Hillsmania

Whether you want to or not, there is no escaping Hillsong if you live in Sydney during the first week in July. Wherever you go there is a comment to be heard or an article to read. We had a few delegates camping on our spare beds last week so we had a second hand view of the conference. Our first hand view was standing in line and protecting ourselves from the stampede of over exhuberant attenders who were doing anything to get back into the 7.30pm after exiting the 5pm session. I positioned by pointy umbrella in strategic places to deter shoving in my direction.

Michael is wonderfully balanced on the Hillsong issues so my comments are somewhat measured however, I've had a gutful of them. One of the asst event directors said that on 'opening night' Brian Houstan refused to let the show begin before he had a head count of everyone so that he had a number to boast from stage. So, 28,000 people waited until 8.30pm for the night to begin. Take a good look at yourself Brian.

For me, refreshing was being at the Forge weekend in Melbourne immediately prior. A bunch of people (600 in the end) who were claiming no answers and boasting no numbers but seemed more intent on following Christ. Pure Rachel opinion here. My conversations after Forge were with people who immediately listed the ways in which they felt challenged to follow Him and impact the world and respect people. Conversely my conversations around Hillsong were about the "hot green jacket" CeCe Winnans wore and the spunkometer of her drummer (autograph obtained) and [quasi] celebrity spotting ... "Darlene just walked right past me". To these people, size does matter and numbers are adored.

Time to sip some tea and calm down.