Quick Stop Seoul, New Chapter In Passion's Future

As just a little tease for what's to come in October, the Passion World Tour has touched down in Seoul for a few hours before heading on to Manila and night one on a second leg run that also includes stops in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Johannesburg and Cape Town. A long Korean Air flight will take us to the Philippines where over 7000 low-cost tickets have been sold for Passion Manila this Friday night. As well, KL is SOLD OUT with close to 4000 and Jakarta is OVERSOLD! Response has made it necessary to secure a larger venue in Jakarta that will allow more Indonesian students to be a part of this night! Spread the word that Passion Jakarta is still open and pray like crazy as we lift up Jesus in the heart of the most populous Muslim nation on earth.

But before we get rolling on Leg 2, I wanted to say a few words about what most of you have already heard about, a new chapter in Passion's future. If you don't already know (and we wish we could have been the first to talk about it, but circumstances beyond our control caused info to spread a little sooner than we would have liked), Passion is taking a pretty big turn as we continue to say "yes" to Him. At the heart of the shift is an unmistakable calling Shelley and I have sensed in our lives over the past eighteen months...a calling to not only serve The Church around the world, but to give our lives to building up a church where we live. So, in coming months, by the grace of God, we will be planting a local expression of the Kingdom of God in our rapidly growing and diverse city that we hope will serve as a base for our influence throughout the world.

We'll say much more as details become available toward the end of the year, but we wanted you to know what's going on within our hearts. Obviously, this has not been a quick decision, but one we have walked through with our Board over the past year and one in which we have sought and received the blessing of our pastor. Our intention is to continue to lead Passion Conferences, love university students, guide sixstepsrecords and have a global reach. It's just that we'll have a local community with the same DNA as the Passion Movement...a place we pray will touch Atlanta and the world.

Chris Tomlin is joining Shelley and me as we launch this new venture, and his band, the Redmans and the Nockels are going to be with us, as well. We are all blown away by what God is stirring in our hearts and ask for your prayers as we seek to follow Him. Many of you have sent encouragement our way, for which we are so grateful. For now, we ask that you not send resumes or requests for more details. All that is premature at this point as the Passion World Tour is squarely in our view and what we'd like the topic of conversation to be about.

In a few hours we will touch down in Manila and we need your prayers and support. Thanks for helping make the journey possible and for taking each step with us.

To make Jesus famous,
Louie and Shelley and the Passion Team