Hi Louie!

I am so encouraged to hear the progress that PCC is making! Meeting every week and the possibility of a church building?!?! That’s incredible! God has really used you to work in my life as I continue to seek after Him more and more. As 2009 came to a close, God showed me some areas of my life where He needed to work, and then I attended Passion 2010, and God used that to RADICALLY change my life! I’m becoming so much bolder in my faith, and I finally understand what it truly means to have literally EVERYTHING I need in Christ. It’s incredible! I actually have a story that I think you would enjoy…

On Thursday night, I started writing a message to Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Team at my school. After I sent the message, I realized that I accidentally sent it to ALL of FCA, 200 plus students. Within minutes, I was getting responses back from people about this message I sent out.

This is what the message read, “Christians are like onions. Yes, onions. Christ died for us, and therefore we are made clean in Him. He strips off our outer layer of sin, and continues to make us more and more like Him. The Holy Spirit is the center of the onion, being the purest, most flavorful, most odorous, and being the whitest.

An onion has a papery, colored, outer skin. The skin is also really flakey. As you peel off these outermost layers, the other layers start to get thicker. The color starts to change from whatever color it is, to a greenish-whiteish color and then, finally it’s white! The same thing happens with the onion odor. It doesn’t really smell at first, but as you peel the onion, the smell becomes stronger and stronger. The odor eventually becomes so strong that WE CANT HANDLE IT, we start crying because the smell is so strong and powerful.

The smell can be taken two different ways…
The first way is… as our sinful nature continues to be stripped away as Christ works in our lives, our odor becomes stronger and stronger. We RADIATE HIS smell. People look at us and can’t give us praise because it is SO evident that it is Christ working in us. People can see it, SMELL it, and CRY because of it. Our lives arent about us at this point. It all about God! When people see us, what do they see and smell? Is it a faint hint of onion, no hint of onion, or are they so overwhelmed by God’s Spirit in our lives that they start WEEPING, praising Him, and following Him???

The second way is… He will remove our sinful stench and make it more like His. In John 11, Christ’s bigger plan is taking place. It talks about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In verses 38-44, Christ is basically saying that As we move away our stone, He is not afraid of our humanity. He’ll deal with our stench. Jesus wants to unwrap our layers and reveal our plan and let us go and follow Him.”

A friend asked me to share this message during FCA on Friday morning during worship. I brought an onion with me as a prop. Who knew how God could use this little onion. We had a pep rally yesterday morning, and after it was over, I went to pick up my stuff from my first block class. Everyone in the classroom had seen this onion in my purse and had to know why I was carrying it with me. So, I had the opportunity to share Christ with an entire class, and I was sooo bubbly and overflowing. I then went on to my second class, and I was so excited by sharing the onion that I could cry. When I entered the classroom, everyone was like, “Emily, why are you so happy? Why are you carrying an onion in your hand?” So, I got the opportunity to share it ALL over again! It was the coolest thing ever. I literally ran down the halls of my school to tell one of our FCA teacher sponsors at school. He reminded that I should be like this all the time. Many times Christians suppress the sheer joy of Christ and the fact that He dwells inside of us and works through anything. I don’t think I ever stopped sharing the joy of Christ and spreading His good news yesterday. I couldn’t stop, the Spirit was just moving. It was incredible! I will never think of an onion in the same way again. Some of the smallest mistakes have the sweetest endings!

I wanted to share that with you because, I RADICALLY changed by God, and each day He shows me something new about Himself. I do not think I would have been like this 3 or 4 months ago. I was kind of bold in my faith, but I lacked pure passion and joy. I had plenty of people pouring into me, but I wasn’t pouring out to other people. God has really used you and your ministry to encourage me to be the woman of God that He calls me to be. As I look back at the passion main session talks, I see what many of them talked about becoming true in my life. I am so glad that high school seniors were allowed to attend Passion 2010, because God has really used it to help me recognize His power in my life. I love attending PCC church and to hear that we are now meeting every week is incredible. So thank you for listening to God’s call in planting such a great church in Atlanta. He is using it in ways, that you or I could never imagine. haha, sorry that was so long. God is just too incredible for words.

Hey!

Last night was the first time i have attended anything passion. i was going to go to the conference this year but i am really tight on money and could not afford it lol but im saving now for nxt year.

I have been involved in church my whole life, i lived in macon ga till i was nine when i wasw then adopted and moved up here. in have been going church forever but this was the first time that i actually felt like it was more than church, it was more than a building with some rituallistic singing and speaker. It was amazing!

i have been struggling with God and all being a college student and also being engaged to be married i get really really busy and dont make time for God and church is just another thing on my to do list, but Passion city church is exciting to me and i WANT to come to church.

thank you Louie for letting God use you and speak through you. You are not like other speakers that i have heard that speak to gain popularity and sound smart and all but you truley put yourself aside and let God do his thang! lol

Im a christian an all but i want to be passionate, like i used to be. My heart is in missions and i wish that i had more opprotunities to go out into the world and share the love of the Lord, the love He showed me by saving me from the life i was in as well as saving me from eternal death. i truley am a passionated person but i dont know how to cultivate that passion and use it in everyday life…i get so wrapped up in everything else i put my passion in a bottle and tell myself that people wont accept that because i a a dreamer and the things i wish to do for the Lord cant be done because im young and need to think realistically about money and housing and family and all, but i know that God will provide…

Anyway i know that im all over the place but i feel like going t pcc will help me to grow in Christ more and to feel free to let it all out. To be a fool for God because i know now that there are other people that arent afraid but live fully through him regardless of what others say!

so cool!

i will def become a regular attendee of passion city church and even bring my fiance along and hope to make you guys our regular church home

God bless you and the band and everyone involved in doing Gods amazing work. You guys are awesome!

Your sister in Christ,

Amanda O’Dell

Hi Louie,
God is asking me to attend the 2/14 service for Passion City Church. Can you e-mail me as soon as you know where it is so I can book my hotel? Thank you.
Amy Durfy
White Plains, NY

Louie,
I hope you get this message! I am new to the Passion scene, but now addicted. I was blessed beyond words as a volunteer at Passion 2010. To see 21,000 + college students so Passionate about God was awesome! I was so inspired by the generosity of the students for Do Something Now, I came home and signed up to volunteer in Haiti. I came to Passion City Church on Sunday and plan to make it my church home. I am sending this blog because I need the church’s prayer. God has blessed me with an awesome opportunity to serve him. I leave this Saturday to join a team of doctors and nurses with Samaritan’s Purse in Haiti. I am a Registered Nurse with 20 years of experience. I know that no amount of experience can prepare me for the devastation that I will see. Please pray for our team. Pray for safe and complication free travel, strength and endurance for the work we have ahead of us and most importantly, please continue to pray for the physical and spiritual healing of the people of Haiti. God Bless you Louie and all of your Passion Team. You can count me in! I want to be on this Team. I will be back in 2 weeks. I will fly back to Atlanta on Feb. 14th just in time for Church!

Hi greetings in jesus name , am pastor christopher from india am pastoring a church called city church, can i know more you and your church am in face book my address is pastorchristopher@anugrah.org, god bless will be waiting for your reply,jesus is lord.

I’m not sure how to reach you, nor if do i know if you check this often..

I was a newbie to Passion 2010. I was later inspired to devote the topic of “Passion conferences” for all of my speeches this semester in school. It’s such an awesome opportunity. I have a few questions, particularly about the Do something now. There’s something I would like to incorporate, but need permission or directions or both. E-mail me, if you could.

Pretty Please with the love of Jesus,
Jessica Fisk

Hello Pastor Louie,
I just wanted to thank you for sharing on the KLOVE cruise this year as well as Chris leading the worship portion. It was such a blessing to hear the bow story. I wanted to share a devotional I wrote while on the ship that a portion of had something to do with Chris’s song “God of this city”. If you would like to read it I would love to share.

God Bless you and your church as you spread the word and love of Christ.
Sincerely,
Debbie H