Each year, the Hillsong Conference brings world-renowned speakers and worship leaders together for one of Australia’s largest and most influential Christian events.

This year Joel Osteen will be featured at Hillsong for the first time. The conference will be broadcast by GOD TV will worldwide for five days from July 8-12.

Joel is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, with more than 40 000 people regularly attending services. He will be featured direct from the Acer Arena in Sydney on Friday 10 July at 21.30 BST along with his wife, Victoria, and the Lakewood ministry team, including worship leader Israel Houghton.

Joel's weekly half-hour programme ‘Joel’ is already part of GOD TV’s international line-up of programming, but this is the first time he will be appearing live on the network.

Designed to champion the cause of the local church, Hillsong Conference is hosted by Hillsong pastors Brian & Bobbie Houston. The conference attracts about 25,000 delegates from different countries, with some 5,000 volunteers.

Hosted by Bo Sander in Sydney, GOD TV’s coverage of Hillsong 2009 also includes:

· Wednesday 8 July at 22.00 BST - Craig Groeschel, the pastor of LifeChurch.tv, who is known for his creative and relevant Bible teaching;

· Thursday 9 July at 23.00 BST - Jentezen Franklin, pastor of Free Chapel in Gainesville, GA and Irvine, CA, which has been named as one of the top 30 churches in America.

· Saturday 11 July at 21.00 BST - Brian Houston, who has a passion to see the local church rise up and present the Gospel with relevance; and

· Sunday 12 July at 21.00 BST - Louie Giglio, who is the director of Passion Conferences, a movement calling for students around the world to live lives that reflect their Creator.

Praise and worship will be led by the Darlene Zschech, Joel Houston and the Hillsong music team and special guest, Chris Tomlin, who is best known for the song, ‘How Great is our God’.

“Hillsong Church has touched the hearts of so many people through anointed music and a word in season and it’s always a privilege for us to share their inspirational songs and challenging messages with our viewers worldwide,” said GOD TV’s director of television, Wendy Alec. “Hillsong Conference is one of the highlights of our live programming at GOD TV and I encourage viewers to tune in for all five nights!”


On the web:
For more information about Hillsong Conference 2009 visit www.hillsong.com

GOD EUROPE can be viewed on SKY 581/Virgin 279 as well as online at www.zattoo.com or at www.god.tv/stream. The Hillsong 2009 Conference will also be made available for video on demand viewing at www.god.tv/god