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

As I mentioned in the 32-Day blur post below, I had the privilege of being with students for a week at Daytona Beach a few weeks ago, one of which was a 15 year old named Brady. I got to know Brady through a letter he wrote in March which reads:

3/3/09

Dear Mr. Giglio,
Hi, my name is Brady S. and I’m 15 years old. I live in West Virginia. You are, to sum it up in a few words, my hero. Hearing God’s word through you absolutely changed my life. I thank the Lord for you everyday and you would not believe the amount of times I’ve watched Indescribable. I saw you at Myrtle Beach in 2007 at Student Life @ the Beach and I am stoked for Daytona this year!!!
The experience is one that will never be forgotten and I wish that all of my friends could attend, but one thing is stopping me from making that happen, price.. It led me to God and knowing that, I want to give others that same opportunity. The town of Berkeley Springs is not a very wealthy one and $500 a person is a lot to ask for students to pay. With all of our fund raising projects, we hope to maybe decrease that price to at least $300. But what kills me is that teens my age are going to miss out on something so life changing all because they can’t afford it. Should price be a factor in starting a relationship with God? I don’t think so, but I’m 15 and can’t do much about it other than generously asking for donations.
I would do anything to make this trip possible to 56 others, so they can experience the same thing I have. I am hoping that maybe you can help me in some way even if that way is simply praying for my church. And I’d like to thank you so much for being a positive role-model. When I grow up, I hope to be just as faithful as you are and thanks again for changing my life.
Thanks again and may God be with you.
Sincerely,
Brady S.

Hmmm. The average 15 year old letter, right?!?!

Well, though it’s impossible for me to personally respond to all the correspondence we receive, I shot Brady some encouragement and a short reply… and I waited.

A few weeks ago, at Student Life @ The Beach, I got to meet Brady, his mom, his youth pastor AND the 56 students that came from Berkeley Springs to experience one of the most amazing weeks of camp I have ever been a part of. Brady’s dream was realized and he filled a charter bus with friends and made the trek to Daytona Beach.

A few days after the week was over, this e-mail came:

Dear Louie,

What a week! I can’t choose a word to describe it, simply because there aren’t enough words to describe the pure awesomeness of it. Wow!! First I’d again like to thank you for your help in getting us there, it means more to me than I’m sure you know. So thank you for that.

I’d like to take this time and tell you about the things I’m talking about when I say this week was so amazing. I think you should see what you have helped me accomplish. You see, I had many people come who weren’t involved in youth group and had no faith what-so-ever. You changed that the first night for a few of them. Through you, God spoke to them personally and revealed Himself to them. Derrick C., 15 year old sophomore, now a follower of Christ; Shawn S., 16 year old junior, now a follower of Christ; Sabrina B., 16 year old junior, now a follower of Christ; Kevin C., 16 year old junior, now a follower of our Savior; Summer M., 13 year old 8th grader, now a follower of Christ; Brittani J., 17 year old senior, now a follower of Christ; Derrick S., 15 year old sophomore, now a follower of God, the Creator of Everything!

They never had much of any faith at all, and in just a few days, turned their life around. That made my week. If nothing else would have happened, I would’ve went home excited for them! It was awesome.

All my friends wouldn’t stop saying how I made it all happen and without me we wouldn’t have been there, blah blah blah. The old me was VERY arrogant and would have loved those compliments, yet I just kept telling them, “God made it happen, thank Him.” So then on Wednesday when I got to meet you and my group did as well, (they loved that by the way! Thanks!) all that was coming at me was more compliments, and again, I wasn’t absorbing them, just reflecting them up to the heavens. But then the moment that defined my week was when you decided to use me as your example and tell 7000 people about me. When they were cheering for me and my story, wow. Was I encouraged? Absolutely! But, I was as humble as I had ever been! I saw that it was exactly what God had in mind for me that week, for me to be humbled and I have you, Mr. Pastor Giglio (since you like that so much) to partially thank for that.

….Thank you! And most of all, above everything else, thank God. My friends…get my passion for the things I do now. I may actually have some more support this year when I get 112 people down there!!

For everything you’ve done for me and my group, thank you..

-Brady

P.S: Only 358 more days!

Wow! Just another 15 year old dreaming and giving his all to make Jesus famous!! How amazing!

Humbled, too,
Louie

PSS-I would look for TWO charter buses heading south from West Virginia next July!

Amazing days since Tower Bridge. Thanks to all who shared them.

Tower Bridge meeting = Passion London is on!
Great meal with friends.
Love their vision for reaching the 2.5 milion UK uni students.
Now is the time.
Early train to Oxford.
Worship /Leadership Conference.
Wycliffe Hall.
I really like Martyn Layzell.
Majesty. Mercy.
Just passed pub where C. S. Lewis hung out.
And J. R. R. Tolkien.
Dinner in view of castle where Churchill was born.
What a country.
London train.
Atlanta flight.
Home.
Briefly.
Driving to Gatlinburg, TN with SG.
Student camp ahead.
Mmmm. Gatlinburg, not so much.
Camp starts with a shot.
God is here.
FEE leads with such passion.
Glory To God Forever.
Flip. Life.
Eiffel = life backwards.
Had to be there.
DC*B shows up.
Very loud and full-on.
4000+ students going for Jesus.
Over 400 Compassion kids find a home.
Now we are worshiping.
Flip death.
Ashley still making Jesus famous.
Camp great.
Wow.
Headed home.
PCC core gathering.
A few days in Passion House.
Taking Crowder to doc in ATL.
Big needle!
He plays that night.
Next night, Friday night Forward.
9000 students pack Gwinnett Arena.
This is one serious event.
Like last year.
Crazy.
Delivering a massive message on Glory and the Face of God.
God not sitting on lawn chair!!!!
Unfathomable throne!
Worship = change.
Move that bus!
What’s on our faces?
Tomlin leads so well.
And that following minor surgery.
Yes, insane few days.
Good week not to be on sixsteps.
Saturday honor Youth Minister to Andy Stanley, me and others.
She is 84 and still a step ahead of us.
Thank you, Mary G.
Passion House.
PCC.
Birthday celebration in the pool with the fam.
Five one!
R&R in one of our favorite places for 2 days.
Delta now flies LA to Sydney.
Plane so new ground crew in LA had never seen one except in training video.
Really didn’t need to announce that.
Landing in Sydney always makes me happy.
Australians are some of the most fortunate on the planet.
Checking in to our stunning view of Circular Quay and Sydney Harbor.
The Opera House never disappoints.
Nor the Harbor Bridge.
This place is unreal.
Beauty was born here.
Gorgeous winter… 55 and sunny.
Rough place to live!
Hillsong.
22,000 fill the Acer at Olympic Park.
Cranking up to very top row.
This gathering rocks.
Huge heart for Jesus.
The Church.
The world.
Much output.
Much intake.
Hillsong + United.
Potent stuff.
Friends. Smiles. Blur.
Leave Sydney Saturday, 9:30 AM.
Arrive Atlanta Saturday, 3:30 PM.
Weird.
One day in ATL.
One.
From one beautiful beach to another?
Arrive Daytona Beach, FL.
Hmmm.
London. Gatlinburg. Sydney. Daytona.
Poetic justice.
People drive on beach here.
Not cool.
Sleep all messed up.
Camp starts.
7000 faces.
First night blows up.
Tomlin on fire.
Incredible.
Feels like a “last” night.
Section 208!
God’s presence.
Not the stage.
The presence.
Students are praying for deliverance and freedom for their parents.
That’s cool.
Powerful prayers.
Kingdom shaking.
Flip.
Space Shuttle launch.
Mercy.
DC*B shows up again!
Blows up again.
Thursday.
Last day.
Mercy moving me.
750 Compassion kids embraced.
What worship!!
“Real” last night.
“I Will Rise” is very special moment in time.
Heal the brokenhearted with hope.
Glory. Glory. Glory.
Change. Change. Change.
Holy Spirit.
Flip!
Week over.
Have so much more to share.
Camp 2 complete.
Or starting?
Student Life Gatlinburg/Daytona.
So good.
Will be back next year.
Lord willing.
I love teenagers.
Delta returns to Atlanta.
Home.
Speaking done.
Made it.
Humbled.
Very tired.
Three continents.
20+ talks
Tens of thousands of miles.
Feeling them all.
Happy to say…
Church alive everywhere.
Kingdom advancing.
Playing tiny, tiny role.
Really, really happy.
LG

One of the icons of London’s historic landscape, the Tower Bridge, provided a great location to gather university leaders from all across the UK (and Scandinavia) to dream about Passion’s return to the City in 2010!  If you squint (or just enlarge the image!) you’ll see a set of windows just below the fly-over connector on the tower to your right.  This past Monday, 40 of us met inside to pray and think about the possibllity of another London Passion event next year.  The vantage point was amazing and there was still a buzz among us from our event in Hammersmith Apollo last summer.  But what was really cool was seeing new faces in the room, people who are joining the movement for a Passion gathering to be hosted in London in May of TwentyTen.

I’m not sure I’m even supposed to be releasing this information, as no plans for a LIMITED Passion World Tour in 2010 are official as yet!!  But if you’re in the UK, I’d watch closely for the something in the coming months!

[And, just in case I am in some serious trouble right now, please do not write us or lobby for your city in 2010.  For one, we loved EVERY city we were in on the inagural Passion World Tour and would love to come back to see you all again.  But, reality says that seventeen cities in one year (with our major Passion Twenty Ten gathering in Atlanta in January and this little thing called Passion City Church coming to life) is maybe not the wisest plan.  So, we will be back in a few cities next year, God willing, and might even add a new destination this time around.]

A few days after our London gathering I was speaking in Oxford where I met a student leader from the south coast of England.  Their group was recognized on the last Passion Twenty Ten Live Link web stream (and they said they would be with us for our next one in September as well) at 2AM AND that they are already bringing 9 students to Atlanta for Passion Twenty Ten.  Brilliant!

So thanks to everyone who joined us in the Tower Bridge (and those who met our team in Kyiv before that).  We loved hearing about how God is stirring in your hearts and movements and look forward to even greater things for London and beyond.

Passion London, May 2010?!?!?

But first, Atlanta!  January 2-5, 2010.

Louie

PS- Tower Bridge is most often confused with London Bridge, the latter made famous by the song London Bridge is falling down, falling down…

Most notably, this confusion happened when the London Bridge was sold for $2.4 million in 1968 to a US oil tycoon who dismantled it and had it rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it stands today.  No kidding.

Inching ever closer to our $1 million goal, our third cause at onemillioncan.com has just been funded as we have exceeded our $100,000 goal to fund the expansion of the Sari Bari project in India with our partner Word Made Flesh!

This is what we had in mind when we introduced onemillioncan back in August of 2008, a small army of people working together to accomplish great things for people God loves so much throughout the world. And while it is exciting to see our total grow, far more amazing is knowing the women of Sari Bari (and their children) are free of the injustice and oppression of forced prostitution and now have a hopeful future filled with dignity and worth.

As is so often the case, these women have been trapped in a degrading cycle of evil that has inflicted enormous pain on their lives simply because others could take advantage of them in a weakened state, exploiting their innocence for selfish gain. But today, 75 of these precious women will taste rescue as they begin a new life in the Sari Bari project.

Not only will our gifts through onemillioncan purchase their freedom, but these women will now be gainfully (and meaningfully) employed, producing 2500 blankets per year that will generate an additional $96K that will be reinvested in the freedom of others.

While three of our onemillioncan causes are now FULLY FUNDED, other opportunities remain. We still have a long way to go (we’d like to see all the causes funded before Passion Twenty Ten!) and are grateful for your support and your willingness to spread the onemillioncan message to those in your world.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, so let us now stand firm and not become entangled with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

Louie

Although I do not hear the faint sound of sleigh bells in the distance, Christmas has come barging into summer’s June! No, global warming has not forced the reindeer south. Tomlin is recording an album of Christmas tunes in Nashville! So, last night was “O Holy Night” as one hundred friends packed the church-turned-studio at Ocean Way Recording for a beautiful night celebrating the coming of the Son of God.

In a way it’s a little weird to be singing Joy To The World in June, but then again, quite appropriate as Christmas is simply about Emmanuel–God with us. The miracle of today, and the best thing that has or will ever happen to you and me, is that Christ stepped into our reality, God with skin, to live among us and set us free.

Packed with songs you know and love, Glory In The Highest will arrive in time for “real calendar Christmas,” bringing with it some original songs from Chris and friends that I can’t wait for you to hear.

So wherever you are today, remember the miracle and celebrate the unthinkable…Christ has come. To me. To you. Right here. Now. Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas!!
Louie

Available Everywhere Today!  We’re Excited!
Louie and the sixsteps Team

It’s a gorgeous spring-like day in Waco and the Baylor campus, like most across the nation, has settled into a post-semester calm.  Mrs. Giglio is spending the day with the Crowder clan, working on a photo-shoot for their upcoming release, giving me the chance to get in a brief run on the trails that circle the campus.

A lot has changed in Waco since we sensed the urge to take our first big “backwards step” together–namely, forsaking the normal post-graduate school path of ministry to hang out and give birth to a fledgling little collegiate Bible study at the world’s largest Baptist university–and the face of the campus has undergone a radical transformation.  But one thing is very much the same as it was in the fall of 1985 (quietly lift your hand if you were not born at this time)…the place it all began.

If you wanna see it, click here and check out the street view image.  It’s the Arbors Apartments Clubhouse on Cottonwood Street, and it looks as it did that night the seven of us who had been praying about launching a spiritual movement on this campus opened the doors for whoever wanted to come.

About 40 friends showed up, the lyrics to a few choruses (I Love You Lord was one) had been typed out and photocopied at Kinkos to provide song sheets for everyone, Shelley and a sophomore named Kay helped lead the worship (with no instruments), the talk was from Ephesians 5:1 and a journey was begun that has carried us to this day.  We didn’t have a name at first, nor staff, money or strategy.  Just a desire to see this place come to life for His name.

That, my friends, is pretty crazy.  And amazing.  Wow.

Well, that’s it.  I think that’s all the nostalgia for one day.  No big conclusion.  Just, wow.

LG

It’s hard to believe, but today is the “day it all began” one year ago as we stood on the brink of the Passion World Tour, a journey many of you reading this had given for, prayed over and taken ownership for somewhere deep down in your heart.

May 16 was a Friday and our team had arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, a few days before.  Interestingly, we were anxious about the fact that all our resources were being held by Ukrainian customs (they were never released and ended up being returned to ATL, our only international incident of the whole tour) and a few instruments had missed connections and were yet to arrive.  But the overall mood was clearly “what are we in for?” as we stepped into a future we were confident was set in motion by His calling, yet at this point it was a future we didn’t know how would unfold.

Around 6PM everything at the venue was set and our team huddled backstage with our Ukrainian partners for prayer and worship.  I liked the vibe in the room.  Humble, yet faithful.  Vocal.  Loud.  Centered on the One we had come to make famous.

But inside I was adjusting.  As we were walking toward the prayer time I was told that there were about 200 people in the Sports Palace…not too bad given we were an hour away from the start.  But the news went on that no one was outside in the huge plaza and there were no people in site at the doors to the aging Stalin-era building.

“That’s OK,” I kept telling myself as we prayed.  “We are here.  God is here.  It’s a first step.  We will go for it.”   I was acutely aware of the whole movement that was behind us…people from around the world leaning in with us in hopes of something supernatural for Kyiv and the following sixteen cities in our path.

At this point someone will most likely interject that “crowds don’t matter,” or that I should have had more faith.  But this was the moment we had been giving our all to for  almost two years and I was fighting between flesh and spirit, asking God for a miracle, for people, for a city, yet all the while trying to readjust the inner barometer to factor in a more intimate night than we had hoped for.

What happened next is history now, but a moment etched into my memory forever.  As we walked through the hallways toward the auditorium, eventually entering onto the back of the stage, I got my first glimpse at the thousands of young people who were filling the place.  Soon I was through a doorway and into the arena and all I could see were clumps of 5-12 people coming rapidly through every portal.  Within minutes, the opening video flashed “PRYVIT KYIV” on the screen and over 4000 people went absolutely nuts.  [It could have read Privet Kyiv, as I can't remember in this instant if the text was in Russian or Ukrainian.]

While it’s true Ukrainians are a bit reserved, and smiles are rare when passing strangers in the city, there was nothing reserved about the desire these young people had to shout out the name of Jesus over their city and nation.  As I stood in the middle of them, tears welled up in my eyes and, like the rest of our team, I knew we were in the place God had for prepared us…a barren barn of a sports arena, now holy ground.

A year later it’s not uncommon for our team to be asked what our favorite city was on the World Tour.  Though a totally unfair question (there are no favorites, right?!), I always say that I loved them all in their own special way but that I will never forget Kyiv.  For one, it was the first, a moment never to be repeated again and one from which we drew strength in the hours before we began in every city that followed.  And for me, it was a miracle.  I am sure there is a human explanation for what happened (there is a subway stop right below the Sports Palace and all 4000 must have come on the same train!), but the instantaneous multiplication of people is still a mystery to me, something I will never forget.  More importantly, the WT was on, and there was no stopping it now!

Would the night have been just as cool with 210 people?  Maybe.  We will never know.  But it was powerful and life-changing for us all (and the multiple Eastern-European nations represented) and a night that sparks us to pray for Kyiv today on the anniversary of what God did there.

In the days since our visit the global economic downturn and growing Russian instability/hostility in the region has created a much different landscape in Kyiv.  Jobs are hard to find and people are pressed hard.  But there is a living, breathing Church rising up there with a passion to make Jesus famous in Ukraine and the entire former Soviet bloc.  Let’s pray with them today, and pray again over seeds planted months ago to the glory of His name.

Louie