Just a few days now until the Passion 2010 Live Link and our tribe is growing! As of this post, 5595 people have RSVP’d, and we think there are tons more of you linking in who haven’t let us know yet.

We’re excited to have more people joining the Link every minute, but realize every number represents somebody…somebody with massive potential to make Jesus famous in this generation.

With that in mind, we couldn’t be happier about this comment left on the last Live Link Blog post:

Hannah Says:
September 8th, 2009 at 1:33 PM
Working with the Bozo people here in Mali, but I’ll be listening on the 14th.

That, my friends, puts the Live Link, and Passion 2010, in total perspective.

Mali, in case you don’t know, is a land-locked West African nation considered one of the world’s poorest. Among several unreached people groups there are the Bozo, predominantly Muslim people who live along the Niger River and number (with all Bozo dialects) in the hundreds of thousands.

In the midst of the Bozo tonight is a light shinning, the face of Christ with skin in the person of someone named Hannah, one life extending His heart in the darkness.

Right on to that.

We are so looking forward to seeing every single face that’s going to be on the other side of this screen next Monday night. And we can’t wait to all be united as we pray for you, Hannah, and others like you around the globe!

Shine on,
Louie

We’re Back!

Yes, it’s true. The church that starts and stops and waits and moves is back as Passion City Church opens it’s doors again on Sunday night September 20 at 6 PM! It’s been a long few months since we were last together in May and we are so ready to gather again and set our course for the months and years ahead. Read more…

We’re only seven days away from the Passion 2010 Live Link and students and leaders are joining from coast to coast.  At our last Link Blog post a week ago 2343 people from 292 locations were on board for Monday night, September 14 [8:30 PM EST].  As of tonight, there are 4349 of you from 526 sites joining with us!  Exciting!  But the big question is, how far can we go?  How many of us will be linked via the web next Monday night for an amazing night of worship and prayer as we believe God for great things this semester and turn our hearts toward Passion 2010?  We’d like to see our numbers make a massive jump during the next few days, so help us spread the word and establish a link location where you are.  We’re talking about:

Suite-mates at SCAD.
Roommates at Rutgers.
A condo at Clemson.
Someone in the computer lab at Covenant College.
A girl’s small group at Georgia.
A men’s group at MSU.
Just you at Jacksonville State.
A little group in Leeds. [UK]
A dorm at Duke.
A campus leader in Louisville.
A bunch at Baylor.
Students at Shorter.
People at Purdue. And Palm Beach Atlantic. And Penn State.
Friends in Florida, as in The University of Florida…
Or Florida State, or The University of Central Florida, or South Florida.
Linkers at Liberty.

You get the idea…

And you don’t have to be a university student to join in.  Just mark the date, visit the Passion 2010 site, RSVP and let us know where you’re joining from… and get ready for a great night together!

By the way, if I missed you in the list above, drop a quick comment and let us know where you’re linking from!

Seven days to go.  Lots of people need to know.

Louie

Monday. September 14. 8:30 PM. EST.

Summer’s gone, school’s on and we’re just four months away from Passion 2010 [January 2-5, 2010, Atlanta, GA].  But closer still, and just TWO WEEKS AWAY, the Passion 2010 Live Link will unite students on campuses all across the nation…and around the globe.

All you need to join us for this night of worship and prayer is a computer and an internet connection, so make plans to link with us Monday, September 14 at 8:30 PM EST. Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and Kristian Stanfill will be leading live from the Passion House in Atlanta, while students and leaders [you] participate with us via the web from dorms, apartments, condos, churches, classrooms and iPhones everywhere.

The Passion 2010 Live Link is NOT something you watch, but something you participate in as we think about the semester ahead and get set for Passion 2010.  So gather your suite-mates, roommates, flat-mates (come on UK friends!), campus ministry mates, college church group or just you and join the movement for His renown.

As of tonight, 2343 people in 292 locations have RSVP’d for the Live Link and we want to see those numbers grow in a massive way over the next two weeks.  Check out the details on the Passion 2010 site, RSVP and let us know where you’ll be joining us from and help us spread the word.  (Would be nice to see lots of Facebook profile pics change to the Passion 2010 Live Link logo over the next 14 days!)  See you Monday night, September 14th!

Louie

The latest from my friend (and neighbor!) Matt Redman is nothing less than what you would expect from the guy who has crafted a wave of new expressions for the Church around the globe, bringing his blend of theological depth and poetry to the forefront of worship music for over a decade.  His latest, We Shall Not Be Shaken, is instantly singable and profoundly relevant, with many of the album’s tracks birthed in the midst of the economic upheaval and uncertainty that has rattled the world.

I LOVE this record, and have not been able to get the CD out of  my player or the songs out of my head.  I’m especially glad  “You Alone Can Rescue,” a song that has been a huge part of Passion gatherings for the past year, is now available to all.  But every song on this CD has something powerful to say.  And, with a stellar creative team, led by producer Robert Marvin (Matt Kearney), it sounds amazing!

We Shall Not Be Shaken is available everywhere tomorrow, 08|25|09.  Don’t miss it.

Louie

PS- This is the third project from our small sixsteps label this year…coming soon, new music from The David Crowder*Band and a Christmas CD from Chris Tomlin.

In case you missed it, I have taken quite a large leap into the twittering world, replete with my sincere and heartfelt apology via press conference a few days ago. [Non-tweeters may view it here].

Without saying too much about the transition from “twitter hater” to “twitterer,” I would like to expand on the Tozer Tuesday Quotes, the first of which was successfully tweeted this AM from Atlanta, Ga, and has now reached fellow tweeters around the globe.

As you know, the beauty of twitter is that the communication is limited to 140 characters or less, a challenge for most people like me and certainly for Aiden Wilson Tozer.  I picked Tozer for Tuesday quotes because he has been a mentor to me during my whole walk with Christ, speaking with sharp and penetrating insight that cuts through the layers of stuff that so easily cloud the simple invitation to draw near to the Holy One in Spirit and truth.  Though he died in 1963, and never was a poster boy for expansive church growth, Tozer knew what it was like to hunger and thirst for the presence of God, and he could unpack that desire for people who wanted to know Him more.  His writings, many of which were compiled after his death, often seem more relevant for the current Church than the one to which he preached a generation ago…and for me they remain as timely as those of any modern writer I know.

This week, the 140 character quote is shortened from these lines:

God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.  He meant us to see Him and live in Him and draw our life from His smile. (The Pursuit Of God)

Whether tweeted or typed, read or recited, no words strike closer to the core of who I am today…and who you are.  We are living souls created with one central purpose-interaction and intimacy with the God of all creation.

Lord, let those words sink deep into our hearts right now.  Forgive us for spending so lavishly on that for which we were not made. And let your divine invitation awaken in us our true sense of worth, and a desire to seek Your face with everything we have and are.

Louie

More Tozer next Tuesday on twitter…if we can squeeze it all in!

The last few days our Passion staff/team has been spending time creating culture, deepening community and thinking about the future.  We have an amazing and agile little team through which God does beautiful things, and we are excited about who He is making us and what the future holds.

Yesterday, we put the key upcoming events for all our teams on little sticky notes and placed them on the windows (and the wall in between, but those are hard to see) by months starting now and stretching to November 2010.  Once all the dates were in place we rotated through the months praying over everything God has invited us to carry moving forward.  Honestly, it can be a little overwhelming looking at all that is to come, yet pretty freeing when we remember that God is in us and with us…and He is more than able to do everything He has called us to do.

Praying as a team over the dates was pretty potent stuff.  And as we prayed, it’s likely we were praying for you.  By saying that, I’m assuming that since you are reading the 268Blog a lot of what was on those colored squares on the window is going to find its way to you… possibly in the form of:

Passion 2010

Matt Redman’s new album

New books from LG

A new release from DC*B on CD/Digital and Vinyl

Charlie touring the upper north and northwest

CT and Kristian touring across Canada

Passion London

DC*B “Church Music Fall Tour”

Passion 2010 Live Link

PCC Sept. 20 + fall dates

Christmas CD from CT

Passion Kyiv

Six more Passion World Tour stops in 2010

PCC and Good Friday at Verizon

CT, Christy, LG Christmas Tour

And, as you can see, much, much more.

So, I thought it would be fantastic, since we are all in this together, if we all prayed together.  I know you can’t read all the writing on the wall, but we’d be honored if you would stretch your faith toward these bright little squares and believe with us that greater things are yet to come for the glory of God!

Serving Him and you,

Louie and Shelley [and the Passion Team]

In 183 days Andy and Megan (friends of friends) are getting married!  And in the meantime lives are being changed by their kindness and generosity!  Someone on our team recently put me onto their wedding website and…well, what can I say?

What’s the deal, you ask?  Well, you need to see for yourself.  Take two minutes to visit Andy and Megan’s site (nice soundtrack by the way, guys!) and click on the Gift Registry section.

Amazing!

Here’s to a union I pray is filled with His presence and power…and to the cause of those whose lives will be forever touched in the process.

Cheers!

Louie

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” Proverbs 31: 8-9