Christopher Harinata: Hillsong Conference 2015

“Hillsong Conference? Sydney? What? You’re going there? Wow! Cool! I wish I could.”

That thoughts are still replaying in my head. Back in 2013, when we’re having DATE (cellgroup) meeting, Elbert, brought that up. He said what an experience going there, feeling the atmosphere and the presence of Jesus so apparent, and suggesting that we can go there together. What? I thought no way. Saving up for the future is what’s important for me that time, even I didn’t know what the future holds.

Week after week, we prayed for that thought to be realized, if He agrees, of course. But still, I couldn’t imagine going there. My faith just reached Singapore, for the farthest travel I could do. Yah, we still prayed for that, though.

Then I got accepted to work at EY, the company I’ve been dreaming of, lately. That means more income, and more saving I could do throughout the year. The reality seemed to align to what we prayed for, and yet we continued our prayers. Until that day, August 28th, 2014, when I looked up the internet for tickets to Sydney, and found a quite bargain price, I contacted Alston, my best friend who committed to go there too. And he said it’s a go, and I said it’s a go, then we bought the plane tickets. That’s how it all started.

Then we bought the conference ticket afterwards, with the help of Rieny, another DATE friends. She bought it for me at bargained price of AUD279 (early bird price for this year is for AUD239) using her Credit Card, since I didn’t have one. So grateful to have great people around you, ready to help when needed. Thanks, Rieny! Wish we could go together next year!

Fast forward to 2015, when the date of departure came close, we still have to apply Australian Visa. Another great help from good friend, Virgin, to took care of our Visa Application process. Even our Visa were granted just 2 weeks before the departure date, which scared us the most, but it’s granted anyway! Thank God!

The day! June 27th, 2015. I have to leave some undone work to my teams, which I really felt sorry for. Really sorry! The first flight, went to Kuala Lumpur and then followed by the other flight to Sydney. And on that day, my initial thought struck again, “What? Sydney? Really?” When what you prayed for became reality, once it’s hard to believe, sometimes we couldn’t understand what’s really happening. But that’s grace of God meant to be, not to be understood, but just to be experienced. And that’s enough for Him, to see us experiencing His grace. Because grace is free, you have been paid, for free. That’s grace.

After a long flight, we reached Sydney! We were picked up by Ko August, Alston’s cousin, and he took us around Sydney, going to tourists’ attractions, eating Hurricane ribs, trying out the best gelato I ever tasted (it’s Cow & The Moon’s mandorla affogato), and so on. That’s the end of day one in Sydney.

Day two, Day three, Day four, and Day five. We attended the conference, located at Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. Oh gosh! The arena’s so packed. From what I read, nearly 30.000 persons going there. The opening ceremony was amazing, the worship session with Hillsong UNITED was amazing, the message from Ps. Brian Houston was amazing, the atmosphere was amazing. God is amazing! We had the best teachings throughout the week, from the amazing Ps. Rick Warren, Ps. John Maxwell, Ps. Joseph Prince, Ps. Carl Lentz, Ps, Judah Smith (WOHOO!), Ps. Bobbie Houston, Ps. Jentezen Franklin, and Ps. Brian Houston himself.

The masterclasses were brilliant too, we got so many new insights throughout the week. I attended Create stream (You can choose between three streams, Lead, Create, and Help) and it’s so relevantly great. It ignited my creative side again, after being dead for a long time for working long hours, etc, etc. We met so many amazing people there, and being friends with them was such a blessing! We met Mariella and Vanessa on the second day of conference, they are so friendly, and we decided to go together during the conference. Then on the fourth day, we met Antonio, Dericka, and Phoebe, and decided to go together too. So we made a group of 8 person. So happy to meet new friends! It opened my mind to learn to see things differently.

I am grateful for my host family, Om, Tante, Ko August, and Deta, all of them are Alston’s close family. They are so kind, you know, I felt like I’m home. I prayed for them for their happiness, for their good deeds, and for their living. Couldn’t ask for more!

Then, here I am home again, in Jakarta. I really prayed for the thought God has placed in me, for the experience I got from the conference, for the new understanding of Jesus, and for the opportunities to share it to friends here.

If you’re asking, What do you get from the conference?” I’m going to answer this way, “My answer will not satisfy you, since I’m going to say “God is grace” and you probably heard that too, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to feel it. And once you felt it in your heart, it won’t go away. It brings new understanding of what can’t be understood. It’s like swimming in an open sea, where you can’t see the bottom of it, but you keep swimming deeper and deeper. I am happy to say, that I am deeper than I was before.”

These are some pictures: