives. Pretty powerful stuff, considering Reuben uses four to six word sentences almost all the time. And I totally didn't even notice Joel Houston; he's a sneaky fellow he is. Always wearing a hat. When the service was done, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of breaking down and setting up that needed to be done, and since there was only two guys working, I figured "why not?" So I stayed for another hour and a half, breaking down the stage and setting up chairs for tomorrow's morning class.
Well, I gotta go; my call time is 6:45 tomorrow morning for production training. Before I'm allocated to serve on stage as a worship team member, I gotta work production first; it not only serves as a step to being a solid member of the worship team, but it also gives you perspective on the guys that people almost never pay attention to. The ones behind the scenes, making sure the music sounds great, the microphones are on and set, and the lighting and camera work is in order. Sounds fun to me!
God bless,
Steven
After all the intense work, I got an hour break before my Old Testament Tutorial class; I'm starting to love this course so much. It's gradually opening my eyes to the wonders and mysteries of the OT in ways I've never seen or thought of before. Our principle, Catrina, studies the Old Testament regularly, and with her knowledge of the original Hebrew language, you can almost guarantee every thing she teaches about is completely accurate. No joke. However, the tutorial is different; it's more of a review of what we learn in the OT lecture from Catrina. We are led by Bill Knock, who is the dad of Sam, one of the rising worship leaders here in City Campus. Bill takes what Catrina speaks about and puts it into the simplest form, making it exceptionally easy for all of us to understand in case we don't get it the first time. That's a great help.
Creative night was amazing too. We got to hear Reuben Morgan speak from the Word, particularly Psalm 34 where it says "Taste and see.." He spoke on how we should prepare to taste and see from God in our spiritual lives. Pretty powerful stuff, considering Reuben uses four to six word sentences almost all the time. And I totally didn't even notice Joel Houston; he's a sneaky fellow he is. Always wearing a hat. When the service was done, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of breaking down and setting up that needed to be done, and since there was only two guys working, I figured "why not?" So I stayed for another hour and a half, breaking down the stage and setting up chairs for tomorrow's morning class.
Well, I gotta go; my call time is 6:45 tomorrow morning for production training. Before I'm allocated to serve on stage as a worship team member, I gotta work production first; it not only serves as a step to being a solid member of the worship team, but it also gives you perspective on the guys that people almost never pay attention to. The ones behind the scenes, making sure the music sounds great, the microphones are on and set, and the lighting and camera work is in order. Sounds fun to me!
God bless,
Steven
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day 62: Exploration
Yesterday went quite well. For the most part. I went into the city mainly for a couple specific reasons, but I ended up just exploring. I took the ol' Flip camera out and just started recording random things I liked. I visited Paddie's Market to see if they had any potentially good deals on ties for later on in the year, but the shop was closed. Bummer. So I went back to Darling Harbour to have some lunch; very relaxing, indeed. Then I went to get a haircut; as usual with almost every time I've went to get my haircut, they cut it differently than how I wanted it. So, as usual, I have to look a bit ridiculous for a week or two. It makes me miss Veasna. Oh well, at least it was $10 and not $30, like they price it here in the apartment area. I did however, manage to make my contribution for the possible NLA movie. If it doesn't happen, at least it will be like a webisode or something. That pretty much was my day, so until next blog!
God bless,
Steven
God bless,
Steven
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Day 61: To Be Continued...
This morning went quite well. We had another Personal Leadership lecture about having the right attitude for the cause that drives you, including things we should and shouldn't tolerate. Chapel totally made my morning; worship was phenomenal (as usual) and God just poured down on us (as usual). Catrina, our principle, spoke a message called "To Be Continued..." (hence the title of this blog), about how we shouldn't consider any part of our life as a tragedy because our story isn't finished yet. The Hebrew dictionary does not have a word for tragedy; the word "tragedy" was non-existent in Bible times. And for good reason. God doesn't want us to look back at our dark periods of time and think, "What a tragedy that was." The Word encourages us that God will make things beautiful in their time. Basically, if we are in a hard situation, we shouldn't accept a spirit of defeat because in our time God will make magnificence through those dark patches of our life. Because HIS story is not finished, our story isn't finished either. I felt so empowered after reading that. Nothing super special happened until evening, where we had Connect Group in our flat (which was great, might I add) we had a couple visitors from NSW University, or UNI (pronounced 'you-knee') as the Aussies call it. We discussed the vision of the church and what we as members can and should do to move towards the vision. It was also a great time for me to connect more with a couple of the guys, which was neat. Overall, I'm very content with how the day went. Tomorrow's my day off (praise be to GOD!!!!), and I have a couple errands to take care of.
God bless,
Steven
God bless,
Steven
Monday, March 1, 2010
Day 60: Just another amazing Monday
So today was quite productive. We started the morning off with a lecture on culture; what makes culture, how it changes with every generation, and how we should portray the same message with every generation. An excellent lecture, I'll say. My favorite part of the day was the band practice; we worked on the song for our first performance, and it went pretty well for our first time. I feel confidant that we'll do a good job. The other highlight was a prayer/worship meeting at a neighbor flat; it was incredible. Lots of praying, lots of encouraging words, and lots of joy filled the room for a good 3 hours, and I don't regret going in any way. Plus, I got to see an amazing piece of equipment: a Korg R3 synthesizer and vocoder. I gotta say I am impressed at how awesome that piece of machinery is; playing with it made me really want to get one, but we'll see(it's a bit pricey).Today was a blessing, like every other day; God's so good all the time. And all the time.... God is good.
God bless,
Steven
God bless,
Steven
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