passion toronto

November 23, 2005

three years ago (louie said four at passion, but i'm pretty sure it was three), louie giglio came to toronto to speak at a worship together conference at queensway cathedral. it was the first time i saw him in real life. on one of the conference days, i distinctly remember us splitting up into small groups. louie was the head of one of them so i immediately proceeded towards it. i remember a bunch of us asking him about passion and whether or not there would be a passion canada and whether or not passion would ever come to toronto. i remember us all saying that if passion ever came to toronto, we would be there and if they ever came to canada we would totally support them too.

who would have ever thought that a casual discussion like that would start the ball rolling for passion to think about expanding their ministry to the north? that blows my mind. last night, november 22, 2005, marked the first time passion ministries left their native, american soil and stepped into a different country to minister to a collegiate generation in toronto, canada.

there's been much excitement and anticipation in my heart for passion toronto. not so much for the bands or even the speaker, but because of their heartbeat for this generation of college/uni students (okay fine, i'll admit it, i did want to see david crowder band live). i was so excited to see what God would do, how He would move, how people would respond, all of that. i'd love to see our generation make much of God. i'd love to see our generation fall passionately, head-over heals, in love with God and give our lives for His namesake. i long for our generation to rise up and be the people of God that we were meant to be. i long for our generation to turn this world upside down in the name of Christ.

the night started off great. i loved how they got all three worship leaders up together to lead us into the night. it showed incredible unity and demonstrated that it's not about any of the bands in and of themselves. i loved it. after some time, louie came up and told us how passion ended up coming up to toronto. he then told us some history about toronto, and i bet, most of us torontonians didn't even know it ourselves!

the 100 year inauguration of toronto was held at the very grounds of where we were that night. the inauguration speech given that day contained a portion of Scripture in it from isaiah 62. louie was basically saying that we were there as a result of their prayers. that floored me. i was shocked at how much that meant to me.

about two years ago, after coming back from vancouver, i realized just how much i didn't like toronto. i don't like the urbanness of it. i don't like how rude the people are. i don't like the fast-pace of it. and i don't like the weather because it's far too cold for my body having fm. in contrast, vancouver was easy-going, relaxed, full of creation everywhere, great weather, friendly people. i loved it. i loved being surrounded by nature, by mountains, by oceans, by trees, by flowers, by everything! i started thinking about vancouver more and more. i didn't want to be in toronto if i didn't have to be, so i started to pray about it. was i in toronto merely because of circumstance or because God had something else in mind? as i prayed, it became more and more clear that toronto was the place i needed to be, for the sole purpose of how strategic it was. i kept hearing about how toronto was one of the most multi-ethnic places in the world. i realized that the world could be reached through toronto. so hearing that 81 years ago, our forefathers used Scripture in a speech about our city... wow. that really put perspective on things for me.

another thought swirling in my mind that night was just how blessed i am to live in this day and age. i mean God could have given me life at any point of history, but it was now that He chose to let me live. i'm so thrilled to live in a time where movements like passion exist. i'm delighted that i can listen to the teachings and hearts of godly men and woman around the world who really are on board with the heart of God. i'm ecstatic that our technology and means of communication lets us get into places that we couldn't without it. who would have thought that a Bible study for singles in atlanta would inspire so many of us here in toronto? i've grown so much from the teaching of louie through 7:22. it's been a huge source of encouragement for me and God's really spoken to me through it. i really feel fortunate to have discovered it so early (i think 1999/2000).

all this being said, the night went different from what i had thought. i suppose my expectations were different from what passion intended to do and there's definitely nothing wrong with that. it was just... different! i thought that they would have focused more on our generation, on challenging us to be about making God's name great in our lives, that sort of mentality. instead, louie did his message on God's bigness and our smallness and put an evangelical spin on it. it was a great message, don't get me wrong. we all need to be reminded of that and i know it really made an impact on a lot of people. but, it was such a great space to really talk to us, you know? college/uni kids were coming from out of town, lots were skipping class... i dunno. like i said, it was just a different focus.

and it's interesting that that was the message of the evening. i was mentioning in the car on the way down to passion that i find it so amazing that God gives us such a loud voice (aka freedom of choice)! i mean who are we, to decide the course of our lives, when the Creator of the ENTIRE universe made us and fashioned us for a specific reason and purpose? who are we to be able to join this God in establishing His kingdom on little-bitty earth? here's an idea to remind yourself of just how big the universe is. put pictures/images of space around you. set your screen saver to be a space one. set your desktop to be a space one.

maybe i expected the theme of the night to be more like their passion conferences. perhaps i expected too much to happen in one night. i mean, after all, it was only three hours long.

in any case, i was very glad to have gone. it was a great time of praise & worship. it's been a long time since i've really been able to meet with God and connect with Him so intimately and i really needed that again. i was also so excited to see so many college/uni students there too. my mind spins and dreams of what could happen if everyone in that room were seriously committed to making the fame of God know in this city and the earth. can you imagine the possibilities? can you imagine what toronto would look like? oh man! :) the potential is endless.

“yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls" - isaiah 26:8 [NIV/NASB hybrid]

Posted by Leo Chan at November 23, 2005 2:26 PM