Louie Giglio - PASSION: The Bright Light of Glory

2014 Louie Giglio

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

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Chapters by Louie Giglio and Beth Moore:
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture verses marked ESV are taken from THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Scripture verses marked KJV are taken from THE KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapters by John Piper and Francis Chan:
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013921100

ISBN 978-0-5291-1011-4

ISBN 978-0-5291-0740-4 (eBook)

Printed in the United States of America

14 15 16 17 18 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls.

Isaiah 26:8

Contents

Louie Giglio

John Piper

Louie Giglio

Beth Moore

Francis Chan

Louie Giglio

John Piper

Christine Caine

Louie Giglio

Beth Moore

John Piper

Judah Smith

Louie Giglio

Francis Chan

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio

Its a quiet fall afternoon outside Memphis, and a gentle breeze is blowing as the sun pours down on a grassy expanse called Shelby Farms. Now part of a beautiful public park, this land is a special place for all connected to the Passion story and is the perfect place to begin our journey in this book.

In days gone by this rolling field was actually farmed by prisoners as part of a nearby correctional facility. But on a misty Saturday in May 2000, this very dirt became holy groundpossibly the most sacred earth on which I have ever walked. If you were there, one of the forty thousand college-aged young people who knelt here on that day, I have a feeling you are nodding in agreement. It was a day that marked our hearts forever, and a day that shaped the future of Passion.

Barely four years old at the time, the Passion Movement was sprouting fast and on this day we had invited the college-aged young people of our nation to join together for a solemn assembly. Our aim was not to simply host a festival, concert, or event. In fact, the publicity did not even include the names of speakers or bands. That felt like a crazy idea at the time, but we didnt care. The invitation was to come and meet with God... to come and pray for an awakening in our generation. We found our rallying cry in the words of the prophet Joel:

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people. (Joel 2:1516)

Why did we want to call for a gathering like this? Because our hearts were breaking for the university students of Americaseventeen million of them at the timemost of whom, according to their own admission, did not know the Savior or even see a great need for one.

Though Passion was growing exponentially, jumping from 2,000 attendees at our first conference in 1997 to 5,000 the following year and 11,500 the year after that, the math still was not in our favor. Campuses were filled with a wealth of personal freedom, intellectual opportunity and social dynamics, but hearts were empty, foolishness rampant, and a void of true purpose and meaning only echoed the growing need for the name of Jesus to be known. We wanted them all to have the chance to know about Him, to hear the name of Jesus. We longed for them to know of His love for them and His power to awaken what lay dormant in hearts dulled by sin, and His ability to restore and even redeem what had been broken in their lives. We ached for it. But even if we kept the pace, doubling and expanding and filling more venues, we still didnt have time to reach seventeen million of them before they walked the graduation stage and the moment was lost.

So what should we do next? Thats the question we asked as we sought God for the next step we should take. We had known from the beginning that our calling was to be a fusean igniter that would hopefully contribute to revival coming to the campuses of our land. We longed to see Jesus name fill the mouths of His people, and to see Jesus get the praise He deserves.

In fact, we were so intoxicated by His nameand our amazing privilege of making it great with our livesthat we didnt even call the solemn assembly at Shelby Farms Passion. Rather, it was most commonly known as OneDay2000, a day set aside for the Lord. We intended to bow our faces to the earth (rain or shine) and ask God to have mercy on us, and our generation.

To get the word out we blanketed the nation for the nine months leading up to May. Our road reps (three hearty guys in an RV with a giant orange OneDay logo plastered on its side) racked up thousands of miles, rolling onto campuses at times with an invitation from a church or campus group and at others with nothing but the leading of the Spirit. Meanwhile, the OneDay campus tour was doing the same, hosting one-night rallies on 120 campuses from coast to coast. The call? Get to Memphis and represent your dorm, your campus, your church, your city, your generation. It felt like a Jesus version of Woodstock as we called people to do whatever it would take to kneel with their generation on this field.

To anchor the journey we hosted eight regional events in cities like Minneapolis/St. Paul, Seattle, San Jose, and one in the Agricultural Arena at Shelby Farms. That night is one thats hard to forget, and was a tad too foretelling. All day it dumped rain in epic proportion. Throughout the event it stormed like mad and suddenly with one massive clap of thunder the power went out. In an instant east Memphis went dark, including the arena.

The music stopped and the room went silent. Yet, after a moment of us all trying to figure out what was going on the crowd decided to keep on singing. If youve ever been in a moment like that you know at times the worship (singing) can feel even more determined without any production elements to assist. Thats what it felt like in the arena on this night. Storm or no storm, we were going to worship Jesus together.

Eventually, the power surged on just as we were singing about Gods mercy and grace. At first, the only thing working was a group of lights illuminating a cross at center stage. As we sang in a darkened arena the only light to be seen reflected brightly on the very symbol of our salvation. Needless to say, a roar went through the arena. We were on our way to OneDay2000, doing our best to prepare the way for the Son of God. We were hoping the brightness of His glory would break into the darkness of our campuses, awakening us to what life is really all about.