Still Time To Share Your Story

THANKS to all of you who have called to share your stories on the Passion 07 Podcast line. We've received calls from across the nation and even one super-long distance call from Europe. It's been amazingly encouraging to hear what God did during those days and what He continues to do now. Later this week we'll be recording the episode where your stories are included and there's still time for you to tell us yours. I know capturing your experience at Passion 07 in a minute or two is not easy--and I realize the thought of it is intimidating to some--but we'd love to hear from you before the recording line closes in 2 days!

All you need to do is call 1-678-280-2772...say your first name and where you're calling from...and share away!

It's been almost two months since Passion 07 ended (that seems crazy), but we know the ripples are still circling the globe today. Give a little ring (I've been around Redman too long!) and let us hear from you! The final episodes of the Passion 07 Podcast will return soon with your voices included!

SHINE!

Also Known As The Keystone State-Part 2

Pregame.

Well, we are no longer in Pennsylvania as we awakened to Ohio skies, but we will not soon forget our visit to State College, PA. At some point leaving the Keystone State was inevitable, but the images and sounds from Bryce Jordan Center will stay with us for a long, long time.

As it turns out, State College is the quintessential college town (so, obviously I was happy), sitting in the shadow (that may be too strong an image, implying something bigger than what is really there) of a single small mountain/large hill, which in earlier times was called (as were all single mountains), and I guess still is, a nittany...thus the Nittany Lion, the lion(s) that come from the mountain (Mount Nittany) that overlooks the storied campus of The Pennsylvania State University.

For more Nittany lore.

Also Known As The Keystone State

How Great Is Our God Tour Update [Geographical].
Currently canvassing the great state of Pennsylvania with Redman and Tomlin. Cleveland, which is not in Pennsylvania, though you must travel the entire length of Pennsylvania to get to when coming from NYC, was great, as was Lancaster, PA...two new stops for us...which brings us to State College/University Park (the town that has two names!?!?) and the campus of the mighty Penn State Nittany Lions, of which I intend to find out while we are here just what a Nittany Lion is vs. a regular lion (which I have seen in the African wilderness), which is a long way from Pennsylvania. Headed to Cincinnati, which is not in Pennsylvania either, but I would imagine we will drive, again, through much of Pennsylvania tonight to get there, [turns out PA is 283 miles wide & 160 miles high, making it the 33rd largest State, though it feels much larger when you've been driving around in it for a while, thus explaining why PA, though originally called the Quaker State, is also known as the Keystone State-due to it's location in the center of the original thirteen colonies-but also Key to anyone traveling the upper-central, mid-northeastern areas of the nation, as Pennsylvania shares borders with New York, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland and Ohio and is a virtual hub of our recent leg of the Tour]....then to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the end of a stretch of five straight nights that allowed us to traverse Pennsylvania multiple times. Only if it had been daylight while we were doing all that driving I could tell you how beautiful Pennsylvania is. Thank you Cleveland and Lancaster for such warm (figuratively) receptions.

Gathering Collegiate Leaders

Smaller.
A more intimate Passion setting.
Time to breathe.
Specifically for collegiate leaders.
About leadership, but also about the heart.
Vision clarified.

Teams together.
It's the semester's end.
Our sixsteps family together.
Francis "Mr. Pez" Chan, Andy Stanley and other leading voices.

A few days to chill in Atlanta.
Reshaping.
Lose yourself.
Dance.

Thirsty.
Take a drink.
Remember.
Erase the board and start over.
Ask the hard questions.
Dream again.

Register before March 2 while the price is low.
Come.
Join us.
Thirsty.

Can You Hear It Coming?

From somewhere deep down in the bowels of Continental Airlines Arena…

I’m really just sitting here speechless. This night….crazy.

They say New York City (tonight we are all one happy New Jersey/New York family…and I’m sure people were here from all over the place) is the melting pot of the world, and maybe that’s why I love it so much. Maybe that’s why worship here always seems to take on a different tone…because the worship of Jesus Christ is, no doubt, a worldwide endeavor.

Sure, there were 8000+ voices cranking, but it was the faces that made it special, so much of the world reflected in the many races and people that filled this place. And as the night was winding down, and we were totally losing it on “Glory In The Highest,” a line we have sung every night came roaring to life like never before:

And no one else could ever compare
To You, Lord
All the earth together declares...
Glory in the highest ... to You, Lord.

Tonight was a little, tiny peak into what that’s all about. And as it unfolded, heaven got a bigger. That’s been a theme of my life for the past few years, as glimpses of gatherings on earth declare that heaven blows away anything we have ever dreamed, and the church that is headed there is doing quite well as His anthem spreads around the globe. Of course we have a massive mission before us, but at the front lines God's way is to have the singers of heaven’s song lead into the fray. That song is the down payment on a party that is going to leave us grasping for words and in utter awe. May we never become so enthralled with the puny glimmer of earth and lose sight of forever’s anthem…and heaven’s great and glorious King.

For tonight, heaven is still open, and those who grab onto the Savior with all they are can find a home.

Thank you New York/New Jersey. Thank You glorious Son. I am amazingly Yours.

The View From Above

Tonight was a special night...thanks Fairfax, VA, and everyone who made the trek to be here! We love this place and have had a great day. Special thanks to Congressmen Conway and Ryun (and the Ryun family) for the privilege of getting this beautiful (and somewhat rare) view of DC from the outside of the top of the Capitol Rotunda. Beautiful...and especially freezing!

I know we say every night is special...but it's not "tour talk." We really do feel like God has a unique purpose for each night...and even if we don't see it with our eyes, we believe He is doing incredible things.

And we were really glad it worked out for 50 Midshipmen to be with us from the Naval Academy. Thanks for jumping through all the hoops to get permission to be away for the night. We are so glad you were here!

God is great, but He knows everything about everyone of us. It doesn't matter how many times we say it..it's stunning every single time.

On to NYC...

It's Officially Freezing

We've arrived in DC for the Fairfax stop tomorrow after a great night in East Lansing. Thanks to everyone who came out on a freezing night (at least for us) and worshipping with us. We loved East Lansing, loved the people, loved being smack in the middle of MSU... and felt like God did something really special. It was also cool meeting two people from Canada who had made the three hour drive to be there...and to hear one of them tell the story of fully surrendering His life to Jesus at the Passion Toronto event two years ago. Amazing!

Another long drive brought us to the DC suburbs, where the cold weather seems to be following us (or we are following it!) and, once again, it's really, really cold outside. Then again, we are on tour in FEBRUARY! But we're excited to be here. The DC crowds (especially the Baltimore people) nearly tore the place down on the Indescribable Tour last year. It was crazy and we expect more of the same in the Patriot Center tomorrow night.

Thanks for continued prayers and encouragement as we go...we are so grateful to all of you who have taken up the mission of this tour with us.

See you in Fairfax!

P.S.-The iTunes Bundle seems to be holding its own today. Thanks to all who have shared and enjoyed!! Let's keep it going.

Happy News - Sad News

Sadly, heavy snow is falling outside the bus in Columbus, Ohio, and tonight's tour stop has been canceled. We're bummed to miss our friends at The Ohio State University, but we will be back. We are heading on to East Lansing while we can to get there for tomorrow night!

On a happier note, the second bundle of music and messages from Passion 07 is at iTunes today! Passion 07 Bundle #2 features brand new music by David Crowder*Band and Matt Redman, and the talk "An After Party For All Nations."

Remember to grab the whole album (it's only $3.49) and please help us spread the word today OR gift to a friend!

Enjoy!

Our Friends At Urban Peak

It's been quite a ride leaving the warm southwest/west coast and arriving in the FRIGID upper Midwest. Can you say a high of 9 degrees!! But, at least that's nine ABOVE... and we've had a blast in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago the last three nights. Thank you for such a warm reception, and for running with us after the heart of God.

Tonight we jet to LA for the Grammys...fitting, I think, that we are here with the people of God lifting up Jesus just hours away from music's biggest night. We're excited about tomorrow, but we had a pretty massive time right here!

Every night has been special... and one of the really cool moments so far was making new friends in Colorado, kids who are a part of a program for people transitioning through major life issues called Urban Peak. On the far left are two UP staff members, both friends of Passion who brought a few of the kids they work with to experience God with us in Colorado Springs.

We got to hang out after the night, hear a bit of their stories and put our arms around them and pray for continued rescue and recovery in their lives. I can’t share all the details here, but on the far right is J., just back from a 21–week wilderness program and walking in new found freedom. He is sensing the presence of God in his life like never before. On the other side of Chris is T., whose negative church past makes the whole Jesus thing a bit of a hurdle. But T. felt God’s in the midst of the night and even found herself entering into the worship. And in the center is S., highly artistic and a lover of science (so we had a great connection around the talk). What was really cool was that as we were leaving she took out a piece of paper from her sketchpad and wrote all the names of their friends at UP and asked us to pray for them.

These guys are who this tour is for as the hinge point of each night is the song Everlasting God, of which one of the lines says, “You’re the defender of the weak, You comfort those in need.” That’s what we are praying for these guys and especially for the two girls on the left who work in this challenging secular environment everyday.

Please pray for J., T., and S., and for favor on the worker’s lives (C. and J.) as they seek to SHINE the bright light of rescue and grace to those at the greatest point of need. It would mean the world to us if you would pray for them.

LA bound. LG

Tell Your Story On The Passion07 Podcast

Just like Ashley's post below, we know there are tons of amazing Passion 07 stories out there... and we'd love to hear and share them. Listen to today's Podcast for more info, but the idea is that we'd love to hear:
What God did in your life at Passion 07;
What's going on now because of Passion 07;
How Passion 07 impacted your life (like Ashley), even though you weren't there.

Call 678-280-2772.

Share your story briefly (take a minute or two!). Mention your first name only and where you're calling from... then listen. We'll be playing your stories on the Passion07 Podcast in coming weeks.

We're waiting for your calls!

Just Off The Las Vegas Strip

Yep, that's right...the How Great Is Our God Tour landed within a few blocks of the strip Monday night and it was a beautiful sight. 2100 people packed out what may be one of the largest Christian concerts ever for Vegas and all I can say is, among many other anthems, the song of redemption is rising up from the glittering strip.

The night is built around the idea that though God is big enough to create the Universe, he is also intimately involved with the smallest (and biggest) details of our lives...and promises to hold us together no matter what circumstances we face. Months ago, as we were praying about the night, we had a deep desire to serve people in the most desperate places in life.

We have met some of those folks along the way, but others we may never know about are in the crowd each night. This came the day after our Vegas stop....

How Great Is Our God??? Let me just share - Our kids gave my husband and I tickets to what I thought was a Chris Tomlin concert. We were very excited, but when our 22-year-old son, Joshua, was involved in a car accident Saturday evening and admitted to the hospital unresponsive (he remains in a coma), we weren't sure whether we would attend. Though we know nothing is outside of God's hand, after two days in ICU, we were in need of a breather so we decided to attend. I was speechless to find Matt Redman and Louie Giglio. You see, "How Great Is Our God" revived us, refreshed us and freed our hearts to worship. The music (my son does a lot of what we heard for worship at church) and the message (about this great God's involvement all the way to Laminin) just confirmed what we have been saying since the accident - God is in control!!! We have had God's unexplainable peace throughout, and last night in Las Vegas encouraged us to continue to "run and not be weary". He truly lifted us up on eagle's wings last night! By the way, it appears Joshua began recognizing voices while we were at the concert (his brother, a friend and one of his sisters were with him) and this morning he opened his good eye! We are thrilled at the miracles of God, too numerous to recite here (this is long enough already). The story Louie told of the mother with her young disabled son in a wheelchair worshipping spoke profoundly to me. Thanks, Louie, Chris and Matt and the band and the tech guys for an amazing night!

I've been in touch with Joshua's mom and he has quite a long road ahead with operations this coming week and the process where they will try to wake him up. Please keep them in your prayers and we will attempt to let you know how things progress.

God knows who is walking through the doors each night and what they need most. Thank you to all who are praying for our journey. We feel your prayers, as do countless others like Joshua's mom and dad who are worshipping with us.