Hillsong Church: Baulkham Hills, NSW

Perhaps one of the biggest Christian bands across the globe is Hillsong United. Since 1998, the worship music artists put out albums with original music and Coldplay-like sound. To most people outside of Australia, Hillsong is probably only a rock band that spreads the name of Jesus. But one step closer will reveal the real mission behind Hillsong United.

Hillsong started as one church in 1983 in Baulkham Hills, Australia. Since then, it's spread throughout the country and to England, Ukraine, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States, and the original site has become the biggest church in Australia, hosting over 30,000 people each week. And I got to visit Hillsong Church, Baulkham Hills campus.

I expected a real spectacle: a genuine Jesus-driven rock concert before mass, an awesome stadium, an all-out preacher-style sermon. And Hillsong delivered way more! There was an amazing light setup on stage, with zig zagging white neon strips on a blackdrop behind the performers. A giant camera floated over our heads in the audience, throwing close-ups of the worship leaders onto three big-screens at the front of the arena. Fog machines blasted clouds into the air, hiding the drummer in a flashing neon fog haze during his solo. But you could tell the whole time that it wasn't about the spectacle of a hard-core concert at all - it was church. And they were excited about it.

They sang all original music during the service, and were going to record an album during the evening service, but I couldn't stay. The man who founded Hillsong, over 30 years ago, gave the sermon today - my first visit! I suppose it's an honor, as the audience stood up to acknowledge him when he walked out on stage. He spoke about Jesus as a pioneer, first working in our hearts, then manifesting in our lives. Was a great sermon.

On the return trip, I met a woman who's been working with the church for about five years now, and a fellow student from UNSW from Taiwan. The woman, Fiona, recommended Hillsong City campus next week - it's an hour closer (Baulkham Hills campus was about a two-hour commute), and has more of a college-aged demographic, so I'll give that a go next week. The student, Ken, is and teaches wine connaisseur (can tell you the region and year blindfolded), conducts Paris city tours in Chinese, and works for Interpol (the international police). He's taking a year to explore his interests at UNSW. Pretty amazing people you can meet just traveling back from church.

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