Day 47 - A Day of Rest

It's Sunday and the only thing I had planned for today was to attend church in the morning and rest and relax around the house in the afternoon. And that's just what I did....

I got up, made/ate breakfast, took a shower and got ready for church.  I was planning to attend the C3 church and was just about ready to leave when I had a thought.....

One of the things on my Australian "bucket list" was to attend the Hillsong church in Sydney (Google, Web).  If you've listened to any contemporary Christian music at church or on the radio over the past 15 years chances are pretty good that you're familiar with at least one or more Hillsong / Hillsong United songs. While the Hillsong church came first (previously known as Hills Christian Life Centre) it's the music from this church that has really catapulted Hillsong into a global mega-church. Today they have several church "extensions" around Sydney, more in several other cities throughout Australia and several in major cities around the world including New York and Los Angeles. They hold many conferences and concerts around the world every year.  

I've been familiar with Hillsong for many years and have played/sung many of their songs so attending the actual church was something I always knew I wanted to do if/when I ever made it to Australia.

So just as I was getting ready to walk out the door to drive to the C3 church I decided to look and see where the Hillsong church was located and what time the service started.  As it turned out the main Hillsong campus in Baulkham Hills is only 40 minutes from Mona Vale....and the last morning service began in 55 minutes. So I decided to head to Hillsong!

It was a pretty easy drive and I arrived with plenty of time to spare.  The campus is in a very nice and modern business park and the buildings pretty much looked like all the other businesses in the area. The parking area was huge and (as expected) there were a lot of people moving in and out from the earlier service and this service.  One thing I noticed, that was pretty cool, as I walked in was that they have their own fleet of buses to transport people around the Sydney area to/from church.....

There was a large patio out front with a coffee bar, food bar and lots of seating.  I walked through the entry hall and into the large auditorium and took a seat.  As with most contemporary churches the service began with worship music....and the worship was amazing!  They only did two songs that I knew but the music was powerful and spirit led......

The lead pastor, Brian Houston, was traveling so one of the student ministry pastors taught today. The service was really good and I was sooo glad I was led to come here this morning.

After the service I met a guy from the US who recently moved to Australia to attend school.  He started going to the Hillsong church in Los Angeles and was now attending and volunteering here. We had a nice conversation and in the mean time the parking area cleared a bit. :-)

I took my time going back home and, as planned, spent the rest of the afternoon/evening resting and relaxing around the house.  It was just what I needed after almost 3 weeks of "running" around New Zealand.  :-)

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