passioncitychurch blog

Just a reminder that we’ll only be gathering once this Sunday, Feb 5, at 11AM. It’s going to be an incredible Sunday as we wrap up I Am Church in the morning and spend Super Bowl Sunday night with friends and family as we engage beyond walls of 515.  We will have overflow set up for the 11 AM gathering.

It would be super helpful if we can get a bit creative with parking so we can accommodate as many as possible in the lot and deck.  Here are some ideas that would help significantly:

***If there’s a MARTA station between your house and 515, consider parking there and taking the train to the Lindbergh station.  You can easily find the PCC shuttle as you exit the Lindbergh station for the short ride down to 515.
***If driving, please carpool and head directly to the deck when you arrive (vs. swing by 515 to check the lot) so the incoming traffic is more evenly distributed.
***For all, please respect and follow the direction of our parking team and officers as they serve you this weekend.
For middle and high school students, space for Winter Weekend, 2.10-12, is limited. Students will not be gathering this week so jump online and register today at passioncitychurch.com or visit the black container on Sunday morning for more info.

The smile and effervescence of Gail Thomas (46) will be missed at Passion City Church.  The Senior Atlanta Police Officer, a 15-year veteran, was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver while assisting other officers with a traffic incident on the downtown freeway late Tuesday night.

A viewing for Thomas is set for Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Murray Brothers Funeral Home in Atlanta. The funeral is scheduled for Monday at Elizabeth Baptist Church.

As do many churches, PCC depends on the services of police and other law enforcement personnel to help with traffic flow and overall security during our gatherings.  Gail Thomas not only served in an off-duty capacity at  PCC, she became a fixture, and a part of our PCC Door Holder family.  You could always find her near our main welcome/info desk with plenty of joy to share.  As well, Officer Thomas served as a volunteer for Passion 2012.  Several students remembered how, after MARTA closed late one evening before they could commute to their hotel, Officer Thomas was quick to give them a ride and escort them home for the night.

Our hearts and prayers surround her family (especially her collegiate daughter), her fellow officers and all who loved her.  May the peace and presence of Jesus sustain you all as He carries you gently through these difficult days.

We will be remembering Officer Thomas and honoring all who serve in law enforcement this Sunday.

Just in case you missed it somehow, Passion City Church is “Headed To The Dome” as we get set to host tens of thousands of university-aged young people from around the globe at Passion 2012. After months of planning and preparation, our staff team at PCC, and many of our amazing PCC Door Holders, have our sights set on January 2-5 at The Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center. We believe it’s going to be a powerful, heart-shaping, history-changing four days and we are honored to prepare the way for this generation of students as they seek Him.  As a result of our pre-conference schedule, there will be no PCC gatherings at 515 on January 1. Our team will already be hard at work setting everything in motion for our opening session on January 2.

Speaking of The Dome, we would treasure your prayers, both today and throughout the conference. It’s so powerful knowing our PCC family is behind us, so if you can’t serve with us, please pray. You can follow our journey of Worship and Word to The Dome at Acclimate, joining with people around the globe as we read the entire Scripture on the way to Passion 2012.

And, you can unite with us as we raise our voices for Freedom through Do Something Now.  Click the link to find out more about our causes at The Dome and join us as we seek to help end modern day slavery here in Atlanta and globally.

Speaking of Do Something Now, we are pumped to announce that our Haiti-Rising.com project has been fully funded!!!  Yes, God has provided in miraculous ways and we met our target of $621k+ just in time for Christmas!  Thank you so much for your generosity and for helping us make it possible for our Haitian friends to remove the rubble that stands in the way of rebuilding their future.

We can’t wait to see what God has in store during the next few weeks and throughout 2012.

See you at The Dome, or at our first PCC gathering of 2012 on January 8!

Expecting great things….

Advent is underway, inviting us to slow down and rekindle our sense of expectation and confidence in the promise of God.  As we journey together, we are reminded of His faithfulness displayed in Christ’s arrival in Bethlehem, and we are filled with hope that He will come again to rescue and restore.

While we wait, and as we celebrate His birth, we want to move from consumption to compassion, recovering the spirit of the season as we reach out to those in need.  For us at PCC, we are excited to continue our partnership with Samaritan’s Purse to make possible rebuilding efforts for our neighbors in Haiti. Though no longer front page news (or news at all), a massive need remains and we are eager to help.  For many Haitian families, the future is stalled by massive piles of rubble that can easily be removed if more heavy equipment is available.

We can make a difference!

Please give a generous gift to Haiti Rising during this Christmas season and help clear the rubble for families still waiting for hope to arrive.  As well, gift cards are available which benefit Haiti Rising and make great stocking stuffers for friends, co-workers and family.

To give, or for more info, visit Hait-Rising.com.

We’re almost two months away from Passion 2012 and tens of thousands of college students and young people are headed to the Georgia Dome for four days that will alter forever the direction of their lives.  We couldn’t be more excited about the potential of these days and the opportunity to serve this generation.

Given our Passion City Church team is leading the way (both planning and leading Passion 2012) we want all of PCC to join our volunteer team for The Dome.  We already have over 1,000 amazing volunteers signed up from across the nation, but we still need  hundreds more and want our PCC Door Holders to lead the way.

So if your willing to come and serve, have an energetic spirit, like long hours invested in the stuff that really matters and understand that there is no role too small for those of us in His Kingdom…we want you to come and join our team.

The dates are January 2-5, but we also need your help the days before as we load in. You can get all the info AND sign up on the Passion 2012 website.

Trust me, if you serve at Passion 2012 you will never be the same!

Humbled to hold the door with you,

Louie (and the entire Passion team)

Why be normal?

If God is truly great and extraordinary in every way, then we, too, should live lives that reflect His unusual character and beauty to the world around us.  Don’t miss the challenge and encouragement of this new series–running now through October.

Weekly gatherings, Sundays at 11 A and 5 P.

See you there!

It’s been so exciting to settle into our new gathering space at 515 and watch the place fill and overflow as people encounter Jesus and experience His transforming power in their lives.  As we expected, the addition of Passion Kids and Bloom, as well as our having a permanent place in the neighborhood, have caused our one Sunday night gathering to exceed our ability to serve people well.  Obviously, some of the crunch has been due to the summer rhythm and many out of town guests, but even with school starting again we have more people coming than we can squeeze into one gathering.

After much consideration and discussion with our team, we are happy to announce that we will be adding a second gathering  at 11 AM beginning September 25.  As well, we will be moving the evening gathering time to 5 PM.  Passion Kids will move to the 11 AM slot while Bloom will be available at both 11 and 5.

Given all the options, we believe it’s time to offer a morning gathering at PCC and believe the 11 AM time slot will allow us to best serve families with small children AND build our PCC core.  Yet, we don’t want to relinquish our evening footprint in the city, since from the beginning we have invited people to gather on Sunday nights.  Thus, hosting both AM and PM gatherings makes the most sense for us at this point in our journey as we continue to allow God to mature us as a church for God, for people, for the city and for the world.

Adding a second gathering will definitely require more of those who are serving every week.  We hope that with the addition, you will take the step from attending to serving and join one of our volunteer teams.

You’ll hear more about the new schedule in the weeks to come, but for now make sure to mark Labor Day Sunday on your schedule as we’ll “Take The Plunge In Worship” with a special night of worship and communion on September 4.  You don’t want to miss it!

Humbled, honored and expecting great things,

Louie, Shelley and the PCC Team

Hi Passion City Church Community,

It’s so great being back in the swing of things as we kick off a new school year and wade into the series “Take The Plunge.” It’s going to be an amazing year for us at PCC as our little tribe builds on the solid foundation of Jesus and the sense of family He is birthing in and through us all.  We have a lot of work to do, and so many areas in which to grow and develop, but our team is confident that we are moving with God at His pace and in His power and we are stunned and grateful for all He is doing in our midst!

As we move forward, there are a few things everyone at PCC needs to know:

Passion City Church Is Growing — That’s not news to anyone who’s waited to get in the parking garage, stood in line before a gathering starts or pulled up a nice comfy seat on the floor or in our overflow space.  While our goal might not be a “cushy-comfortable seat for everyone,” we, like you, do know that if we want to see God touch more lives we need more room.

Thank you for being incredibly flexible and patient during these crazy summer days where things have been jammed and know that our team is working hard to implement the best solution for multiple gatherings at 515.  If all goes according to plan, we’ll add an additional gathering time in the coming weeks, but a crucial ingredient for that happening is….

We Need You To Join The Team – While thousands are attending our gatherings, a small, gifted and committed core are actually holding the door week by week. These families and singles are just like you, yet they have chosen to set aside their own personal interest to serve all who are experiencing PCC.  The best way to thank them is to join them, so sign up to volunteer with one of our teams today.  We need great people in kids, parking, touch, production and all of our PCC teams…and we’re waiting on you.  The sooner we have more volunteers the better positioned we will be to offer multiple gathering times for the city.

Baptism Coming September 11 — If you have made a decision to follow Christ and haven’t yet been baptized, it’s time to take the plunge! Baptism is a beautiful and public declaration of your faith in the One who saves and restores. This is your chance and now is your time.  Sign up today.

You Gave — Thank you for your generosity the past two weeks.  PCC giving during our break week was significantly higher than it has been for the weeks we actually meet!  Way to go! Let’s make this trend our norm as we move toward stunning generosity that reflects His generosity toward us.

Passion City Church Youth Group Starts Now — All middle and high schools students will be excited to know that Passion Students will be meeting on Sundays starting this week, August 14, from 4-5:30 PM at 515 Garson Drive.  Led by Brad Jones and Brett Younker, this will be a great way to connect with other students at PCC and grow in your walk with Jesus.  Don’t miss the very first gathering. This Sunday. 4 PM!

More to come!

We’re so excited to be able to reach out to families in our 515 neighborhood by providing back-to-school backpacks for kids through our local elementary school.  It’s a simple, yet powerful way to say hello to our new neighbors and to give a head start to kids in our community who come from families facing financial challenges.

Time is short, so that means you have to act fast!  Given we HAVE NO PCC GATHERING ON JULY 31, we need all backpacks stuffed with school supplies and at the Blue Container at 515 by this Sunday, July 24!

All the details on Project Supply and a complete list of supplies needed to fill each backpack.

This is more than charity, this is our worship as we extend the care and compassion of Jesus to the kids of the 515 District and Neighborhood.  So be generous…and thanks for your help!

Don’t miss the latest release from our friend (and PCC’s own) Matt Redman! Recorded live at our first LIFT: A Worship Leader Collective gathering in February, this LIVE album is a powerful collection of new songs for the Church around the world.  Featuring Never Once, Holy, We Are Here For You, 10,000 Reasons, Magnificent, Endless Hallelujah and more, 10,000 Reasons will bring you to a whole new place in your walk with Jesus.

Get it from our online store or on iTunes today!