Okay, okay... Everybody has been asking me how Planetshakers went and why I didn't write more about it in the previous post, well it's because I'd written a whole bunch of stuff (mostly the non-technical way, ie in a book) and it wasn't quite ready. I also wanted to post it all together and was trying to decide on the best way to do it.
So here goes
Day One (11/01/06) I went with Delta & my cousin’s family to watch The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe again this morning. (My cousin’s family hadn’t sent it) I’m glad I did because it put me in a better frame of mind for the conference. I think it’s the best dramatistation of the “gospel story” and the battle of Good vs. Evil that I have ever seen. After the movie, I went straight to the train station. The guy there was really helpful & I brought a weekly pass to Olympic Park. I had to change train at Lidcombe & it was really well signposted. I asked a guard where the train to Olympic Park was & he said it’s this one. The train didn’t take very long to get to Olympic Park from Lidcombe, with no stops along the way. Once I got to Olympic Park I wandered in the direction of the Telstra Stadium. There were 2 guys by the door & I asked if this was where the Planetshakers conference was, they’d never heard of it & asked me where it was supposed to be, when I said the sports center they told me how to find it. When I finally got here, there was a massive cue, which didn’t move for ages & then moved quite quickly. When I registered they gave me a bag with all the stuff in it (mostly promotional material). It also contained a bottle of water, which I think is a good idea. After registering, I went & bought some lunch/afternoon-tea & had a read of the promotional stuff. Now I’m waiting for the evening session to start at 7:30 (it’s only 5:30).
Day Two (12-01-06)Last nights session rocked!! Although it went far too late & it was close to midnight before I got home. It was also a pain getting in. We lined up for AGES and then when they let us in (they only had one door open) they were making people sit right around the far side. I wanted to sit at the back but every time I almost got to a gate that was open they closed it off again so I ended up sitting on the side. Afterward, again they only had one door open, which was kind of stupid. It’s a basketball stadium (or something similar) for crying out loud. Why not open ALL the doors (or at least some of them, I can understand going in cos they want to make sure everyone has their wristband (we had to hold our wrist up as we walked passed the guy) but coming out??), they even had people guarding the doors so you couldn’t open them. Fire anyone?? It was cool walking down the street; everywhere you looked people either had on the Planetshakers bag, or wristband or both.
This morning I arrived at Olympic Park Station about 10 to 9 (the first session starts at 9). I stopped at McDonalds for “second breakfast” & a cup of coffee (hey I only got 6 hours sleep, which incidentally seems to be about the max that anybody here got). By the time I got served & got down here it was about 9:02 so I didn’t have to cue to get in the door & I got to sit where I wanted. Also the band was already on stage so I didn’t have to sit through the ads. Late is good, sometimes.
After the second morning session I caught the train home. The Olympic Park – Lidcombe train should be called The Planetshakers Train, it was full of Planetshakers going to Olympic Park this morning & back to Lidcombe this afternoon. I meet S at Olympic Park Station and K on the train. It turned out K was going to Campbelltown as well. While we were waiting for the train, K2 came and sat with us and we talked about the conference (and other things). The wristbands are good for more than entry, they also serve as an easy way to identify your friends (even the ones you haven’t met yet). When we got to Campbelltown (K2 got off at Fairfield) I got the bus home, I didn’t know which bus I needed & got on the wrong one but the drivers were really helpful.
Day Three (13-01-06)I really should’ve bought something to do, but even if I had I don’t think I’d do it anyway, I can’t be bothered, too much lack of sleep I think.
Last night’s session was really good, the guy speaking ended up chasing another guy around the stage with a sword. He was speaking from Judges 1:1-6 & the other guy was playing the part of Adoni-bezek who is a type of satan. I tried leaving early but the guy on the gate wouldn’t let me out, something about being distracting.
This morning’s sessions were good. At the end of the second session, the guy speaking got people who were sick to lay hands on themselves. (He’d been speaking about Jesus healing.) He read out a whole lot of conditions, back pain etc, & then said people with breathing difficulty. I thought, “Hey, why not.” & put my hand on my chest. It felt really warm. After he’d prayed he asked people to check themselves & if they’d been healed physically to go up the front. I wasn’t going to but I thought I should. I’m glad I did because he got everybody to go up on stage so I got a closer look at the tech area at the side of the stage, (didn’t even realise it was there, I thought it was all up the back) they had another sound desk (presumably the monitor tech) & various other bits. I also got a closer look at the screens & yes they are LED screens like I thought. The other cool thing about being on the stage was the smoke machine. Before I couldn’t go near smoke machines but I had no problem while I was on stage.
Well, I’ve managed to fill in quarter of an hour writing this so now I’ve only got half an hour to go before electives. I should maybe head back because it’s threatening to rain again.
After the worship elective, H asked for everyone to leave the stadium so they could do some “technical stuff.” I text Delta & Dad but they weren’t home so I got on the train back to Lidcombe and then bought a return ticket to Circular Quay. I got on an all stops train by mistake and it took nearly an hour to get into the city. Coming back I got a limited stops train and it took a lot less time. When I got back to the stadium I found out what “technical stuff” they’d done in the afternoon. They’d tweaked UP the levels on the front of house speakers & the band were now making VERY good use of there in ear monitors (they hadn’t always been using them before, relying on the main monitors instead). I managed to get a seat in the back section again but it was so loud you could feel the bass from the subs. I tried to stay there as long as possible but in the end I decided to go out for some fresh air. Nobody tried to stop me but they’d have gotten an earful if they had. I went and sat down on one of the seats by the road & took my earplugs out, my right ear had been giving me trouble a lot of the time while we were in Oz and this wasn’t helping any, plus I only had those silly foam earplugs that I don’t like. After sitting for a few minutes, and still being able to hear the band (from like 20m away) I decided that I would give the rest of the session a miss and go home. (By now I had a headache starting as well) I’m not sure if this was a good idea or not because I ended up not going to the rest of the conference. However, when we went to Brighton-le-Sands for dessert on Saturday night, my ears were giving me grief from the stereo in the café & it was nowhere near as loud as the PA system at Planetshakers.
