"Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty"

So here it goes. I am going to attempt to put into words my experience as a member of Hillsong Church. Just as a little disclaimer, words will never due our experiences justice.

When you think of Hillsong Church, what comes to mind? "Shout to the Lord"? Darlene Zschech? Or maybe Brian Houston? Or even "that mega charismatic church in Australia". It is true Hillsong is known for all of these things. I would dare to say, that in the past 3 Sundays we've sat under some of the world's best preaching, teaching, and worship. I've heard preaching like I've never heard before. Scriptures come to light like I've never known. *Side note, if you've never heard Christine Cain preach you must log onto the Hillsong website and take a listen. She is one sista who can bring it!* And the worship...I can't find a word powerful enough to describe Hillsong worship. We've seen some of the world's best lead the congregation in raw and authentic worship. But the one think I've discovered, its not the speakers or the world renown worship leaders that make Hillsong. Its the body as a whole. The body of believers who truly flesh out the body of Christ. As I was worshipping on Sunday, I realized for the first time I wasn't focused on the great music or the awesome band, but I was fully enveloped in the presence of God. I experienced the Holy Spirit in a corprate setting like never before. I was surrounded by a body of believers, of all cultures and races, yearning and thirsty for the Lord. I've never seen such a group of believers so excited to worship the Lord. I've never seen a body of believers so humbled to worship the Lord. And I've never seen believers so thirsty for the Lord. And its authentic. I have to admit, that was the most suprising thing. Its easy to walk in and see a bunch of crazy people jumping around and dancing and it may appear that on stage and in the congregation its all for show. But then as you linger and experience more, you see that these people are just truly excited to be in the presence of God! I think as Christians sometimes worshipping becomes so routine that when we are surrounded by those who are truly excited and thrilled to worship the Lord, its easy to dismiss it as show (this isn't always the case). At least that was my case. As I surveyed the congregation on Sunday, I was convinced I was experiencing an itsy bitsy taste of what it will be like in heaven. Raw, unashamed, humble, JOYOUS worship to the King. And Iwas surrounded by people from all over the world. Europeans, Africans, Indonesians, Asians, Indians, Canadians, Americans, Australians, and so many more in one room lifting high the name of Christ. Indescribable.

Aside from great worship services, we've been welcomed like a King and Queen. People go out of their way to greet us and actually sit down and check on us. Hillsong has a coffee bar for people to mingle after the services. Each Sunday we've been we've had numerous people ask us if we'd like to sit down for a coffee. Now this is after morning service at like 12:30pm, when most families and people want to rush home or out to a restraunt. How guilty I was of that! After a hard Sundays work all I wanted to do was rush home. Gulp. However, so many people have sat down and had meaningful conversation with us. No hurry. No rush. Complete strangers spending an hour of their time after church just chatting with us. Once people find out we're a married couple from overseas, they go out of their way to make us feel at home. There isn't a day gone by without a friend or stranger call, text, stop by, or have us over for dinner. I've never felt so welcomed in my life. Going so far from home is hard at times, but when I'm having a hard time the phone always seems to ring, at the perfect time, with a friend calling to check up on us. The sense of community from such a HUGE church is simply unbelievable. I am so thankful and can't ever repay these people for the sense of belonging they've given.

This post is SO long and I haven't even gotten to "Vision Sunday" we had last week. But I'm going to leave you in suspense! I want to leave you with thank you. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragment. You have no idea how much it means being so far away from home!

We love you!