A 268 Generation

Last Thursday I travelled up to London to go to the first Passion event in London. If you have never heard of it this is a movement in the USA that seeks to inspire students to live after God and encourage them in that. Now technically (well, actually entirely) I am not a student, but I can drive a minibus and so I was roped in to go - and I'm glad I did.

So the event kicks off in the Hammersmith Apollo with Chris Tomlin and his band pumping out some worship, Matt Redman leads a few songs a bit later, the David Crowder Band pumped out some tunes and Louie Giglio spoke. It was extremely well put together and I really enjoyed everything they did - and you could really sense the heart behind it. Sometimes the worship felt quite showy - especially from Mr Tomlin as I feel strongly that worship is not simply a performance. However, in a sense, the entire crowd was really up for worship - so perhaps not much leading was really needed!

The highlight for me (which is kind of odd as a musician and worship leader) was Louie's talk. Blymey, that man has a stunning way of communicating the Gospel and inspiring people to hunt after that. The Passion movement is based on Isaiah 26:8 - which talks about God's name and His renown being the desires of our hearts, or as he put it 'wanting to make God famous'. This is something that has been really on my heart as late as I really desire to be someone who shines Jesus through everything I do.

I think my problem is that sometimes I get so caught up in being normal and relevant - all good things that Christians should be - that I forgot that we actually need to stick out and be different. To be 'in the world and not of the world'. I was very inspired to turn this around and start making an effort to stick out in the things I do, the things I say and the way I live. That doesn't mean that I am going to go completely into wierdo mode - but perhaps I may not be afraid to talk about Jesus and allow Him to shine through what I do and the way I live.

I have an excellent CD from the Revelation Warehouse that was released back in 2001 called Biography that was recorded at a time when things in the 247 prayer movement were really kicking off. There is an amazing part of that CD which never fails to move me when someone prays 'God we are so sorry when we don't look any different from the world'. That is my prayer today and something I want to change!