Comments on: Crazy DC

By: Beloved

Beloved — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:32:00 +0000

Anonymous critic,

From someone who has been skeptical of Passion and similar ministries and conferences in the past, i understand your concern. You're afraid that everyone's worshipping rock stars, speakers and crosses instead of Jesus. You're afraid that they have been caught up in the hype and missed the God who lowered Himself to this humble, filthy earth to reach us. You're afraid that worshipping, fellowshipping and studying about God together bears no fruit. Let me respond to this.

First, we cannot know the hearts and minds of other men. The 268 guys could be doing nothing more than talking big talk all the while soaking up glory for themselves, and no one would know it (except God). But there are a couple of primary reasons i do not believe this. For one, Passion isn't getting rich off of these conferences. Often times (correct me if i'm wrong, guys) they struggle to break even. Secondly, i cannot deny the ways God has revealed Himself to me THROUGH them, at conferences, on their website, through their music. God has shaken me to the core and i have never been the same. I have journeyed with the Passion guys for about 3 years now, and confess that God has truly used them to grow me and send me out to love the world in a revolutionary way.

No glory to them, only to God!

I also want to mention that there's a "difference" between them and others who host similar conferences and between Matt, Charlie, Chris, David, Nathan and Christy and their clans and most other "worship bands" or bands who do worship tours and worship cds. There's a difference in authenticity of both song-writing, performance and production. There's a difference in their spiritual maturity and, consequently, the way the Spirit moves through them. It's hard to put your finger on it, and many people do not notice it (not that that matters), but it's there.

Regarding your aversion to "partying" here on earth, again, i understand your feelings, because i've held them in the past... and then God changed my heart. He showed me that it IS good to lavish Him with extravagant love. Remember when the "sinner" Mary poured the expensive perfume on the head and feet of Jesus? The disciples rebuked her, but Jesus praised her. There's a lesson to learn in this. God is to be enjoyed BOTH now and forever. If that's all we ever did, there'd be a problem. If there weren't abundant resources out there for the poor (Yes, amongst Christians), then there'd be a problem. American Christians are rich enough to lavish extravagant worship on God as well as extravagant love on the poor. May we reserve to do both.

By: shelly

shelly — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:40:00 +0000

Wow….The concert in VA was awesome…..Chris Tomlin and the gang wow…..Im from Maryland and wasnt able to attend the concert there so my family and I decided to venure out and see the gang…..How awesome it was….Also the pictures that you shown, my niece, shes seven said that they were breathe taken…..So i found the website where you got them from and shared them with my friends…..What an awesome god we have…..

Maybe god bless you and Chris Tomlin on the rest of the tour…

Whats next after the tour is over….

Shelly

By: Carolyn Carter

Carolyn Carter — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:59:00 +0000

Yall are such a blessing!!! Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the Lord!!! And… Thanks for keeping us posted… it makes me feel like I am a part of the journey somehow… like being a part of a big family!!!(Which we are of course :)… all upholding eachother for the same goal… the RENOWN and GLORY of CHRIST JESUS!!! AMEN!!!)
_ God bless and keep up the awesome work!!!

Clap Clap! Clap!!! (I still do that randomly and people look at me like I am crazy… well all except my friends that were there at the Passion confrence with me… they join in and we all start singing in random places! It is great!)

By: Kelli

Kelli — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:53:00 +0000

HEY ALL

Gosh, jealous again! sounds like you guys are having a very good time. I went to DC last May for vacation with my family and really loved it. I get into all that history stuff and I loved seeing all the museums. Although I never got to go into the White house for a tour!! That is a pretty long waiting list!!
My favorite is seeing the constitution at the National Archives.
Did you know that from the Lincoln memorial to the Capital, then across that from the Jefferson memorial to the White House is the shape of a cross?

I hope you have many more good nights!

Kels

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:46:00 +0000

Luke,
Thanks for your thought-provoking comments and for sharing your contact information. You are exactly right about loving God and loving others and staying in the Word. Two people that I have often heard say the same thing with fervor are John Piper and Louie Giglio. I am not a college student and have not been for many years and I was not too moved by Passion when I first heard about it four years ago. But, God reveals Himself through the test of time. The lives of all those involved with Passion serve as testimony to their faith.

I live in an area outside of New York City and I can still see the long range impact of Passion here. There are so many people who are in the trenches and boldly advancing the kingdom of God and Louie's obedience to the call on his life helped them be just as obedient. They need events of encouragement like Passion to keep their arms held high. You cannot know what it is like to so desperately need the fellowship of the saints until you have to be without it. As an intercessor at Passion 06, my heart grieved over some of the negative things that I witnessed but they cannot take away from the global impact of children of God, worshipping in unity. Most of the people there WERE loving God and loving others and will change the face of our society as they walk towards Him.

I love your heart and appreciate your candor. I look forward to more dialogue through email but I wanted to post this as encouragement to bloggers who are seeking and to Louie of course.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:58:00 +0000

I’m the anonymous poster that has posted the 2 posts regarding concerns with Passion. I realize that I probably should keep my mouth shut because disunity in the body and division is the last thing the Lord wants. However, my heart has not changed and if anybody wants to speak further on the issue, then feel free to email me at Thacoop19@aol.com. I would love to speak with anyone about this in a gentle and humble manner. The last thing I want to sound like is an arrogant, prideful “Christian” who just criticizes everything. I just hate to see people following one event so much and not Jesus, because in my mind there were some problems with the event and the things that went on. Please email me. I love meeting new people and talking with them about Jesus. Thacoop19@aol.com

Luke

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:34:00 +0000

Ok… anonymous, lets be nice here and not bash Passion. These guys really get the word spread and point people in the right direction… If the Lord wants them to pump college kids up like they do to help them spread the word then let it be. Yes you should read the bible and be discerning and focus on Jesus and loving others, but as far as i’ve seen, Passion hasn’t done anything wrong. I’ve never seen that many sober college students together in my life and it’s very refreshing that we all gathered together under one roof and worshiped God together to encourage and strengthen each other in our faith and spread the good news. Fellowship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ help us to go out to those who don’t know Him. God has blessed Passion too much for it to become worshiped more than He is, and i’d like to hope people understand they are worshiping God in this and have their eyes on Him and not any worldly things.
God Bless

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:13:00 +0000

God was definately in the house in Raleigh! Praise and worship was awesome and LOVED hearing Chris and the guys play the new song… Made to Worship? is that the title? took a minute for those that didn’t go to passion to catch on but it was great… i belted it out anyways, who cares, they’ll get it soon enough! The message Louie gave was just as good as it was at Passion… wow… it blows be away every time to realize how BIG God really is. Awesome. I’m in awe of Him and thankful he sent such talented people to spread the word… thanks guys and keep up the good work! See ya next year at Passion 07!
In Christ,
MS

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:10:00 +0000

God does have His hand on Louie. I do not doubt that. The Passion Movement has had an incredible impact on many people’s lives and on my own as well. It just seems the more I check Passion out, it just seems to be out advertisement for their stuff. When Louie speaks, it is not authoritative. As a matter of fact, Louie just gets up there and tells stories. He does absolutely no exposition or exegesis of the word. I have never heard him speak about the Bible. The “Indescribable” talk was nothing special at all. Surely the Heavens declare the glory of God! I agree. But we are not to focus on the cosmos as much as we are to focus on this God actually desires for us to come to know Him, to have a relationship with Him. It is easy to get caught up in things such as the universe, creation, evolution, memorizing scripture, finding your “passion”, apolegetics, speakers, musicians, events, etc. The point is, the 2 most important commandments are to love God and love people. There are millions of people dying from hunger, and Passion puts on million dollar conferences that gets people hyped up for a month or 2. Hanging the cross up the last night of the conference was idolatry without question. How can it not be when I saw people running up to it and worshipping it? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Come on people, lets go out and tell this dying world about Jesus and forget about the “partying”. Lets learn the Bible and invest in other people’s lives. You can take alot of great things from Passion, but it is very easy to just focus on Passion and not on Jesus and other people. Discern for yourselves when others speak and teach. Keep studying, keep searching…

By: marcus

marcus — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 04:41:00 +0000

Whether or not someone liked the designer jeans talk, who can argue with the “Indescribable” talk? I just had the chance to hear it again in Pittsburgh. (sorry to post on the DC thread, but I didn’t feel like waiting) So it was a hundred times more moving to me, because I finally saw the cross at the center of the spiral galaxy. From my angle at Passion, it just looked like an ‘X.’ Also amazing, and proof of just how much God has His Hand on Louie as he speaks, the audience sat in stunned silence as soon as the picture of Jesus came up, just like the silence of 19,000 in Nashville. Keep on carrying this powerful message Louie!