Hillsong Conference 2009

So here are my wonderful roomies Barbara and Judith

The Hillsong Conference for Europe just happened to be in London...so here are some pics of my whirlwind tour!

Here I am-just arrived in rainy rainy London and if you look closely you will see the yogurt spattered on the front of my jacket and scarf.

Unfortunately this was only the first of many incidents. Later in the day at the museum I was waiting outside sipping my tea, when a lady fell into me. Lucky for her I broke her fall and I assured her I was fine as tea dripped off of my face BUT the good news is it wasn't scalding hot :) For anyone who knows me well this next story will not surprise you. At dinner I spilled my full cup of tea around everyone's dinner :( I have decided I will never live in London.

There was a demonstration at Parliament - people scaled the walls and had signs and flags reading "Change Politics Save the Climate". It definitely got people's attention.

Did you know there is always an emergency in London - between helicopters, police cars, fire trucks and ambulances there always seems to be a siren going.

Here I am at Trafalgar Square. I got to see some originals of Pierre August Renior - my favorite impressionist!

Had to get the classic pic

I got to know the tube and DLR system quite well. In the background is the base of Big Ben.

We walked through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace

Here I experienced a first - I saw a black swan and its baby. There were so many birds: ducks, white and black swans and pelicans!

The Queen was home :)

Me with Bob the Bobby...so tempting to run inside and visit the Queen Mother but I restrained myself!

A Palace guard - I saw the changing of the guards, it's rather funny.

Artistic shot from the keyhole of a gate.

I just had to visit Harrods and when we went inside we ran into Brian Houston and Gary Clarke. For those of you who aren't Hillsong fanatics they were the "head honchos" of the conference.

Here at the Tower Gateway Bridge - by a cool door.

Here are the feet of three people from Mannheim - this is their local shoe :)

Here's the gang I spent many hours with each day;)

Here is the Hillsong Church in London. They rent the Dominion Theatre each Sunday!

We arrived 20 min early for church and it took over a minute to walk to the back of the line. I've never have to line up for church before!

This is inside the ExCeL Center where the conference was. We started at 9:30am till 9:30pm! It was an intense and wonderful experience on many levels.

1) Worshiping with that many people at once (over 42 countries present)

2) Hillsong and Hillsong United music with Israel Houghton as a special guest

3) Several renowned and inspirational speakers:

- Brian & Bobbie Houston

-Gary Clarke

-Graig Roeschel

-Flip Flippen

-Joseph Prince

-Donna Crouch

-Nicky Gumbel

-Christine Caine

4) I got to know some of the leadership and church members of HDH better!

5) I am filled, renewed, and have notes to refer to during my internship (especially the session on creative arts in the church)

Finally the Brit's just have a way of saying things...like "mind the gap". Well here is one of many funny signs I saw:

On that note please pray for me as I prepare to lead a workshop at an upcoming conference.