Reflections from Hillsong Confernce 2009
Last week, Amy and I traveled (along with our two oldest daughters and four other staff members) to Sydney, Australia for the Hillsong Conference 2009.
I spoke at three different Hillsong campuses and at two main sessions and two breakout sessions totaling nine talks. We were honored to spend time with Brian and Bobbie Houston. They are some of the most passionate and hospitable people we’ve ever met. We also enjoyed hanging out with Joel and Victoria Osteen, Louie and Shelly Giglio, Jentezen and Charisse Franklin, Nick and Christine Caine, and Chris Tomlin among many others.
This week I’d like to share about the things that impacted me most. Although there were many more elements, I’ll write about these five:
• Culture of Servanthood
• Leadership Development
• Relational Focus
• Spirit of Humility
• Kingdom mindedness
I’ll start today with a culture of servanthood. Hillsong has a huge base of exceptionally passionate volunteers. They will rotate seven or eight worship teams weekly with all volunteers. Their “production” of experiences is first class in every sense. The vast majority of roles that most churches would hire out are led by lay people.
At the conference, about 4,000 church members took a week of vacation to serve those attending. I did an interview for Hillsong television in a room with about a dozen cameras, lights, and sound people. Guessing most were staff members, I asked how many were volunteers? Everyone in the room was volunteering.
When I spoke in a main session, I offered the crowd of 20,000 conference attenders a chance to show their appreciation to the Hillsong church members for volunteering. The crowd offered a standing ovation that must have lasted three minutes. It was well deserved.
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Welcome back Craig! Is envy okay to have? Glad you had a good conference and look forward to hearing all you have to share (’course I suspect it would take a book to share all of that). It is amazing hearing about the amount of volunteers Hillsong has and that it takes to pull off the weekly worship experiences let alone a conference.
Like you, Craig, I find the Hillsong volunteers’ commitments to service incredible. I have friends locally who attend Hillsong London and humbly sacrifice to serve every week in such a way that it compels me to serve more.
A friend of mine at Hillsong London once explained to me that volunteers are developed in small groups. That is to say - as a general rule - Hillsong volunteers are people already plugged into a small group community that’s a spiritual support network which can help prevent a volunteer being burnt out while serving. This is simple but revolutionary! As each of us serves and seeks out volunteers in our individual ministries, may we first confirm we have abiding connections in a community that allows us to serve out of joy instead of breathlessly squeezing every last drop out of an empty spiritual tank.
No matter which church you attend or where you live - if you’re reading this and are not part of a small group, consider joining a life group! Learn more at http://findalifegroup.tv.
Thanks so much for your insight and impartation at the Hillsong Conference. My family and I are currently on a teacher exchange to Australia and were able to come to the conference on the school holidays (Melbourne area). Your passion for the use of technology in the church rang true for me and my family (vision for expanding my use of technology in education). When we return to Canada, we plan to make it down to Oklahoma to see what God is doing at Lifechurch. Thanks again, Cliff.
Craig,
I had the opportunity to travel with one of the speakers at the conference a couple of years ago. I remember driving on to the Hills campus on a Thursday morning and my first encounter was a volunteer passionately waving traffic in to the parking lot… on a Thursday morning. I had to find out why the passion. It was the same answer I received from every volunteer, whether on the stage, with the TV shows, college, drivers, volunteers at Darlene’s home, the Australia, London or Kiev volunteers… “Brian has made it clear that what I do is just as important as what he does on the stage.” Every single person I encountered understood their significance and how they were building the church.
Many see Hillsong’s and Brian’s legacy as worship, and there’s no doubt they’ve impacted the world on that front. However I believe when it’s all said and done the legacy and culture that has been created there, and one that really impacts you when you experience it is leadership development and this culture of servanthood that permeates everything. They love the local church, in their home town and around the world.
It’s was a life changing experience and since being touched by it I’ve worked hard to try to develop the same culture in the setting where I’m at now. When people engage with their passions and understand how significant their efforts are in building His church there’s no limit to the potential because we’re partnering with God, using something He’s given us, to build something He’s designed.
That is incredible. It’s no wonder that God has blessed them with incredible songs and a worship style that has breathed life into peoples hearts around the world. I’m reminded as I read this of Phil 2 where it says Jesus humbled himself, took on the very nature of a servant, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. How different would my worship look if I had this scripture before me at all times? Craig, this is a powerful takeaway
and I hope it is something that can be imparted to our worship here. I think it would move the heart of God if serving was our focus as worship teams. I hope and pray that we see a day when volunteers fill our stages.
“G’day Mate!”…I agree Bill, (cycle man of genius) Aussie envy all around. Do you all think Encouraging people to Volunteer can be tricky? We want to encourage others to get involved but at the same time “burn out” is an issue. My take…If people are invested and the “climate” is positive and of appreciation, they will WANT to make a difference. We ALL want to make a mark in this world in a positive way. Hillsong must have a an amazing “vibe”.
Hey Craig,
I was honored to be one of those volunteers at Hillsong. I am actually from Jacksonville, Fl but I’ve attended Hillsong Conference many times over the last 11 years. The servant culture is so contagious that I encouraged 8 other young adults to fly out with me to serve JAM (youth side of the conference) this year. You are right…the volunteers take it all so seriously…even down to the clean up operation at the end of the conference where many volunteers who had been there all day stayed behind till well after midnight. Hillsong Church is special and an amazing gift to the Church in so many ways. And PS You spoke into people’s lives in a fresh and powerful way…thanks for always bringing IT with you.
[...] The culture of servanthood @ Hillsong that Craig Groeschel describes blew me [...]
Servanthood, it goes beyond a paycheck! When people love God, love his people, passion follows and anyone with a heartbeat wants to be involved with that. Awesome stuff.
The servanthood at Hillsong is incredible. I wonder what would happen if all the churches in the US had that same attitude? No wonder that one church alone has changed the shape of worship for generations to come!
Craig, thanks for sharing! It does seem like more and more churches are working harder and harder to engage and empower volunteers. It warms my heart to hear more about this!
I’d love to hear some insights as to how churches are pushing more and more things to volunteers to use their God-given abilities for, do you have any specifics you picked up while you were at Hillsong?
Blessings!
larryboatright
I think all the clues are there in your post as to why those volunteers are so passionate. They get the key roles that really matter. They aren’t the B team. Sounds like they are willing to throw them the ball when it’s down to the buzzer (like a shoot with a speaker from another country or main stage worship). It’s easy for a staff-heavy church to only hand out volunteer roles to things that don’t realy affect the bottom line. And few can maintain passion about something that doesn’t really make a difference. It may be the easy way out to just pay someone to do the big stuff, but it won’t develop passionate servanthood.
A humble mentor with a servant’s heart once told me, “I’ve been disobedient and self-serving long enough - I am going to spend the rest of my life serving God and doing whatever it takes.”
He recognized his disobedience and his “want-to’s” changed. Leadership and execution matter (a lot), but you cannot dictate or program serving - people have to change their “want-to’s.”
Sounds like they figured that out down under…
Hey Craig, I’m part of this Hillsong team at the city campus in Sydney and I made sure I got in for your message in the 11am service. It was awesome and I was so pumped to hear you speak. You are a phenomenal communicator and a great writer. Keep up the amazing work!!! hope to see you again sometime.
Ps. “IT” was awesome