Hillsong Conference Day 2

Sitting here in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Toronto. We're leaving in about an hour to head home. I'm excited to actually be home for a while and see Malia and Pressley again, but it's been a great weekend.

Yesterday was packed full.

Session 1 - Brian Houston.
Brian Houston is the lead pastor at Hillsong Church in Australia. He planted the church 25 years ago and seems to be a great visionary who has seen a global vision for ministry truly come to pass.

In the morning he spoke from the book of Joshua where God promises Joshua that he will expand his territory, but he must be "strong and courageous." Brian's point was that God definitely has plans for us and great vision for us, but it won't come to pass without challenges at times. He read from Joshua 12 as it lists the entire group of defeated kings, 31 in all. Houston made a great parallel by asking what kings we were facing--be it anxiety, stress, fear, sin, etc.


Session 2 - Joel Houston
Joel is Brian's son. He is one of the worship leaders from Hillsong United, and is amazingly gifted, both as a singer/songwriter AND a speaker.

Joel shared about the I-Heart Revolution he has helped to birth. He spoke of God's call for truth, beauty and justice and I really appreciated the honesty and sincerity of his message. I think the main takeaway I pulled was just a reinforcement that worship must be carried out through our actions and involvement in the needs of the world around us.


Session 3 - Songwriting with Brooke Fraser and Joel Houston
Great, short session.

Songwriting is an abstract, crazy thing that I don't know if it's even possible to give practical advice on... so I loved that the basic gist of the talk was, "Be you. Keep writing. Love God." Amen.


Closing Session - Brian Houston
An amazing last session with a full-blown concert from the band.

Brian's talk dealt with the church and the calling of the people as a movement.




Looking forward to getting home.