Passion07: Day 3.25

Thursday beheld a bitter-sweet morning for everyone at Passion. We opened with community groups (communities of ~1,000 students which is further divided into groups of ~eight) like we had Tuesday and Wednesday. Since it was the last time for groups, my orange #4 small group gave me their contact information, and we talked about how incredible the night before had been. (I'll elaborate in the next post.) We concluded our study of Colossians 1-3--well, technically Chapters 1-2--in which Paul is explaining to the Church at Colossae the supremacy of Christ in all things and how they had the fullness of Christ in them. We are complete in Christ; all we need is Him. (The song is true.)

In the main session, my sister finally received what she had been waiting for: Chris Tomlin. She confessed to me the night before that she may be "in love" with him. (Not really.) Make no mistake that she understands that who is leading worship is not what's important in worship, but can you blame her for being excited? I was elated when David Crowder*Band led worship Wednesday night (which will be in the next post). Anyway, so God's presence was definitely all over the place. It is so amazing to praise God with ~24,999 other people my age!

Louie Giglio had Francis Chan pray over the students who signed up to pray about whether God wanted them to serve at the Freedom Center in Iraq for a year. He also had anyone else who felt called to a life of missions to stand up too. I wasn't listening close enough, thought he meant any type of mission work, and stood up. People laid hands on those who stood around them. Later on, Giglio gave us the BIG numbers that us at Passion contributed to Do Something Now. The one that blew me away and brought tears to my eyes twice was OneVerse by The Seed Company. Students could buy a verse from the New Testament for $20 and sign their names by their verses on a wall. It costs ~$150,000 for the entire N.T. Passion's goal was that we would translate the book of Matthew for the Dela people in Indonesia. We passed that up pretty quickly and wound of translating the whole N.T. for the Dela people. Going even farther, we translated the whole N.T. for the Rikou people in Indonesia as well. Nope, I'm done yet. We kept going and picked up the Lole group and then were able to finish the N.T. for three other groups who were already in the process of getting the N.T. translated.

If you know me, you know that I'm about people having the Bible in their own language (mother tongue). I get so emotional when I hear about what we were able to do for these people in Indonesia.

Another part of Do Something Now that touched me was the opportunity to mail a Bible to East Asia. I was given the name of the person who would receive the Bible I sent on a bookmark, so I could pray for him throughout the year. That's exciting! The contribution becomes so much more personal when I know the name of the person God is blessing. I pray that God would make this man's heart receptive the Word he will be receiving and that He will immerse himself in Christ so much so that he can't help but SHINE. I pray that he will grow and build.

Giglio also announced that the four-day Passion conferences will not continue next year. Passion will, rather, host smaller events across the country in cities like Chicago, L.A., Dallas-Fort Worth, etc. Also, Passion will be gearing up for a World Tour in which they will have free events outside the U.S. Churches, groups, and organizations can go on a mission trip at the same time of Passion and go to Passion while on the trip. (That was an idea Giglio threw out there.) It's going to be really expensive. We raised $256,000 at the main session. Please pray for the Passion Team and all those who help them, and feel free to help them out and GIVE if God lays it on your heart to do so. I know you'll be blessed for doing so!

You know, I think I'll sign off here, meaning I will save details of the expedition back (or should I say "Caravan" back?) for the next post, and anything I said will be in the next post will go in the post following the next post. (Are you officially confused?) Until then, take care, and God bless you!

"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of Your Truth, we wait eagerly for You, for Your Name and Your Renown are the Desire of our souls." Isaiah 26:8