With just a little over 24 hours to go before the next price increase, registrations are pouring in as students and leaders stake their places for Passion Twenty Ten!  Most recently, John from Carbondale, IL.  Everyone say hello to John and his crew, which will include Salukis and Volunteers [quick, name the schools], students from Southern Illinois University and John A. Logan College.  We’re excited you guys are making the trek to Atlanta and really hope it’s a life-altering journey for you all.

Though it seems like a long way away, Passion Twenty Ten is just nine months away and the price goes up 20 bucks at midnight on Wednesday night, April 1.  So organize, get in motion and grab a spot today!

If you’re lucky, you’ll get to sit next to a Saluki…or Ben from Wichita State University who registered while I was typing this Blog.

Passion Twenty Ten.

LG

PS-For further study and enlightenment on the Saluki.

I won’t spoil the whole story, but needless to say, my friend Andy and I found friendship out of necessity, but love each other by choice.  From Jr. High days to now pastoring churches in the same city, it’s been quite a ride.  This past week Andy [Stanley] and I sat down to talk about our paths, our city and the state of the local church.  As you know, Andy leads all of North Point Ministries, is an amazing author/speaker/teacher/visionary…and is the best leader I know.

Join me with my special guest and friend for the next few episodes of The Passion Podcast, the first of which is available now.  If nothing else, you’ll be encouraged that if God could use us, anything is possible!

Click here to listen.

Though it seems like forever (so much goes by so fast sometimes), it was actually just twelve months ago that we were in the midst of four spring regional Passion gatherings, one of which was Passion DC on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Interestingly, Mason was recently named by U. S. News as the #1 “school to watch” in the US and promptly lived up to that reputation in February by selecting a Drag Queen as Homecoming Queen!

But on a more positive note, this report came from a friend who leads a ministry that meets on the George Mason campus.

It’s pretty cool that we’re getting the chance to talk now since it was almost exactly a year ago that Passion touched down here in DC. I was at Mason earlier today for [our ministries meeting] and as I was driving by the Patriot Center, I couldn’t help but celebrate what God did that weekend and continues to do on that campus. As Passion leans into everything God has for you in the months to come, I hope your whole team can celebrate how He used Passion as part of His plan for an often overlooked campus outside of DC.

The spiritual climate at Mason is shifting and God is doing some pretty amazing things in the hearts of students. People are praying differently; they’re asking God for big things on that campus and believing Him for big answers. Students are talking about Jesus more than ever before and the church is growing. Our little ministry alone has doubled since February. I hope you know where I’m coming from when I say that – I never want to be that “our numbers are up” guy! But there are some things you can measure that matter a lot: Mason students who have raised thousands of dollars to fight human trafficking; 6 short term mission trips that have gone out from Mason this past year; and nearly a dozen students being baptized on that campus. Those are just some of the things we’ve celebrated at [our ministry.] Other ministries would only add to that and give you an even fuller picture of what God is doing at Mason.

I say all of that so that your team can be encouraged that the seeds you planted last year are growing. They’re being carried by an amazing group of students who are living out so much of what God called them to through Passion. It’s great to walk with them and see God answering so many prayers in their young lives.

So, I just wanted to say thanks. I’m praying for all of you and can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of us – for the universities in DC and for your new adventures in Atlanta and where ever else God leads.

I will always remember the way it seemed the spiritual tide turned that weekend as we all started praying for the students and ministries of GMU.  To know that God is at work, and those prayers are a small part of rescue and redemption there today, is what the Passion Movement is all about!

Louie