8 Aug
New Song from Tim Hughes
Check out this brand new song from Tim Hughes (Here I Am To Worship, Beautiful One) called "Jesus Saves". There's also a simple chord chart that's free to download.
8 Aug
Typhoon Grace!!
A little over two days have passed since we left Jakarta on flights that would land us in Africa for the second time on this amazing world tour. Though now in Johannesburg, and excited about what is in store tomorrow, we all feel like we’ve been hit by a massive SE Asian typhoon and are very much missing Asia! Can you believe it? Three nights and 19,000+ new friends who are now on this massive and growing wave that God is raising up all around the globe! What a ride!
Manila, KL and Jakarta…we love you so much and feel like in a really short period of time God somehow merged our hearts beautifully into one. The way you have prayed and given for each other speaks of a thread being woven through every nation and people, a thread that’s telling a story so much bigger than our own. And Jakarta, you have blown us away with your blog-mania! 900+ comments!?!? Are you kidding? But more than the number (Manila and KL, you rocked as well), it’s the stories that move us most…stories of God’s grace and a night that was Spirit-powered and all about the powerful simplicity of the cross where life began.
And speaking of typhoons, as we were leaving Jakarta Wednesday one shut down the Hong Kong airport (our intended layover on the way to JoBurg) giving us a nice long day at the Jakarta airport before a late-night flight to Singapore, and for many Dubai, before we arrived over 24 hours later to sunny SA winter. JoBurg, there are thousands of Indonesians praying for you right now (see the 900+ posts mentioned above!) and we are expecting great things tomorrow. For those of you around the world, JoBurg is an all day event starting at 10 AM local time. And for you folks who are going to “pitch up” tomorrow, remember to bring a blanket for our Do Something Now campaign! And to everyone following the Passion World Tour, we love you and couldn’t have done any of this without you!
Louie/the Passion Team
Catch the latest from Manila, KL and Jakarta on the Passion Podcast.
6 Aug
Steven Curtis Chapman on Good Morning America & Larry King
An interview with Steven Curtis Chapman and wife Mary Beth aired this morning on Good Morning America http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5524419.
The Chapman's spoke openly about the tragic accident that took the life of their 5 yr old daughter, Maria Sue. The interview was very emotional as they shared about their faith, unanswered questions, and hope in God. The interview ends with a clip from the song Cinderella, which Steven Curtis wrote for all his daughters.
Steven has recorded an additional verse to the song Yours, dealing with the hurt their family has experienced. All proceeds from the sale of this version of the song are being donated to a special fund set up called Maria's Miracle Fund, which aids families who wish to adopt internationally.
The Chapman family is scheduled to be interviewed live on Larry King at 9:00 PM EST this Thursday on CNN.
5 Aug
Indo-mania!
It’s pushing 2 AM and from our 30th floor hotel window Jakarta seems to have settled into another quiet night. But anything but quiet tonight was Istora Arena tonight as over 7000 people united to make a big deal of the Savior of the world in the heart of the most populous Muslim nation on earth.
We have fallen in love with SE Asia (Manila/KL, you were very much in our hearts tonight) and the people of Indonesia have been nothing but amazing. KL, we told them about your prayers for them and the 400++ Blog posts to prove it!!! Thy were pretty blown away by that and were eager to take up the challenge to make sure Johannesburg, SA, is surrounded by thoughts and prayers, too. And moved by your generosity, they gave US $23,500 to help the wave reach South African shores! That’s a movement friends, and what the Passion World Tour is all about.
Once the podcast from KL/Jakarta is up you’ll get to hear more of what these beautiful nights were all about. But our whole team left tonight just shaking our heads at what God is doing around this globe AND floored that we are getting to see so much of it with our own eyes. Every culture and people are unique and diverse, but in some ways every night looks remarkably the same. It’s that Ephesians 4 thing…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and in all and through all.
It won’t be long now before the morning call to prayer will blast from the mosque below. And when it does, I’ll wake up and think about the hope of this city and the presence of God that filled the room as 14,000 hands raised toward heaven lifting up “God Of This City” as a prayer for the 15 million people who call Jakarta home. God is alive and well here, His Church growing in strength and stature. Yet, the final chapter of Jesus’ fame in Jakarta (and the 28,000 islands that comprise this nation) has not been fully written. The future is here though. We worshiped with them tonight as we celebrated the simple, yet profound grace of God in the cross of Jesus Christ.
We are free, we are free, yea the Son has set us free, drop your chains sons and daughters come and run in liberty! Let that wake up this city and the world!
Kyiv + Stockholm + Sao Paulo + Kampala + Paris + London + Manila + Kuala Lumpur + Jakarta = A generation united for His renown!
We Believe!!
Louie
