I’ve decided to set some weekly goals in terms of my encouragement:

1. Buy someone coffee. Sit, talk and encourage them to pursue their dreams.
2. Do not write a cranky email pointing out someone’s failures (or as we often call them —  “points you could improve on”). Instead, find something they are good at and invest + encourage them with my words.
3. Buy someone flowers — just to show them they are special.
4. Find someone I talk to regularly (Coles checkout worker, petrol station cashier, work receptionist) and tell them what an amazing job they are doing. Tell the person how much i feel valued when i talk with them.
5. Ask someone close-by (a colleague perhaps) how I can help them when they become stressed.
6. Write at least 2 encouraging notes/emails to volunteers or other staff.

Now I don’t actually expect to fulfill all of these each week. Realistically 3 or 4 would be amazing, as my schedule changes from week to week. But I will take a purposeful stride in encouraging others — sharing the love of God to the people in my life through my words and actions.

The lyrics of a recent song resonate in my mind when I consider sharing His love with my words -

“every breath I breathe, I will breathe for You, Jesus. Every word I speak, i’ll speak for You, Jesus”  - All My Heart (Above the Golden State)

Every breath will be a chorus to the Lord, every word will be a poem of love, slowly unfolding.

http://tinyurl.com/b85f4y [Foxnews.com]

A bit of background on this: Mid last year articles started popping up on news and social networking sites (such as digg) about atheist groups spending vast sums of money promoting that “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”. Supporters of the advertising campaign stating that everyone has a right to freedom of speech, and that God has had his messages plastered all over front-lawn signs of churches for centuries. 

Each campaign can easily cost in excess of $250000, and some people go as far as stipulating that these large amounts of money are being spent, with almost no change in mindset or religious stance. These atheist promoting campaigns can be seen across the world from London to America, I’m even told here in Sydney. In london the christian political party is even jumping on the bandwagon, with signs soon to be rented saying “There is a God. BELIEVE. Don’t worry and enjoy your life.”  Supporters will then be able to send a sms costing 2 euros (approx $3.94AU) stating the word “amen”, with the money going toward the support of the christian political party.

Personally, these campaigns dont worry me too much. I mean, they’re similar to the political advertising and campaigning you see outside the electoral poll booths during election time. I’ve made my mind up well before I get to the voting booth, and no amount of political scare tactics slammed across thousands of plastic signs is going to make me change my mind. 

These campaigns have the atheists supporting the messages, the christians opposing the messages, and the rest of the world saying “I couldn’t really care less, to be honest”.

We, as the Body of Christ, should probably be asking ourselves “Why do they think believing in God means they cant enjoy their lives?” and be campaigning against that, instead…

Check out the following links for more info:

http://tinyurl.com/b862ts [the Washington post]

http://tinyurl.com/dg9v8v [the daily 49er]

(thanks to Eric Briseno for the link - http://tinyurl.com/b2e3kq [facebook] )

The camera ops i worked with were amazing, especially Fotis on MCU and Nathan on stage cam. I also really loved the work Jonas and Morfula did with the close ups, shot composition and overall style. Julie, you stuck to the shots I asked you to, and this really saved us from a directors view a few times. You and Fotis also co-ordinated your cross-disolve shots beautifully!

Also worth noting, we had a tiny crew. No stage camera assistant, so Nathans shots were very restricted. Also, we had a minimum 4 people in the control room (Ravnar on CCU, Keilah on GFX, Sam producing/senior op/pres desk and me directing. We were running on bare minimum, and pumped out a great quality broadcast. Another thing that really made me stress was the addition of a whole new segment to the nights run sheet, changed made half way through the service! But the team pulle it all togeather nicely.

I also need to thank the team in broadcast, it was nice to actually have a sound engineer helping us for once at PH, normally we have to do it ourselves. It sounds fantastic on the DVD.

We decided to take an artistic approach to the night, fast cutting, fast defocuses/focuses and we also desaturated all the colours (Black and white for those less-technical readers). I must say, at the time I was cutting for what looked best on screen and ignoring making the DVD look good (by choosing shots that complemented the pres-desk-ISOs and cuts).

Hopefully I will be able to post some clips of what we accomplished tonight, I just need to get approval to post the clips from united.

The praise and worship each night was unbelieveable, as 40000 people came together to glorify Christ i couldnt help but stand in awe and admire the breathtaking work the Lord is doing in our country and world. The conference theme of “one love” was what the Lord used to unite the churches of the world as one, and equip them to go back to their home countries to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I thank God that i am a part of a church that is impacting every corner of the globe.

In the same week, Hillsong launched its new worship album: “This is our God”. Spectacular: The acer arena packed full by the combined congregation of Hillsong Church, all worshipping and praising the name and power of the LORD. This album will reach almost every christian on the planet in one way or another, and i know teh heart of Pastors Brian and Bobbie is that this album will impact the body of Christ and challenge them to truly transform into the living, breathing body of Christ.

Michael Guggelimucci took the stage mid-way through the night and declared that God is his healer and provided. The personal revelation that I recieved from the whole album, so far, is that God alone is THE healer, THE provider, THE refuge, and that once we fully realise who God is we can truly understand our own identities, and from there we can see what God has purposed for our lives.

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=x4xsWldmqAo]

When The Saints

by Sara Groves

lord i have a heavy burden of all i’ve seen and know
it’s more than i can handle
but your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and i can’t let it go

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

and when the Saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

lord it’s all that i can’t carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when i think of all who’ve gone before and lived a faithful life
their courage compels me

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
i see the shepherd moses in the pharaohs court
i hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

chorus x2

i see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
i see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
i see the young missionary and the angry spear
i see his family returning with no trace of fear
i see the long hard shadows of calcutta nights
i see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
i see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

i see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
i see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

chorus

Okay my favourite lines in the song are the ones in bold. It just a perfect picture of the redemption. Brooke Fraser did an AMAZING version of this at colour conference, and I really hope it is on her new album (although I don’t think she would release a cover song).

Its been a while since my last post, and I promise updates coming soon (Friday at the latest) — and I promise detail!!

Chains be Broken,

Lives be Healed,

Eyes be opened,

Christ is revealed”

That would have to be one of my favorite poems at the moment. Written by Brooke Fraser of course. The rest of the song talks about waiting on the lord — “As surely as the sun will rise you’ll come to us” is one of the ways the bible comforts us in our daily search for God. Sometimes He seems so distant and out of reach (yes, even when your at hillsong) and everything in life becomes so frustrating. Recently I’ve been learning how to lay my problems before the Lord and praise Him no matter what.

God has challenged me financially — each week I have been getting by with a few cents to spare. My car is always scraping empty towards the end of the week, the cupboard is bare come Wednesday morning. But thats okay. Rarely do I despair, for I know the Lord is my provider. I know that in my time of need, he will provide. Sometimes bad things happen and people say “where was God?” — but the bible talks of God responding to His people when they praised Him (yes, even through the difficult times). Lifting an offering of praise becomes easier each time I do it. At first I was angry with God, then a little confused, now i realise that I need to Praise Him for who He is and not for what He does.

Only when we learn to praise God for who He is, only then will His love be greatly revealed to us.

A friend pointed this out on google earth, pretty cool. Its not a trick photo, it hasn’t been edited. You can check it out for yourself on google earth here. The big guy himself!