12 years later and still got Passion!

On the 26th of September this year I attended a Passion World Tour event in Centurion.  I was first introduced to Passion ministries in college at Elon University through some friends in Campus Outreach. I actually remember listening to one of their first CDs in Carrie Pitkin(Russell)'s car. I was moved greatly by the music. This introduction was the start of something beautiful. In 1999 with some friends, we traveled to a worship event in Charlotte, North Carolina which was a gear up for One Day 2000. We thought it couldn't get much better than that event and then we went to One Day. We piled into a few cars and drove across North Carolina and Tennessee to get to a small town and a field where One Day was happening. God did incredible things in our hearts during those few days together. He did things in all of us that would prepare us for what we would give our lives to in the next ten years(maybe longer, I will let you know :) ) For me, it was at One Day that I first heard John Piper talk about not living for the American Dream and not coming to God with my shell collection-a statement and idea he would later incorporate into Don't Waste Your Life. At One Day I heard Louie say; "you can give your life away for the Lord on the mission field for a few years, what is a few years in the span of your whole life?" I thought, what is a few years, I can do that. Little did I know how much bigger God was planning for me than a few years.  Ten years into life on the field in South Africa, I can say it feels like only a few years still.

God did much in my life through Passion over the next few years and I was so excited when they were first coming over to South Africa in 2008. I was able to take girls I had been investing in and sharing their music with to a similar event that had major ramifications on my own life several years before. Would God do it again in me and in them for the first time? He did. We were blown away. Now four years later something amazing happened at that September gathering, I got to take Casey with me. My cousin, my daughter, the young woman God had placed in our lives permanently only three years before and had cemented legally earlier this year. My fourteen year old who has heard me talk about Passion and heard loads of the music produced from their events, this was a time for her to see and experience all the hype I had I been talking about.

We got there and the place was buzzing. When Chris Tomlin opened with his first song, Sing Sing Sing, we all started singing. Casey started singing and then I started crying. I was overwhelmed! 12 years after One Day God was still moving in major ways and in the hearts of many through this rag tag group called Passion. I never dreamed this life for myself when I was at One Day imagining all God could and would do through me in the next few years. I hope and pray the experience was encouraging for all who attended in Centurion, Durban, Kampala and Cape Town. For me I can say, God has done much but greater things are yet to come for Casey and myself and many more like us.

Casey & me after the party