Louie Giglio and Passion Church

From Josh Harris:

Today I got a letter in the mail that Louie and Shelley Giglio sent out to friends of Passion. It was a report of all that God has been doing through the Passion World Tour. It sounds like it's been incredible. But then the letter ended with an announcement that completely shocked me: Louie is planting a church in Atlanta. Here's what he wrote:

If you haven't heard by now, Passion is taking a massive turn as we head into the future. At the heart of the shift is a sense of fresh calling that God has made unmistakably clear to Shelley and me over the past eighteen months or so. Though for many reasons it looked like we might never lead a local church, all that has changed as God has placed in our hearts a huge passion to do just that. So in the coming months, by the grace of God, we will be planting a Passion Church in Atlanta as a local expression of the Kingdom of God for our rapidly growing and diverse city as well as a base for our influence throughout the nation and world.

I went online and found a video interview with Louie about his plans. One of the things I've always appreciated about Louie is his readiness to listen to the Lord's leading and do something totally different. Most of the times "totally different" for Louie seems to require bigger faith and bigger risks for God's glory. But Louie always takes them and never looks back. I pray this new venture will be more God-exalting than anything that has come before. There's something very cool about the ultimate "conference guy" becoming the pastor of a local church. I'll be praying for you, Louie.

This is going to be interesting, Louie is one of the big shapers in my life, and the Passion Conference was such a huge shaping influence in my spiritual formation. I am stoked for Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, but even more stoked for what God will do in the ATL area through this church!!