When I think of Scott. I think of light. He is a light to this world. Thats probably why I am totally not surprised for all the medical stuff he has to endure.

Everyone needs compassion,
Love thats never-failing;
Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The hope of nations
- Mighty to Save by Hillsong

Yesterday was a hard day. Spending 5 hours at NIH (National Institute of Health). We had to pass security, they literally look through your truck, purse and you walk through a metal detector. Go to admissions which is a pretty long process, but truly enjoyable. The people there are wonderful. Much more people oriented than Johns Hopkins. We were speaking to our admissions lady, she was super chatty with us, I think it was because her name was Sonia, and Scott said our sister in law’s name is Sonya and she asked how she spells it. We talked about children, her daughter is 31 and how she wants grandbabies but her daughter told her she keeps on asking too much. I mentioned maybe you should just pray about it and trust the Lord to move her heart. The woman realized we were believers and she opened up even more because she was a believer. We were talking about how the process has been for Scott, looking for a solution to what is causing these spasms in him, she said she would pray for us today. Talking and filling out forms with her took about an hour.

Went to the neurology section, it was great! They had a little waiting room, a mini fridge with snacks, water, coffee a computer you could log into. They did everything to make people waiting super comfortable. We waited for about a half an hour maybe more. Met with the first nurse who just took Scotts stats, took his blood pressure while he was laying down then standing up really quick, mentioned his weight lose (he has lost a lot of weight over the past 3+ years), everything looked normal, he was healthy.

Had one of the interview Dr’s come in. Scott and her talked in a nerdy medical language that I understood slightly. Thanks to Scott Im getting better. This took about an hour and a half. She had us wait about 45 mins as she talked to the council of Dr’s, there were about 12 of them. She called us in. She informed us before that these dr’s were the top neurologists in the united states besides some guy in Texas.

Scott did amazing during the interview. I believe they were surprised on how well-educated he is about his condition. Towards the end the Dr was asking basic questions. Then he was asking Scott if his condition causes anxiety (We found out later that 90+% of the cases that come in the people are depressed or super anxious about their condition). Scott said of course when it happens he feels some anxiety because of the pain and what he has experience in the past after the pain. That during the pain is the only time he thinks about it, and its because when it occurs it hurts. But other than that he is not anxious about death or about losing his job or his families or friends response to it, because he has a great support system and he knows where he is going after he dies. Then Scott said “Do you wanna hear a funny story” and the main Doctor jumped right into that one and said “Sure I would love to hear a funny story”. I am thinking oh no what is Scott going to say is he going to share some embarrassing story from when he was a high school youth leader. He then shares the story from Jan 1, 2001. Scott was praying in the morning on his knees and as he was praying asking the Lord for help that day, the thought went through his head “I will walk with you”. He kinda blew it off and kept on praying and the same thought went through his head “I will walk with you”. Scott said okay God I got it I  hear you, then again the thought went through his head “I will walk with you” . At that point Scott said okay I dont understand why this keeps going through my head but okay I hear you. He then got up took a shower and in the shower he got a bulge on the right side of his chest cavity and started losing his ability to walk and got all crumpled up. He called his dad and he came over and picked up Scott and took him to the ER. Pretty much that is when Scott started going to the doctors hard-core and pursuing whats been going on with his body. Its been almost three years ago. Then Scott shared that the Lord has walked him through this and this is why he is not anxious. That his church, family, close friends and job have been super supportive of him. That the Lord has not failed him he has walked with Scott. The Dr then responds “so you are a very religious man” and Scott says “I dont know about religious, but I know where I am going to go when I die. I know that Jesus christ died for me and I know when I eventually die and go to heaven I will be with him.”

Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to Save
He is Mighty to Save

Forever, Author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus Conquered the grave
- Mighty to Save by Hillsong

I sat there shocked. Couldn’t believe that Scott just shared the gospel with a whole council of the top neurology doctors. Part of me was like “Oh no they are not going to take him seriously, he should have just stuck to the facts and shared about his medical history” but then I just felt super comforted and thought this is the man I am going to marry and he is by far the boldest and most fearless man I have ever met. That the Lord is the great physician and only He has control over the hearts of men. The council to my surprise was actually pretty open to Scott sharing his beliefs. They thanked him and said they would be right with us. We waited in the waiting room and I cried. I knew that they were not tears of discouragement, but were tears that my heart is overflowed with joy in knowing Scotts heart and love for his savior Jesus.

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender.
- Mighty to Save by Hillsong

The interview Dr met with us about 45 mins later to tell us the results from the council of doctors. The doctors said that they have never seen anything like this before. That Scott legitly has a medical condition, they are not 100% sure what it is. The thing that confounds them the most is that Scott is not like everyone else that comes in with a motion disorder, he is not depressed, he is not anxious, he has a great support system. Scott said this is because of his faith in Jesus. Also Scott has Type 1 diabetes, they are not sure if this comes into play. They said this is not cancer, not MS, not a whole bunch of other scary things, which my heart felt relieved. They said that this is a motion disorder and he is not crazy. They are going to continue looking into this as a team and would like permission to possibly plug him into some of their future approved trials.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever, author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Shine your light and left the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King…Jesus
- Mighty to Save by Hillsong

So this may not look like the 100% right answer. But for both Scott and I, it’s a great answer. We see that the Lord is still walking with Scott, still has him in the palm of His hands and still has control over Scotts medical condition.

We have prayfully decided that for now, until after the wedding, we are not going to pursue anymore paths. We are taking a break from it to focus and preparing for marriage.

I am honored and blessed to be walking alongside this great man of faith. He truly walks out Matthew 5:16.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven

MonChiChi

A picture of Scott while we were waiting….my last name is West so I always throw up the “West-Side” pretend gangsta sign…I gave Scott the nickname MonChiChi because on July 4th weekend in Florida he was looking for a nickname for me and couldn’t find one. He pulled up this website full of nicknames and one was MonChiChi. Since Scott was growing out his hair and beard I thought he looked just like one…and the nickname stuck. But yesterday while waiting for the Dr’s Scott was trying to make the west-side sign, we realized turning it upside down makes it the MonChiChi sign. Oh my seriously silly fiance…who can see goodness in every situation.

…and again we have another hillsonger taking over the oz idol stage – kudos to the hillsong community for their efforts in christianizing (is that a word?) australian idol – it could be worse :/

Ok, so I have to say that I love the music that Hillsong shares with the rest of us.  They are definitely making the big C church better off with the amazing worship music that they write and perform.  If you listen to worship music and think that is nice but I would never really listen to that during the week, that is just church music.  Well, this is not your average church music.

I want you to know that this is the kind of music that I pray we are able to have at Elevation and I know that the man that God is bringing to share his talent with us as a church is a Godly man.  I know that we are all so excited to not just start a church but be part of a REVOLUTION!

Van sommige dingen heb ik echt helemaal mijn buik vol. De twee dingen die aangegeven staan in de titel van deze post staan waarschijnlijk wel in de top tien. Ok… oorlog en hongersnood en natuurrampen zijn natuurlijk veel erger, maar ook van een heel andere categorie. Ik bedoel nu die dingen waar je je aan kan ergeren in de kerk en christelijk Nederland.

Het kopieergedrag komt voor in alle kringen. Gelovigen vinden iets en houden dat krampachtig vast en herhalen datzelfde steeds maar weer om te proberen dat gevoel van de eerste keer te bewaren. Dat kunnen de tekten van Huub Oosterhuis zijn, maar ook de vertalingen van Hillsong, Australië. Er is in die zin zo weinig origineels in Nederland. Zelfs voor een conferentie over de emerging church beweging wordt een Amerikaanse spreker uitgenodigd. Misschien is dat ook wel een logische noodzaak als de beweging een Engelse naam heeft.

Waar ik me ook aan erger zijn de opzichtige retorische truukjes van predikanten, sprekers en voorgangers. Nu moet je daar direct bij zeggen dat iemand die spreekt in het openbaar zich per definitie met retoriek bezighoudt, maar mijn punt is dat je je er bewust van moet zijn en sommige retoriek in de kerk beter vermeden kan worden. Het inspelen op schuldgevoel. ‘Als ik sommige christenen hoor praten, als ik hun taalgebruik hoor, denk ik wel eens, besef je echt Jezus voor je zonden gestorven is?’ Een andere truuk, vooral in Amerika (maar dat zal hier vast ook snel gaan opkomen), om heel uitgebreide voorbeelden uit je eigen leven te gebruiken waarvan je je af kunt vragen hoe gepast het is. Ik hoorde een preek van een voorganger van een grote Amerikaanse kerk die een piano-uitvoering van z’n dochter gebruikte om aan te tonen dat alle mensen in hun hart moordenaars en overspeligen zijn (n.a.v. de Bergrede). Moeilijk, moeilijk…

Maar ach, we zoeken vrolijk verder. Het zou voor mij wel een opluchting zijn als ik eens wat origineels zou zien in de Nederlandse kerken. Een kritisch besef van de eigen vormen van geloof en een openheid om dat geloof te belijden, te uiten op een oprechte manier.

My whole life I place in Your hands

God of mercy humbled I bow down

In Your presence at Your throne

In my life be lifted high

In our world be lifted high

In our love be lifted high

i never really understood what those words meant. in all the time i have sung them, i never understood them until now. during my crazy run last night, i had so much time to think through things i guess. this song was playing and as i ran, i guess i kind of heard the lyrics for the first time. when i think about it now, i guess i never really “heard” the lyrics because i’ve never really applied the song. but now when situations like yb, tennis (or lack of it), and sat things, and the whole deal with vision i kind of understand things now. now when i hear these words said or sung, it just touches me deeply. cause i really don’t know where i’ll be a year from today. and i really don’t know what’s going to happen even 3 months from today. it’s this tiny thing called faith and trust.

gee, i wonder what lesson i’m learning here.

Are you in a desert at this moment?

I’m so thankful for the truths that remain even when circumstances leave us feeling broken and beat up.  A few days ago, the problem of suffering and affliction came up for me (I got lost while driving, and got really frustrated!  Funny the things that prompt reflection on life’s questions, isn’t it?).  I asked God why I had to get lost; why He doesn’t give me direction in life when I want it; why a friend lost a son…

The next day, as I asked these questions again, I got no comforting reasons for the trials that continue while we live in this world.  But the Lord led me to some Psalms where David says some interesting things about suffering (especially Psalm 31) .  We think of praise, or of the Psalms, as a means to celebrate what God has done for us.  David, on the other hand, praised God in the midst of his troubles.  He knew that God is consistent, and therefore our praise to Him & trust in Him should be also.

Desert Song–Hillsong

(Listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QemZQKKJbRU)

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that’s within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it’s way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I’ll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I’m filled to be empited again
The seed I’ve recieved I will sow

//

da série “Sydney Impressiona pela…”

No domingo à tarde, demos uma passadinha rápida pra conhecer um dos prédios da igreja Hillsong. E tenho que confessar: ao ver o “Jesus Hope For Humanity”  na parede, fiquei muito mais emocionada do que quando vi o Opera House. O culto já estava acabando (mas não tínhamos mesmo planejado em ir porque iríamos à noite na gravação/noite de oração), então  estava cheio de gente esperando algum dos ônibus da igreja passarem. Entramos, conhecemos tudo lá por dentro (as fotos ficaram horríveis, não me pergunte por quê. :S) – a sala em que o culto acontece, bem menor do que eu esperava, as outras salas onde as outras atividades são organizadas, como a parte das crianças, e a livraria da igreja. Obviamente, com (quase) tudo que você possa imaginar da Hillsong e algumas outras coisinhas cristãs que não são deles ( CDs da PlanetShakers, por exemplo!). Enlouquecedora. Comprei o CD mais recente do United e a Bíblia que eu sempre quis – The Message. Essa versão não existe em Português e é fantástica, numa linguagem suuuper coloquial, parece até que você está lendo uma coisa totalmente nova. Já li Filipenses nela (meu livro preferido) e é como se eu não tivesse lido umas 50 mil vezes antes… Tem até pontos de exclamação! Ha ha ha.

Saindo da igreja, resolvemos pegar o ônibus (escrito Hillsong na lateral!) pra ir pra estação e então seguir pro lugar da gravação do CD. Nem precisamos – o ônibus ia direto pra lá. Suuuuuper emocionante andar no ônibus da Hillsong!

Chegamos no ginásio bem em cima da hora, quando os portões estavam se abrindo, não conseguimos um lugar mais perto do palco, então fomos parar lá nas últimas fileiras – bem de frente pro palco, com a melhor visão, na minha opinião. Uma hora de espera, e finalmente, o bonitão do Joel Houston sobe lá. Uau…. Uau. Não tem outra palavra – a sensação era… Uau.

Embora não tenha sido a mesma coisa que no último show deles que eu fui (o primeiro deles no Brasil) – 1. porque não era United, era Hillsong; 2. porque não era num estádio de futebol, era num ginásio menor; 3. porque não estava lotado com brasileiros (embora tivessem vários lá), mas sim com australianos -, foi fantástico. Mesmo sem a Darlene Zschech (estou começando a achar que ela nem existe – porque eu nunca consigo ver a mulher com os meus próprios olhos, caramba! Ha ha ha), foi altamente fantástico. Fiel ao estilo Hillsong de ser – isto é, pelo menos até a Brooke Fraser subir ao palco. Há, aí o negócio vai pra um nível ainda mais alto, se é que é possível. Uau. Fantástico. Intercalando músicas com orações conduzidas por diversos pastores, foi tão bom que todo mundo tem que comprar esse CD novo assim que sair. Total.

(Vai ficar melhor pra ver a igreja no vlog. Não tiramos muitas fotos e as poucas que tiramos ficaram bem ruim. :S)

O quê?  Igreja Hillsong.
Onde? 188 Young St, Waterloo / 1-5 Solent Circuit, Norwest Blvd, Baulkham Hills / 5 Watsford Road, Campbelltown.
Quando? Finais de semana – consulte os horários de culto aqui.
Pra quê? Tá brincando?! Pra realizar o sonho da sua vida! E louvar a Deus, é claro!

Brenda Nepomuceno

Second Chance by Hillsong United – check it out!

The first time I heard this song, the lyric and the melodies stayed in my mind for days ♥

I love the lyric; I love ALL the words there. But, I do have my favs, so here are some of them:

“So it’s with everything I am
I reach out for Your hand
The hope for change
The second chance I’ve gained”

“How could greater love than this
Ever possibly exist”

“Bearing the marks of His love”

“Where a little faith’s enough
To see mountains lift and move”

Isn’t it a wonderful song?

So here is the FULL lyric:

Second Chance – Hillsong United
You called my name
Reached out Your hand
Restored my life
And I was redeemed
The moment You entered my life

Amazing grace
Christ gave that day
My life was changed
When from my shoulders
Fell the weight of my sin

So it’s with everything I am
I reach out for Your hand
The hope for change
The second chance I’ve gained

On You I throw my life
Casting all my fears aside
How could greater love than this
Ever possibly exist

Consume my thoughts
As I rest in You
I’m now in love
With a Saviour
Bearing the marks of His love

So I’ll wait upon You now
With my hands released to You
Where a little faith’s enough
To see mountains lift and move

And I’ll wait upon You now
Dedicated to Your will
To this love that will remain
A love that never fails

Come to my rescue

Falling on my knees in worship

Giving all I am to seek your face

Lord, all I am is yours

My whole life I place in Your hands

God of mercy humbled I bow down

In Your presence at Your throne

I called, You answered

And you came to my rescue and I,

I want to be where You are

In my life be lifted high

In our world be lifted high

In our love be lifted high

I do like this song, but some people could look at this as a song singing about us and not fully about God and Jesus Christ. It is tough though to figure out what exactly are biblical songs that are directed at God and not focused too much on us as humans.  This song still has a good message to it, even though it might be skewed in the focus of the song.  The part I am mostly focusing on is the chorus, where it says “I called, You answered; And you came to my rescue and I, I want to be where You are.” God did come to our rescue and we should want to be where He is, but us calling Him is something I don’t believe is true.  No one is going around saying “Hey God, I’m here! Help me out!” Usually, we rebell and want to do our own thing. It is not until the Holy Spirit come’s upon us and puts the regreat of what we just did.  God called us, those that are His children and the elect.  Our sinful natures did nothing before God sprouted a response in our soul.

This is how I think that part should go: “You called, I answered; And you came to my rescue and I, I want to be where You are.”  Another thing with the song, is a lot of times Christians just sing it and never really think to understand what they are saying.  “Falling on our knees; giving all we are; all we are is His; whole life in His hands; humbled we bow down; Life, world, love, God should be lifted high”.  These things are huge in someone’s life, becuase of how much we want to be able to control somethings.  We should be giving our alls to Him, and I even know of myself that I don’t do it all the time, but we need to keep that thinking constantly in our minds and ask God for help as well.

artist: Hillsong
-gmac09-

VERSE
LOST AND STRANDED EMPTY HANDED
BROKEN DOWN ALL ALONE
YOUR MERCY IT ENTERED INTO DARKNESS
ALL ENFOLDED US IN LOVE

PRE-CHORUS
WE GIVE YOU ALL WE ARE
FOR THE GLORY OF YOUR NAME
WE GIVE ALL WE ARE FOR YOUR PRAISE

VERSE II
JUST A GLIMMER OF YOUR GLORY
AND THE EARTH FALLS TO ITS KNEES
YOU LEVEL THE MOUNTAINS WITH A WHISPER
AND YOU CALM THE RAGING SEAS

VERSE III
THIS MEANS FREEDOM OF THE CAPTIVE
AND GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE IN NEED
YOUR MESSAGE IS JUSTICE AND COMPASSION
GOD OF LOVE AND PRINCE OF PEACE

CHORUS
LET THE EARTH COME TO LIFE
IN THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN’S GLOW
AND THE STREETS SOUND WITH JOY
AS THE SHACKLES LOSE THEIR HOLD
YOU LAID DOWN YOUR LIFE FOR ONE AND ALL
SO WE GIVE ALL WE ARE
TO YOU ALONE

BRIDGE
WITH ONE VOICE WE SING HALLELUJAH
ALL THE EARTH CRY OUT HALLELUJAH
WITH THE ANGELS SING HALLELUJAH
JESUS CHRIST IS KING

OUTRO
WE GIVE EVERYTHING TO YOU ALONE
WE GIVE EVERYTHING

click below for chords…
GLOW

Today is going to be a great day.  Although my Sunday afternoon nap may suffer, I still believe it will be a great day.  It is gonna be a very full day.  I’m excited about all my expectations for the day too!

• We are singing With Everything by Hillsong today in church.  The key line is “with everything we will shout for Your glory”.  I love it.  That is the whole point!  I can’t wait to watch people sing out to Him!
• Today we are having a Kingsfield Church park day.  Nothing planned.  Just gonna stay late today after church and hangout with everyone in the park at the Town Center.  I love times when we just get to hang out and not schedule speakers and announcements and songs and such.  Those times are needed too!
• My fantasy football teams are going to need to step it up this week.  One did last week (sorry KK) and the other did not.  I am expecting some awesome stats from my boys.
• Peyton vs. Brady.  This should be a great game!  The Sunday night football game is the Colts vs. the Patriots.  Only bad weather or major injuries could make this game not awesome!  (I’ll have to keep the wife away from the tv since Peyton is on her list of 5…if you know what I mean.)

Hope your Sunday is great, but don’t wait for the weekend to expect big things from our HUGE God!

Chris & Jonathan at Balmoral Beach, Sydney. Chris is trying desperately to look as cool as Jon, bless!

It was so good to have Chris Parkes – our Guern in Oz – to plan and arrange for us a week visiting Hillsong Church in Sydney Australia. Chris has been studying at their ministry training college and working in the church there for over three years now. He is coming to the end of his Degree course having previously completed what can be best described as a Diploma in Ministry during his initial year in Sydney.

The 4000-seat convention centre at Hillsong's main campus where several services are held each weekend.

Hillsong is well known in most of Charisendom if not the wider Evangelical world, firstly for its prolific worship and song-writing output as a community which began dramatically to influence beyond its Sydney based church in the early 90s with songs like This is My Desire and Shout to the Lord. Since then the trickle has turned into a torrent of wonderful, catchy, Jesus-centred worship songs of which you’re now very likely to find peppering song set-lists from Littlehampton to Little Wanganui.

We arrived in Sydney late at night and were met at the airport by Kim Drew, a lovely South African friend who used to live in Guernsey. Kim attended an Alpha course we were running a couple of years ago after which she joined our church but sadly only for a few months before her husband Colin’s job moved them and their family to Australia.

Colin & Kim Drew

I had never met Colin nor their children, and so it was very gracious and generous of them both to have us to stay, initially for three nights, but in the end, as other accommodation fell through, for a whole week! It was thoroughly fortuitous also that the Drews live in Cherrybrook, a suburb of North West Sydney which is about 10 minutes drive from the main Hillsong Campus in Baulkham Hills.

This massive suburban district North West of the city is one residential new-town after another, and is collectively known as ‘the Hills’ district because so many of the residential clusters in this region have the word ‘hill’ in their title, and also because… well, they’re hilly, I guess. Anyhow this is the reason the church has the name ‘Hillsong’, it was originally founded in the early 80s as The Hills Christian Life Centre. As an affiliated Assemblies of God church (in Australia the denomination is known collectively as Australian Christian Churches) it was part of a generic “Christian Life Centre” movement in the AoG which was a kind of renewal and restoration movement and as such influenced Europe also.

Brian & Bobbie Houston

Hillsong thus started off life as a kind of suburban church plant from the Christian Life Centre in downtown Sydney which has now somewhat ironically become the city campus of Hillsong Church. Brian and Bobby Houston, the senior leadership couple in Hillsong Church are a bubbly, trendy, fatherly-motherly couple who set the tone for much of the culture in this massive church of over 20,000 people. It was Brian’s father who was the pastor of the original Sydney Christian Life Centre which is now the Hillsong city campus.

Chris (Parkesy to his friends) lived only a few minutes drive from Colin and Kim’s place too, so he was able to pick us up each day and taxi us around which was just great. Chris is fully engaged in Hillsong Church and loves all that he does there, which includes the theological degree course that he’s been on the past few years, but this is only part of the picture. When I say fully engaged I mean fully. Chris is also a Connect Group Leader (i.e. home-group leader), and as one of the Powerhouse leaders (no, not primary kids for any Rockers reading this, in Hillsong this means young people aged 18-25) he also oversees a Tribe which consists of around 400 people – a collection of around 40 Connect Groups, and of course he is involved with leading and serving at at least two weekend services, as well as the Powerhouse midweek service!

Chris does all this voluntarily as thousands of others do, but he also does a small part-time paid job for roughly two days a week in Hillsong’s international conference office which is often manned 24 hours a day. So together with college lectures, study and course-work, Chris has a pretty full week! But as with so many we met who are equally full-on engaged in church life, Chris loves Jesus full-on too, inside-out, enjoys everything he does, takes responsibility seriously, wants the world to see the glory and excellence of the Lord Jesus through the church and seems thoroughly satisfied! What a joy it was to be with Chris and so many others like him at Hillsong all week. It does your soul good to be with such energetic, uncynical, Jesus-centred people who love and enjoy God, love loving people with the love God gives, and love the abundant life he has given us fully too!

This was the overriding theme weaving through our Hillsong experience in Sydney – we felt so welcome from the moment we arrived, we met such genuine lovers of Jesus who took time and effort to make us welcome all week and clearly enjoyed doing so, and we met people whose lives have been transformed through being wonderfully ’sucked in’ by this welcoming unworldly love and have thereby met Jesus. As one guy, now a youth leader, expressed it to me – “I know now that the Saviour sought me out and found me through the overwhelming love and joy of this powerful community of friends called Hillsong”.

Wow! And double wow!

As we talked together and prayed at the end of our time at Hillsong Judith tearfully summed it up like this, “I don’t think I have ever met so many genuine, uncynical, loving, passionate people!”

Como contei bem rapidinho por aqui anteriormente, final de semana passado eu fui pra Sydney, conhecer a cidade que estava no meu caderno de sonhos desde que eu era mais nova.

Valeu a pena: mesmo acordando às quatro da madrugada em pleno domingo pra pegar o vôo, mesmo desbravando a cidade debaixo de chuva, mesmo ficando de TPM em plena viagem… Ah, como valeu a pena! Visitar o Opera House? Conhecer a Hillsong? Ir na gravação do CD novo deles? Subir num farol de verdade e ver a Darling Harbour inteira? Andar de monotrilho? Ver uma árvore de Natal quilométrica coberta de cristais Swarovski no shopping mais lindo do mundo? Visitar um aquário onde você anda debaixo do mar? Com uma amiga brasileira que  mora lá e nos serviu de guia, ainda por cima? Ah, deixe-me dizer: tudo isso não tem preço. Tanto é que num post só não daria nem pra sequer começar a contar tudo o que foram aqueles dois dias. 800 fotos (e não, eu não estou exagerando), muitas filmagens e diversos momentos inesquecíveis depois, cheguei à conclusão, no avião mesmo, de que teria que escrever uma série de posts sobre Sydney pra vocês.

Então é isso: não deixem de conferir uma semana inteirinha de textos sobre aquela cidade encantadora que todo mundo deveria ter o privilégio de visitar pelo menos uma vez na vida! Vou escrever sobre os meus cantinhos preferidos, sobre a gravação da Hillsong, umas reflexões que me ocorreram naqueles dias e muito mais. Espero mesmo que vocês gostem e se sintam encorajados a se planejarem pra vir pra cá!

Brenda Nepomuceno

Hey there,

A new song I just so happened to chance upon. Really short but really nice… Enjoy! =D

SING MY SOUL
Hillsong
Tuning: Standard
Key: B
Source: christiantabs.wordpress.com

CAPO 4

Em			C
I've tried to find the perfect song
G		D/F#
for the one I love
Em			C

I've tried to find the words that say
G		D/F#

you mean everything to me
Em			C

but a song can't say it all
G		D/F#

and my words are low for sure*
Em		C

so sing my soul
G		D/F#

sing my soul

No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me, declares the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17 (NASB)

I love this song. And even more wonderful than this song is Hillsong’s Jill McCloghry’s amazing testimony.
“All of my life, In every Season, You are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship”

The Future of Forestry DVD is coming out on Nov 19th.
I’m going to see them play in San Jose in Dec.

I heard this song in the car the other day and the bridge section really stood out.
Skip to 3:28 in the song. Has 30 Seconds to Mars been listening to Future of Forestry?:)

It’s not as blatant as Hillsong ripping off Death Cab for Cutie (pointed out by Karl earlier this year).

Hey there,

Found another song by Hillsong United. Nice worship song, really comforting especially during this period of time. Though, you would need to either do barre for this song or move your capo during the chorus and verse. Enjoy!

CENTRE OF MY LIFE
Hillsong London
Key: A# / C
Tuning: Standard
Source: christiantabs.wordpress.com
*NOTE: Play with 2 guitars or switch capo during playing*

::CAPO 3::

Verse 1:
G
let my walk speak loud
Em
let my words be true
C                G
let my life be whole
                  D
when my eyes on you 

Verse 2: 

so i'm steppin' out
from my comfort zone
let it go of me
holding on to you 

Refrain:
Em        C
freedom comes
Em        	C
when i call You Lord
G	C          D
You are Lord my God 

::CAPO 5::

Chorus:
             G            D
You are the center of it all
        Em               C
the universe declares it all
Em                 D       C
Your Majesty i surrender all
                  G          D
i make You the center of my life
          Em             C
Lord i respond with all i am
Em                  D
You place to me the song
C            D
of heaven's melody
       C        D                 G
Your majesty i live to sing Your song 

::CAPO 3:: 

Verse 3:

i have found Your peace
every place, any fear
You had done it all
i can trust in You 

Turnaround:
G			Em
this is Your song my God
C				D
this is Your song that brings healing to this land