Well, what a great night it was! Well done to everyone involved, and I really really hope we do it again next year.

It was fantastic to see the Entertainment Centre full of 10,000 evangelical Christians, really exciting. Like a lot of you, I bumped into several old friends.

The music was really well done. I recognised AJ on keys and Richard (I think) on guitar, but I didn’t know the other guys. Would be interested to know who they were. The girl leading the singing was superb.

Al did a good job as MC, kept the night flowing. Nathan Tasker did a couple of songs which were fine too.

Driscoll spoke for over an hour and a half, which was probably a shade long. But he was compelling as always. He spent about an hour critiquing various wrong views of Jesus. This section was entertaining as well as occasionally insightful.

He then spent about 15 minutes answering questions. He spent the final 20 or so minutes presenting the gospel, including a lengthy section on Hell which Gordo would have approved of. It was solid gospel stuff, though he committed a couple of exegetical sins along the way.

The night ended with a modified altar call. He invited those people who wanted to become Christians to stand up and get prayed for by those around them. That’s pretty tough to do in front of 10,000 people with the house lights blazing on full. A few people stood up, not too many. More went out to the prayer counsellors later, I hope.

We finished with a few more songs. All up the night went for 3 hours, and it was such an encouragement. I hope we have more things like this. Everyone I spoke to after had a great time.

Funny, there were shades of the old style crusade about the event. Perhaps that sort of thing still has it’s place - you’ve just gotta get the music, the venue, the format, and the speaker right…

Who can we line up for next year? I’m sure John Piper would sell the venue out…

... and Pastor Piper probably wouldn’t speak for an hour and a half!

Spose you younguns have more robust bladders…

It certainly was longer than I expected…

But I was very encouraged. A friend from my Bible study group decided to stand up tonight… =)

The night was true to form… it was a good burn of the secular Jesus’ in our world…

Yes - it was a most encouraging and challenging evening. His main talk went for 51 minutes actually - but it was so ‘meaty’ that we were left hungering for more of the same - which is what we were presented with in the question and answer and exhortation stage.

I was most impressed with the small booklets we received with room for writing notes - and details of all KCC events to be held over the next 15 months.

Also, folk can download the talk for $2 at www.shop.kcc.org.au

http://jesus.kcc.org.au/
To download Mark Driscoll’s talk, or to order a DVD of the night, you can visit the KCC Shop.

The talk will also be available on both CD ($5) and DVD ($25).

Also there are a few free offers available at :  http://jesus.kcc.org.au/

Mark has made a chapter available from his latest book ( “Vintage Jesus” ) for free. And if you would like to take some time to use the chapter for a small group or Bible study, we have one here for you.

Craig said:
Would be interested to know who they were. The girl leading the singing was superb.

Hi Craig,

Most of us were “up the back” so I wasn’t sure, but I was reliably informed by someone closer to the action that the central lead singer was Lara Goudie.

We have had Lara sing and/or speak at some local church gatherings and she is excellent in both roles.

Edit: According to Lara’s website she was leading the singing last night with Matt Roberts.

Grace & peace,
Terry

I’d just like to advise that when you meet Lara, you should say
Howdy, Miss Goudie.

The clips on her website sound pretty good, I think.

Edit: deleted to avoid confusion

Definitely rhymes with Howdy, Terry.

Terry Gallagher - 28 August 2008 10:37 AM

David McKay - 28 August 2008 10:34 AM

I’d just like to advise that when you meet Lara, you should say
Howdy, Miss Goudie.

The clips on her website sound pretty good, I think.

Or maybe “Bewdy, Miss Goudie”....
8-)
Terry

Lara is a student at SMBC. David is on the money with how her name sounds.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

I’m told that it was Hans on guitar rather than Richard. Not sure who the bass player, drummer, or other keyboardist were, or the other singers…

Last night was simply amazing! It is unbelievable how encouraging a gathering of Evangelicals like that can be. Mark spoke very well and I think challenged a lot of pre-conceived misconceptions of Jesus and certainly did a lot to challenge the young men of the crowd.

It makes me ponder carefully over what exactly is in store for us in a few days at ENGAGE…
If last night is anything to go by, I think some people are going to find it challenging, but encouraging in the long run ;-)

Can anyone find the $2 talk anywhere? Or am I looking in the wrong spot?

Steve Carlisle - 28 August 2008 01:37 PM

Can anyone find the $2 talk anywhere? Or am I looking in the wrong spot?

Try : link
edit : Sorry, that’s just for the CD and DVD

Steve Carlisle - 28 August 2008 01:37 PM

Can anyone find the $2 talk anywhere? Or am I looking in the wrong spot?

Mustn’t be uploaded yet...I can’t find it either.

I enjoyed the night thoroughly as well. Music was well done, Nathan Tasker was good, Al MC’d well, and Mark’s talk was to the point and very challenging indeed (seemed much less than the total hour and a half, but I expected something around that length plus questions). Well researched as well and he made it quite relevant to us as Aussies. It was good that the “conclusion” was saturated with the Scriptures. I stayed around in the autograph line and got to briefly meet him, which was a bit of a “bonus” to what was already a night well worth the admission fee.

If anything, it would have been good to have the SMS question facility set up so that people could text in questions from the beginning of the talk, as opposed to when the notification was given. Other than that, no complaints whatsoever.

I thought it was good also.

I heard from some that the talk was not ‘expositional’ enough, and that the Revelation passage was not touched.

I felt differently about that, I thought it was great and personally I was humbled by it. Sure its great having 10,000 there, but out of 4.2 million? I think the call to evangelise the nations of our city was helpful from Driscoll. I personally thought that he was almost overwhelmed by the occasion, and was more humble than I had expected which was wonderful, especially when youre a Yank in Sydney-town.

I dont know about evey year though Craig. Once in 30 years, once in my lifetime, I’m not holding my breath, but it would be great to have a regular ‘rallying’ call for evangelicals in Sydney!

I am humbled to have been a part of it, and hope that it fosters a new range of people willing to serve and love Jesus. I already have one year 12 bloke bashing my door down to be a church planter, not a bad thing!

Craig Schwarze - 28 August 2008 11:31 AM

I’m told that it was Hans on guitar rather than Richard. Not sure who the bass player, drummer, or other keyboardist were, or the other singers…

The bass player is our very own Tim from Jannali Anglican.

The music was excellent. The amazing thing about it was that you could actually hear the people next to you singing!  However, it was the ripping through the false views of Jesus that was the best part of the night - clearing the deck so we could see the true Christ.