Passion2011

Have you heard of this event?

If you haven't, you need to check it out.

And when I say check it out, I don't mean casually peruse through the site looking at all the neat graphics they have. Because let's be honest, it's a pretty cool looking site. What I want is for you to spend some time listening to the messages on there, reading about the events and their purposes.

Because if you do that, you just might realize that it is something you need to be a part of.

Chris and I had the opportunity to travel alongside his parents this year to volunteer at Passion2011. Many people would call me crazy. The truth is, I really could have used these 5 days away from my own kids to get some rest, relax on a beach, read a book, etc.

God had different plans.

He made it possible for us to go to Passion, something we'd been wanting to do for years. So, we booked our flights, our hotel, and headed to Atlanta. We had no idea what God had ahead for us.

We showed up, a little naive to what the event really entailed. This is a serious undertaking. There are well over 1,200 volunteers that help greet, register, direct, and serve the over 20,000 young adults. The conference attendees range in age from 18-25. Most are college students, but not all are.

We served as community group lead hosts. After the main sessions held each day, students were divided into "small groups" of approx. 1,000 throughout the convention center. We hosted one of these groups. Each community group had a speaker/leader. Within the group, we divided the students into smaller groups of 8-10, called family groups. This is where God did his work. He used the brief time they had together to begin to weave relationships, stories, and struggles together to glorify His name. So many nights, we just walked around the room and listened to the conversations being had. It was incredible.

And then there were the main sessions. Speakers like Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, John Piper, Francis Chan and so many others taught about the name of Jesus. Wosrhip by Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, David Crowder, Kristian Stanfill, and Charlie Hall to name a few - need I say more?

Let me repeat, it was incredible.

I told Chris when we left, that even just serving and being a part of something like this was so much better for our relationship than any marriage conference we could have gone to.

{Gasp!}

I know there are those of you out there that swear by the marriage conferences. And we have attended a few, they were great.

But standing next to my husband, arms stretched out, singing with all that we have within us, unto Jesus, that was powerful. And to me, that was true intimacy.

After the sessions, we'd stay up late talking about what we'd experienced and how we needed to change. I fell in love with him all over again.

And yet, we were there to serve. We only attended 2 of the 6 main sessions. And we worked. Hard. Late nights. Early morning.

But oh, it was marvelous.

If you have never heard of Passion, check it out.

We'd love to have you join us next year to serve with us.

It will change your life.

And just to prove that we were actually there. Here are a few pictures:

New Years Eve - the night before the conference started.

{side note here. the two people above Chris - Kevin and Jackie. Oh my word. We love them so much. We met them that night. They too served as lead hosts. They live in NJ. It's too far away. We miss them every day. We spent many many hours, when we should have been asleep or resting, talking with them. Just good people. Is it obvious that we miss them?}

We walked downtown to see the peach drop. it was lame. really lame. we'll leave it at that.

Here is Lesly and I in the Go Center. This place was amazing. Students gave over 1 million dollars to 10 different organizations in the 4 days they were there. Incredible.

Lesly and her husband, Lesh, have been friends of ours for over 7 years. We met our first year of marriage. We love them dearly. We asked them to come along and volunteer with us. They agreed! Such a great time serving together!

See now, don't you want to come to Passion2012 next year????