Hillsong Men's Conference

This weekend Hillsong hosted their 2nd Men's Conference.  It's funny, last year we went to mostly meet people, and by this year we actually know a whole lot of people!  Michael and I were in charge of sports this year, so we even had a job!
Wanted to review a bit of the content and what I learned.  The speaker was an Australian chap named Steve Penny.  The main theme of the weekend was from 1 John 2 where he writes about boys, young men, and fathers; so Steve was moving us from boys to fathers.  The first night was focusing on Isaiah 53 and being despised and rejected by men.  So much of that rejection for men comes from their fathers.  We get it from other places, but you see it most in a man's relationship with his dad.  Well, my dad was no saint, but he was a great father, so I have never experienced that hurt.  But you know that so many men in that room did experience it AND every colored or black man in that room experienced rejection and being despised during apartheid.  So, we have to pray for healing, confess our faults, and move forward.
The Saturday morning was from Proverbs 30:18 and the 4 Faces of Adam.  Last year Steve talked about the 4 Faces of Eve, so this was connected.  The 4 faces of Adam are vision, wisdom, purpose, and passion.    We have to be aware of which face needs to be on at what time and how they relate to the faces of Eve (friend, mother, wife, and lover).  This was encouraging to me and I can see the times that I wear the faces well.
There were 2 other messages by Phil Dooley & Eddie Andrews, but I missed Phil's while I was setting up sports fields.
Steve's final message was about us becoming fathers and showing the father heart of God to those around us.  This was a great message.  A few things he said that I loved were,

You become a father when you take responsibility to shape the hearts of others.

Fathers take responsibility for the fatherless in their nation.

All that we are doing here with boys and now are time with Ntokozo was really affirmed by those statements.  He finished by saying that we need to be growing to have a Father's heart for Social Responsibility.  This is how:

1. Own the domain of forgiveness (Matt 6:14)
2. Add Value to others (Matt 6:26)
3. Provide (Matt 6:31)
4. Give generously of good things (missed the reference) 

I really enjoyed this message and was greatly encouraged by it.  Well, that's my recap.  By the way, we took sports to a whole new level at Hillsong and the guys really enjoyed it.

Deuces,
Casey