We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
(Colossians 1:3-6)

Faith, love and hope stand at the center of Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving written to the church at Colosse. It’s faith and love that came from hope and, we might guess, was made visible through the actions of the believers.

We have the same opportunity to make faith and love visible as we get ready to go to DC. Each regional event has been partnered with a city on the upcoming world tour. The partner for DC is Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. We’ve heard of the nation’s turbulent history and seen its effects in documentaries like Invisible Children, but there is, perhaps another side to this nation, as a Vanderbilt University student wrote on a blog related to the university’s project in Kampala

I have no idea how to put the past week into words, but I will try and give you an impression. The city is beautiful, despite the evident poverty which is present in all parts of Uganda. The streets are lined with palms, banana trees, and flower covered vines, dispersed between the sim-card stands (where you buy phone cards) and buildings that have been left only partially constructed; abandoned due to lack of funds. The constant building gives Uganda the aura of a never ending construction site; everything is transient.

It is into this environment that Passion will land in May. Imagine students from Kampala International University or Makerere University or one of the city’s other colleges gathering to sing God of this City and knowing that the God of their city is the God of our city and of every city on the face of the earth.

Just as the gospel was bearing fruit and growing in Paul’s time, it is doing so now through ministries like Passion and through others that seek to bring the light of Christ into the darkest places of the globe. It’s bringing God’s renown to places we may never have expected and places we may never see so that one day we may join in with the believers from every tribe, tongue and nation around the throne of God.

And it all begins with hope rooted in the gospel that gives birth to love and faith.

Faith that will bring us to our knees for the students of Kampala.

Love that will prompt us to give generously to the Passion event to be held there.

Hope that in this, as in all things, the glory of God may be revealed.

Prayer Focus (directly from the First Monday Prayer Guide): Please pray for the cities where we are a little behind in making plans (or are just exploring as God has put them in our path rather late in the game). Of those we have mentioned, pray for clarity and wisdom, traction and progress in Dubai. As well, there are two as yet unnamed cities we are working on that need a breakthrough.

I have, as you may have noticed, changed my mind. Since I am trying to do the blog365 thing, I thought it might be to my advantage to cross post the 30 Days to DC posts here the whole way through. Hope you enjoy them.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NIV)

The National Youth Workers Convention in 2002 was easily a turning point for me. Oh, there were many reasons, perhaps, but three come to mind immediately simply because of the way they have shaped my ministry since then and, I trust, into the future.

First, it was at this convention that I heard Louie give the “I Am Not But I Know I Am” talk that eventually led to the book of the same name.

Second, it was at that convention that I saw a video showing a field in Sherman, Texas that would be filled with college students the following May for OneDay 03.

And, finally, it was the convention at which I had my first encounter with worship Passion-style as Louie, Tomlin, Crowder and (I think) Redman brought back the Passion Experience tour for one night for the youth workers assembled there.

By then, Passion was a few years into its existence, but it had (and has) many more years to come, if it is the Lord’s will. Whether you came into the Passion family early on or more recently or somewhere in the middle like myself, one thing is certain: the upcoming world tour is a new and exciting leg of the journey of which we are all a part whether it is though monetary contributions, prayers or planning a mission trip so that you land in the same part of the globe as the Passion team at just the right time.

In a sense, Passion’s journey matches that of the disciples. Just as the disciples were witnesses first in their “hometown”, Passion’s earliest events were in its home territory of the southern US. Just as the disciples branched out into their neighboring territories, Passion has branched out into different regions of the US with its stops in Boston, Chicago, LA, Dallas, Atlanta and (our own little part of the globe) DC. Just as the followers of Christ took the gospel, Passion is taking its vision, encapsulated in the words of Isaiah 26:8 to cities around the globe as it embarks on a world tour later this year.

If you’re on the road to DC, you play a special role in this not only as you are inspired at the regional, but also as our regional event is partnered with an event in another part of the world.

And in all of it … God is glorified.

PRAYER FOCUS: From the First Monday Prayer Guide, “We are thanking God for gifts at year end for the world tour! We have a few million to go, but God provided several hundred thousand dollars in the past few weeks and we want to thank him!

I wish I could come up with something clever to write today, but it isn’t in me.

Maybe it’s because the prayer focus that grabbed my attention had to do with death. And I’ve had enough of death lately, thank you very much.

Mom.

Family members of students.

Church members.

Soldiers.

OK. I admit. Celebrities who seemed to have so much talent.

Thousands of Africans each and every day.

Children thrown off a bridge by their father — the man who should have loved them most.

Children aborted by the woman who should have loved them most.

And it’s not just actual death that I’ve had enough of. It’s the threat of death, too.

Warnings from terrorists.

Cancer.

Natural disasters.

AIDS.

Chronic diseases.

I’ve had enough of death. But then, so has God. Just as death came into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve so life has been restored through the death and resurrection of Christ, as Paul writes:

For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! (Romans 5:15)

This gives us hope. Hope that will sustain us if we are dealing with death somewhere in our world as we make our way to DC. Death is not an end because Jesus has conquered the grave.

And I could never get enough of that thought.

PRAYER FOCUS: The prayer points on the 268Blog were posted on 6 January. One of the points reads as follows: “Pray for one of our Passion staff team members, Daniele, whose brother Diego went to heaven this morning in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after a long battle with cancer.” I can tell you from recent experience that Daniele and her family could still use your prayers as the initial chaos that surrounds the death of a family member begins to subside and life returns to a different normal. So today, let’s remember Daniele and her family.

Note: This is a cross-post from the Facebook group I mentioned a couple of days ago. I’ll probably post them for a couple of days. After that, you could keep looking over at the Facebook group.

I am God, and there is no other;

I am God; and there is none like me.

I make known the end from the beginning,

from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please …

What I have said, that will I bring about;

what I have planned, that I will do …

(portions of Isaiah 46:9-11)

One more day thinking about our counterparts on the west coast.

Today will be a busy day filled with more singing and more giving and more learning. It was also be a day filled with more God than some of these students have ever experienced.

For some, it will be a day to leave heartbreaking requests for prayer at the foot of the cross. Others will catch a vision for what God has planned for their lives. Still others will (to paraphrase Louie’s phrase from Passion 07) not know when, not know where, but they will know who they are going with — they’re going with Jesus Christ.

And then they will leave. They will be back on campus facing the same tests and temptations they faced before they left. One thing — one great, awesome thing — will be different. They will have a greater vision of the God who is like no other and the assurance that his purpose will prevail.

And then may his name be glorified not only for who he is, but also all that he has done, is doing and will ever do.

PRAYER FOCUS: Ask that everything Passion serve one end: that of making Jesus known. Pray that our name will continue to decrease and his name will increase in all we do!