There has been a situation on my mind that I would like to share. It happened when I was in the Mercy Ministries Sydney home, and for whatever reason this story has not yet made it's way into my blogs on the subject of Mercy.
Hillsong Church annually hosts a women's conference called Colour Conference, and another big conference called Hillsong Conference. The Mercy Ministries Sydney home and Hillsong Church were somewhat intertwined. As far as I am aware, the financial relationship between Mercy Ministries Australia and Hillsong began and ended with Hillsong being a large financial partner, however on a personal level, most staff in both the program and corporate facets of Mercy Ministries in Sydney attended Hillsong Church, or were involved with Hillsong in some way, such as being a Hillsong Bible College student, or being in some way connected to a Hillsong "big wig". For a long time, Mark and Darlene Zschech were involved with Mercy Ministries at a managerial level right from the early days. Among the board members were some prominent leaders at Hillsong. One was an elder and pastor at Hillsong. There was another woman who was married to a Hillsong elder, and I think she may have been on the board as well. One of the later "managerials" at Mercy Ministries, Peter Irvine, was a co-owner of Gloria Jeans Coffees, and was involved at Hillsong Church, although I am not sure in what capacity exactly.
Hillsong was hosting their Colour Conference in the beginning of 2006. During Hillsong Conference and Colour Conference, our normally fiercely private homestead was opened up to hundreds of strangers who would tour the home, poking their heads into our bedrooms and gazing at us sympathetically. We were the Mercy Girls.