What Makes Us Come Alive (Reflections from Passion 2016)

3 locations. 

2 cities. 

1 gathering. 

That was the tag line for this year's Passion 2016. In two arenas in Atlanta and one arena in Houston, forty thousand college-aged students and young adults (ages 18-25) all gathered for one name. And it wasn't the name of Chris Tomlin, Louis Giglio, John Piper, or David Crowder...they were all there for the same one name, too. 

I love Passion. The first year I went, I said it was going to be a one time thing. I loved it, but I said it would be a "one and done." But when the next year rolled around, I couldn't help but sign up again. And again. "Third time's charm, and that's enough," I said, but then ended up going a fourth time. This year, my fifth. 

Maybe it's the energetic atmosphere of a stadium packed full of young people. Maybe it's those moments when you feel the bass of the band shaking the floor. Maybe it's the moments when all instruments back out and the voices fill the room like a choir of angels. Or maybe it's the times when the music is so loud that you feel it in your chest, but you can amazingly still hear the overpowering voices of a crowd who can't just listen; they have to sing along with hands lifted. They have to worship. 

All of those moments are wonderful, but it's so much more than the moving music and the powerful teaching. It's about one name, the name above all names, the only name worthy of such large, loud, and energetic - yet contemplative and sincere - worship. 

It's about Jesus. 

It's hard for me to write about Passion without just begging you to go. Go and experience a piece of heaven - a large crowd from many different places and backgrounds, all focused on the glorification of God through worship and justice, putting him on the center stage, making a big deal out of someone that really is and deserves to be. 

Some people are bothered by the hype that surrounds the Passion conference. All the lights and the loud speakers and the jumping up and down. I'm not. If there is anything we should get hyped up about, it's Jesus. If there is anyone that we should get loud about, it's Jesus. If there is anything that we should jump up and down about, it's Jesus. I'm not sure we do enough of that, and Passion gives us the freedom to worship at the top of our lungs and with our whole bodies while also the encouragement to sit at his feet and soak up his holy presence. 

Perhaps the most essential part is the sending out. Passion is not just an event that happens in a stadium; it's a movement across our generation. They call it the 268generation based on Isaiah 26:8, which says...

"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." 

We want to be a generation that is on fire, in love, and totally swept away by a passion to make Jesus known and famous on our campuses, in our cities, and among the nations. 

I thought about writing down quotes of my favorite things that were said at Passion this year. I just got back a couple of days ago and everything is fresh and fiery in my mind. But then I realized that there would be a hundred of them and you probably wouldn't care anyway because they are out of context. I just wouldn't do it justice. Instead, I will just write my one biggest take away...if I had to choose just one. 

It may sound a little crazy, but Passion took my eyes off of Africa and onto Jesus. 

For 300 days out of this year, I've been living in Africa. Loving Africa. Breathing Africa. Thinking about Africa. And in my eyes, loving Jesus and being in Africa are so closely connected (and so they should be) that I haven't been able to separate the two. But that had led me to a problem. 

When I used to do short-term mission trips, I knew missions was what I was made for because it made me come alive. That's how I described it to people: "I just come to life there, like I am the real version of me that I was made to be." And that's true...for a two week trip, or maybe even two months. But when you live there, you have days where you wake up and life is just hard and you don't feel like you're living a dream. You feel tired, even exhausted, and wonder what brought you there in the first place. And that's when I begin to wonder. Where did the excitement go? Why don't I feel as alive as I used to? 

Being at Passion helped me understand the answer to those questions. 

It's because mission work isn't what makes me come alive. Jesus does. Working for him is not my satisfaction, He is. My fulfillment is not found in what I do, but in who He is and how much time I spend in his presence. 

And so for a moment, Africa faded into the background and Christ filled my whole entire view. My fear was gone, my anxiety vanished, my doubts disappeared, my insecurities and inadequacies washed away because I saw Christ seated on the throne, and all heaven and earth was in surrender to his sovereign control. As soon as this realization was achieved and Christ filled all in all, Africa came back into the picture - stronger than ever before, but without fear attached because that's where God has called me to be and to work to make him famous, and that's where I will go to show him that I love him. But it is not what makes me come to life. Christ does. In fact, he already did that when the stone rolled away one bright Sunday morning, and when he wrote my name in the Book of the Lamb before the creation of the world. 

"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desires of our hearts." 

May our generation rise up to be a people that adore Jesus and treasure him more than life itself. May we be a generation that stands in awe at the empty tomb and then joyfully goes out to share this life-saving, hope-giving news. May we be energized by worship and humbled by our salvation by grace. May we be united to carry his name to the nations, starting with the people closest to us. He is alive; He has brought us to life; and now we join him in his amazing mission to share real life with a hope-hungry world.