Passion DC

I have wanted to post every day since Friday, but didn't have internet access! Bummer... but now I'm back.

I always come back from Passion recharged & with a renewed awe of how amazing our God is. Tons of takeaways that I want to share with you all, but I'll have to share most of them later this week (mainly because I left my notebook in Crystal's car & she's at work).

- Louie was rockin' the faux-hawk! I mean, he's definitely like the coolest guy in the world... but at 50 can he legally rock the faux-hawk? you be the judge...

- the 1st night (Friday) Louie talked about each of us leveraging our lives for "the most important thing of everything" = the Name & Fame of Jesus (Revelation 5). We each get a little match that burns (life) for a bunch of years & then it dwindles down & goes out. But, I wanna throw my little match in with the eternal, glorious flame of Jesus & make that flame as bright & famous as I can. Because once my match (life) has burned out, that's the end. Just a simple talk, but a great reminder that living my life for Jesus' fame is all that matters.

- Francis Chan gave a pimp talk about the Holy Spirit in our lives that really rocked me. I'll share takeaways from this in another post this week. (You can download his whole 7-part series on the Holy Spirit for free on iTunes).

- Charlie, Tomlin, and Matt Redman definitely led us in some amazing times of worship... heavenly. Some of the stuff these guys write seems like a 

few angels sent them some MP3s

 of worship in heaven (bootlegged copies of course).

- Louie continues to spread the story about Ashley (which you can read about partially here & here - May 10th) adding new elements all the time. Really cool. I've got some major takeaways from one of his Saturday talks, but for now this is burned into my mind = whatever you're facing that's rough... forget the "sunday school" answers for now & remember the cross. When you think on the cross be reminded that "God is painting on a canvas bigger than you can imagine!" 

If you were there the day they crucified Jesus you would have probably been freaking out and losing your mind... but God was painting on a canvas bigger than they could see at that time. And today, God is painting on a canvas bigger than you can see.

- I LOVE that at Passion '07 Louie and the gang decided from now on Passion would be about

about wedding worship & justice (putting action to our songs). The name behind this is Do Something Now which you can read about how college students at Passion '07 came together to give over 1 million dollars (yeah, million with an "m") here. At Passion DC we partnered with local homeless shelters to provide items they needed plus built us some wells in Africa! (water-borne illnesses is the leading cause of death among children in Africa!)

"We will not be the same, and the world has changed." This weekend we collectively brought 11,117 pairs of socks and 2920 towels to the shelters of Metro DC! Plus, we gave $42,201 to build 14 wells in Africa AND $36,217 for Passion Kampala. Amazing!

- speaking of Passion Kampala that brings us to the World Tour.

One of the coolest things ever is that Passion is going to 17 cities around the globe! (Students from these cities all come for free... costs Passion about 7 million total.) Leaders from the Church in Hong Kong, London, & Paris were all in DC for us to unite with in prayer for the gathering in their cities this summer. + we got to partner to pray for & support the gathering in Kampala, Uganda. pretty flippin' sweet.

- read louie's thoughts on Passion DC here, here, & here... or check out the blurb about Passion DC on the passion website here.

(props to my amazing wife Crystal for getting all these pimp pics at the conference)

Yep, me & Crystal did make it to the spot I wanted to visit (where Forrest reunited with Jenny... also known as the Washington Monument). I'll share some more pics & cool stuff we did in DC later this week.