Vision Sunday

On Sunday, February 7, 2010, Pastor Brian Houston revealed another part of the vision for Hillsong Church. Every year the leadership set apart a Sunday to share the vision that the Lord has given for the coming year. It is not a new vision but one that is continually being revealed and building year after year. In his own words here is the church he sees:
" The church that I see is a church of influence. A church so large in size that the city and nation cannot ignore it. A church growing so quickly that buildings struggle to contain the increase.
I see a church whole heartfelt praise and worship touches Heaven and changes earth:worship which influences the praises of people throughout the earth, exalting Christ with powerful songs of faith and hope.
I see a church whose altars are constantly filled with repentant sinners responding to Christ's call to salvation.
Yes, the church that I see is so dependent on the Holy Spirit that nothing will stop it nor stand against it: a church whose people are unified, praying and full of God's Spirit.
The church that I see has a message so clear that lives are changed forever and potential is fulfilled through the power of His Word; a message beamed to the peoples of the earth through their television screens.
I see a church so compassionate that people are drawn from impossible situations into a loving and friendly circle of hope, where answers are found and acceptance is given.
I see a people so Kingdom-minded that they will count whatever the cost and pay whatever the price to see revival sweep this land.
The church that I see is a church so committed to raising, training and empowering a leadership generation to reap the end-time harvest that all its ministries are consumed with this goal.
I see a church whose head is Jesus, whose help is the Holy Spirit and whose focus is the Great Commission.
Yes, The church that we see could well be our church -Hillsong church."
There are several target areas this year and Tuesday night at leadership night he is going to delve into more of those areas in more detail. Some highlights from Sunday were contributing to building a dormitory for Tembaletu school in Cape Town South Africa. This is the only school in the area for physically handicap kids. Most of the kids are in wheel chairs and it is very dangerous for them to get back and forth to school. So Hillsong Cape Town is on the ground helping to meet this very real need and in June every Hillsong church will be taking a special offering called a "Heart For The House offering" and money will go to build that much needed dormitory. These kids get abused while trying to get to school most days because they can't defend themselves. The video broke my heart and I think I cried through most of it. I am very excited about these!!! Jesus said what you do for the least of these you do for me and these kids are some of the least of these. The other really exciting thing that was announced was Hillsong New York. The last time they started a church it took 15 months from the announcement until the first service. So 2011 it should be coming alive. Wow!!
Something else Brian enouraged us all to do is to ask God for a vision for our lives. Habakuk 2:2-3 says to write the vision down. I have never thought of doing this. A vision you can run after, one that is not standing alone but very much a part of the local church. I am looking forward to Tuesday night and hearing more about the vision for 2010. Praise the Lord for building His church all over the world... (not just Hillsong but God's church).

First week of class

What a week this has been. This week we had intensives. Class was Tuesday thru Thursday 8:30 to 5pm. On Thursday night we had Elevate which was a worship service for all the creative folks at Hillsong. So much great teaching this week. My view on the church is changing. I guess I have always been a little ho-hum about the church. I mean I have always thought it was important and that I really need to be involved but have not really thought about what the church really is or what it should look like. This week one of my classes was called Church Ministry. Some questions that were asked are "Do I love the church? Does it fill me with passion and with desire? Would I lay my life down for the the church?" Ho-hum can't answer those questions. Here at Hillsong Leadership college we were told that we are now leaders of Hillsong church. That is a pretty humbling and sobering thought. This college exists to build the church so servant hood is a key component to college life. They are not training up leaders who serve but rather servants who lead, regardless of the position or task. If you are sitting in the congregation worshiping, then you need to be the best worship leader in your row.