Do Something Now - 1 year later

PASSION is one of my favorite movements of God in the entire world. At some point i will devote at least 1 entire blog to let you know all about it. God has used this movement to be the most influential thing in my life over the last 5 years. Louie Giglio launched this flippin' sweet movement to the nation back in january '97. Passion is a generation united for His renown... I'm all about it. It is all about the college generation spending their lives pursuing God and spreading His fame in their world. I was so behind the movement that I became a rep for the record label that Louie started - sixsteps records which includes David Crowder *Band, Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, & Matt Redman. My 1st Passion gathering was Passion '05 & then I also went in '06 & '07. AMAZING experiences! Now Passion is going to the nations... right along with my heartbeat. Crystal & I are going to Passion D.C. in February and then from May-October '08 they're taking it to 17 of the largest cities in the world!!! Pretty pimp stuff.

Anyway, all I really wanted to share with you today was something pretty cool from Louie's blog. I'm an avid reader and you should be too! A few days ago I thought about simply posting a link and telling you all to go read it straight from his blog, but then I thought... "ya know, the peeps that read renown are probably too lazy to go to all the trouble of clicking on the link and going all the way over to Louie's blog to read it. I better copy & paste it for them." So, that's what I decided to do... you can thank me later. (I know you're not ALL that lazy). So, at Passion '07 we had the opportunity to partner with several organizations to make an impact in the world... and that's what we did. Crystal and I got to be a part of 6 of these initiatives in small ways... everybody did a little & it made a HUGE impact. Below, I have copied Louie's post which details what 22K "poor" college kids gathered in Atlanta were able to do in just a few days for Jesus' sake. Read it... you'll be blown away & blessed. (For all you homeys who were at Passion '07 let us know about it in the comments!)

"As a companion to the world's longest Podcast episode which is now playing at the Passion Podcast , we want to recap what has happened as a result of your efforts at Passion 07. For those just joining us, the Do Something Now Campaign was our way of wedding worship and justice, putting feet to our songs and giving God what He wants most--for us to go to the least of these and meet their needs in Jesus' name.

So, knowing that we were hosting 22,000 "poor" college students and their leaders for four days in January 2007, we did the unthinkable and put a $500,000 challenge on the table. Never counting out this generation's desire to change the world, we linked the momentum of our gathering with eight global causes and asked you to pray, give and go. The results stunned us all, and, I believe, made God really, really happy.

We posted the immediate results after Passion 07 and have told the story all through the year. And, in the spirit of fairness and accuracy, we went back to these organizations one year later to find out just what happened as a result of Passion 07. Did we follow up on what we said we would do? Did we give all we said we would give? Have people gone? And what can we still do to help these causes even though there wasn't a nationwide event this year?

Well, get, ready to be blown away...the results are in.

Cause 1.
Freedom for those trapped in slavery through Stop The Traffik.
Aim: for 1000 people to sign a declaration card to be sent along with hundreds of thousands of others to the UN in 2007 raising awareness of the global human trafficking dilemma.

Result: 3000 signatures were gathered!

Current Need: Stop The Traffik is gathering 1 million signatures for a February 14 meeting with the Secretary General of the UN. You can add your voice and find other ways to make a difference at StopTheTraffik.org.


Cause 2.
Bibles sent to restricted nations through Bibles Unbound.
Aim: to package 3000 Bibles to be sent to people in East Asia, as well as a commitment made by the packager to pray for the recipient for one year.

Result: 4000 Bibles sent. 4000 people being prayed for for one year.

Need: In February, Bibles Unbound is approaching their 500,000th Bible sent. Visit BiblesUnbound.com to get involved.


Cause 3.
Extending the Kingdom to the needy of Atlanta with towels and socks.
Aim: Partnering with 15 Atlanta-area shelters to provide 20,000 towels and 20,000 pairs of socks.

Result: 13,000 towels and 31,000 pairs of socks were collected. That was a pretty incredible sight!


Cause 4.
Clean water for Africa through BloodWaterMission.
Aim: Raise $33,000 to drill 11 wells providing clean water for 11 African villages for life.

Result: $156,000 was given to build 52 wells!

Need: A well can be built for $3,000 and many, many African villages are waiting. BloodWaterMission.com.
(We will continue to support this cause at Passion Regional events in LA, Dallas, DC and Atlanta).


Cause 5.
University education for deserving students through Compassion International.
Aim: Support 20 students in Compassion's Leadership Development Program who have completed the child sponsorship program and are worthy candidates for higher education by paying $250 a month for four years.

Result: Pledged to sponsor 30 students, and 18 were actually sponsored. Once the LDP packets were taken, 40 additional children were sponsored in Compssion's regular child sponsorship program.

Need: To sponsor additional LDP candidates at Compassion.com.


Cause 6.
Fund Bible translations with The Seed Company's OneVerse Campaign.
Aim: Give $150,000 to translate the New Testament for the Dela people of Indonesia by giving $20 per verse for each New Testament verse.

Result: $88,652.77 was given and $355,000 pledged. In the end, $159.914.18 of the amount pledged was received. The Dela translation is fully funded, and Mark, Genesis and Acts are completed. The project will continue for an additional five to six years. Total contribution was $248.566.95 toward six translations!

Need: There are 2000 people groups still waiting for the Scripture in their native language. OneVerse.org.


Cause 7.
Help build a Community Center in Iraq with partner Global Hope.
Aim: raise $55,000 toward the building of an educational/social center called Freedom Center in the middle of a university campus in Kurdistan, see 30 students willing to pray about spending a year there teaching English and have 500 people commit to pray for the Kurds for one year.

Result: $165,000 was given toward the construction of Freedom Center, 1200 plus people took packets to pray for the Kurds for a year and over 500 took applications to go. Of those 500, 50 completed the application process and 21 are now in Iraq teaching in the university as Freedom Center is being built.



Need: 25 more to go as Freedom Center opens in 2008 and an additional $400,000 to complete the 2 million dollar cost. FreedomCenterIraq.org


Cause 8
Life-saving operations for children in the DR with Cure International.
Aim: Provide 51 operations at a cost of $1,000 each. [A donor decided to match what was given at Passion 07 up to 200 operations].

Result: Money was given or pledged for 124 operations and $103,897.87 was actually given. With the matching gift of $103,897.87, which came in December 2007, the total given is $207,795.74, providing operations and hope to 207 children and their families.

Need: Save kids and alter their lives at CureInternational.org.

Total of money redirected to those in need:
Cure International $103,897.87
BloodWaterMission $156,000
Compassion (LDP) $216,000
Compassion (Children/1 year) $15,360
OneVerse $248,566.95
Freedom Center Iraq $165,000

Total $904,824.82

Additional Cure Intl. Matching Gift $103,897.87

Grand Total $1,008,722.60

Wow. That's over 1 million dollars in four days from college students, leaders and volunteers, as well as those who have physically gone, carrying hope in their hands. AMAZING! God really can change the world through this generation! Thank you for being a part of it with us. This is what true worship is all about.
Louie