Now that the dust has settled, reports show that the Big Day In (BDI) united around 200 parishes in prayer for the Sydney region and galvanised people and congregations to connect with local communities.
Churches large and small participated in a variety of ways. I've heard reports of high-quality webcast presentations in clubs and auditoriums, through to churches gathered around a TV and set-top box with the minister holding the 'rabbits-ears' throughout! In every case, people were excited to be a part of the day - the latter every bit as much as (or even more than) the former.
From my humble perspective as a supernumery (aka spare wheel) at Kellyville, the whole thing defied comprehension. The technical requirements were incredible. There was a crew of around 30 coordinating sound, lighting, cameras, auto-cues, stage direction and more equipment than you could poke a stick at. That was just inside the building. Outside, the car-park was full of trucks filled with even more techos pulling all the data together into a coherent product and sending it into space via the second biggest satellite dish I have ever seen! And that was only Kellyville. At Campsie and Engadine there were yet more satellite trucks full of gear and cameramen and crews.
Have you got the scale of this yet? The BDI was quite a remarkable feat. It's tempting for us to think that doing live television is easy, because we see it on the networks so often. But that is the point: they do it regularly and have been perfecting it over the last 50 years. They also spend millions. In case you've been tempted to make a comparison between the BDI and Dancing with the Stars, remember that this was our first go and we did it on the smell of an oily rag.
I think all this needs to be appreciated. The BDI took an extraordinary effort by all involved - both professionals and local volunteers - to pull off. I want to publicly acknowledge Russell Powell, who juggles his time between contributing to Anglican Media’s various platforms and being the Archbishop's Media Officer, in which capacity he handles communication for Connect09. The BDI was his vision to launch our year of global-local mission in a global-local way. From the feedback rolling in from churches large and small, it did just that. Not just the visionary, Russell was also the man with the expertise and experience (and contacts) to make it happen. It was a huge team effort, but Russell was the architect and builder - mate, well done!
As with any pioneering event, things went wrong, many of which you didn't see but a couple of which you did - like the words not coming up on screen for the Mandarin prayer, song and Connect09 prayer. With so many balls in the air, it's not surprising some dropped. It was regrettable, and in hindsight we would have done some things differently (hindsight is always 20/20). But as Russell said in the post event wash-up, "Given what we tried to do on the budget we had, it had no right to work at all".
In this respect, the BDI was the perfect launch for Connect09. What we are trying to do in 2009, with the budget we have, has absolutely no right to work at all. And yet - under God - like the BDI, it is already working. People are praying. Churches are planning and mobilising with a new spring in their step. New contacts are being made and new relationships formed. Because - just as for the BDI - God is working as ordinary people pull together.
