Well, we were off, we've come and gone by now. We left Ocean Grove, NJ on December 28, 2012 after being there for seven long weeks.
Destination: Atlanta, GA.
First stop: Washington, D.C.
Sweet.
We got there around 6:30/7:00 so we didn't get to see inside any of the buildings, but we did get to walk around and see a few of the really famous attractions, for lack of a better word.
The back of the White House
(pictured above and below)
The Capitol building from afar
and the front of the White House
leaning on the Washington Monument
and from afar.
funny side note-Marc and I both thought that the monument
is right up against the water, but it's actually a good distance away
The Lincoln Memorial. Sick.
"I Have A Dream"
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
And that was DC! We walked around for a while, snapped some pictures, then hopped back in the car and drove to the nearest Walmart for sleepy time. On the way there we passed the Pentagon-that was totally surreal. Actually, I think all of DC is surreal, only because the images are so famous and there we are, in front of these monuments that are known at least nation wide. Crazy.
The next day, we woke up in Virginia to a snowy morning. It seemed as though it had just started because even though it was sticking, it wasn't deep. And on we went to North Carolina! After our 4-5 hour drive turned into a 7 hour drive, we finally arrived at the house of Joe and Ashlee Ziemann! They were so wonderful to us! They had a hot meal waiting for us which was just extra fantastically awesome because we had been driving for 7 hours in a van with no heat! Hot chicken tortilla soup was welcomed and DELICIOUS! We hung out for a bit but knocked out pretty quickly afterwards.
The next day was Sunday, which means church! A family from our church had moved out to Winston-Salem, North Carolina a few years back to plant a church which was more than convenient for us on our way down. So we attended Calvary Chapel Fellowship, Winston-Salem and got to see some old friends and then chilled with Joe & Ashlee the rest of the day. What a blessing to us! :)
Monday morning we were off....again. We made the trek from Winston-Salem, North Carolina all the way to Atlanta, Georgia for the Passion Conference. What is that, you ask? Well I'll tell you. The Passion Conference is a 4 day conference (2 half days and 2 full days) of worship, teaching, and small groups for people age 18-25. I had never heard of it until we went through Ohio and met the Rogers family. If you've kept up on my blog for a while now, you'll remember me talking about them. They are the family who is in the process (a $30,000 process) of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. (You can check out their blog on the right of your screen if you're interested.) So anyways, they told us about this conference back in July when we were there so naturally we were super excited about it! We signed up, assuming that we would be in Florida around January anyways and we would have been had it not been for hurricane Sandy. And that's why we drove from New Jersey down the coast to Georgia, skipping all of the states in between.
Monday evening arrived and FINALLY we were pulling in the driveway to the place where we were staying. I should have taken pictures because this house was gigantic! It had a foyer and all of the bedrooms upstairs had their own bathroom. It was pretty sick. But the best part about it was the huge surprise that awaited us! We expected that only Khris would be there-usually his wife, Michelle, comes too, but it was just too much for her this time. Well, not only was Michelle there but they had brought all 3 kids that we love so much! It was such a beautiful surprise! Many times in our travels we meet people and make friends, but it's not always a very strong connection. In fact, I'd say no more than 4 or 5 out of 26 states have we made a lasting connection in, but they were one of the few. To see them was so great and appreciated.
We celebrated New Year's together that night and hit the bed for our long, early day. In the morning we woke up to pancakes because our host family was awesome :) and then we were off! We were staying just outside of Atlanta so it was about a 40 minute drive to get to the dome.
Day 1:
We had our Door Holder (volunteer) meeting and then our security team meeting where we were split up into teams and received our assignments. We were, of course, on Khris' team, who has been volunteering since 2005. Let me tell you about Khris' team: it's awesome!!!!! We seriously, in my opinion, had the best assignment there is, especially considering that a good majority of door holders don't even get to see the conference, but more on our awesome assignment later.
The first session on the first day wasn't until 7:30 pm so we had lunch (thank you Chick-fil A for feeding us) and then walked around the registration area to "be a presence". One of the door holders from another team asked me what my job was and I told her I was there to strike fear into the hearts of the people. It was good times.
And then we were off to our real assignment...guarding the stage!
So the typical session went something like this:
Worship for 30-40 minutes by any of the following artists:
-Passion worship group, headed by Chris Tomlin
-David Crowder
-Matt Redman
-Kari Jobe
-Jesus Culture
-Lecrae
-and a few others
Message for 40ish minutes
Worship for 2 or 3 more songs.
(sometimes) Filter everyone out of the building.
And the night is over around 10:45, getting us home around 11:30/11:45.
So the first day went awesomely! Louie Giglio taught, who is the pastor of the Passion City Church here in Atlanta. The focus of the conference this year, as it always is, was Jesus, but Louie has this idea that whenever that many Christians are gathered together in one place, they should be united for a cause, doing something to be a doer of the word, instead of just hearing the word. So the focus this year was ending modern day slavery and rescuing the slaves, of which there are over 27 million today all over the world. They raised $3.2 million dollars that will go to 19 different causes that already have their feet on their feet on the ground and are working to end slavery world wide. The money that was raised will fund the organizations for at least the next year. Check it out at www.enditmovement.com and like it on facebook.....please. :) Their main goal for at least right now is to raise awareness of the cause and promote the organizations who are already doing the work.
So the first day was just the evening session, but then came the craziness!
Day 2 went something like this- (give or take 10 minutes here and there)
6:20 AM-wake up
7:00-leave
8:00-security meeting-devo & assignments
somewhere between 8:30-9:30-take positions (stand around and make sure nobody touches the stage)
10:30-session starts. Keep the kids herded behind the tape during worship & message. Beth Moore taught the most insanely awesome message on the Last Supper I've EVER heard.
12:40-session is over-students stay seated while door holders bring them lunch. Yes, that's right....they feed 60,000 people in about 30 minutes. (we get a 5 minute break to eat, then retake our positions)
1:10ish-kids are released to do whatever they want
1:30 PM-session 2 starts. Gary with the flat top taught on modern day slavery. He works for International Justice Mission.
3:00-session is over, kids are released. We stay in place until all 60,000 of them are out and then we go to the backstage area where we have to watch anyone who is going towards the green room or dressing rooms and ask for their credentials. (just us, everyone else went to eat but we volunteered to stay back)
5:15-pre-evening session meeting. Doors open 2 hours before the next session starts, so we are there before that (still).
5:30-the team takes their places around the stage. It's my turn to stay backstage this time, so I guard the hallway.
7:30-I think to myself, why hasn't the session started? It should be any minute now. Then I realize that it's really only 6:19 and I must be in the Twilight Zone with how slowly time is moving. Finally, worship begins (and from the muffled hallway noises, I could tell that it rocked) and then Francis Chan spoke.
11:00-session ran late & the team is finally done clearing the kids out. longest 5 1/2 hours of my life.
11:30-we got lost on the way home, stopped at Waffle House for a meal that hit the spot perfectly!
1:00-home, sleep. Almost simultaneously. Bomb.
6:20 AM-repeat.
Today the schedule was essentially the same except for the speakers-Judah Smith, a round table discussion with leading champions of anti-slavery, and ending the night with John Piper. Also, I was inside the whole day rather than being tortured in the hallway.
Ending the night was different as well. Come 10:15, we wrapped up and then 11:15 headed out to the pavillion. After the small groups were done, the kids all gathered outside for the reveal-an event they do every year (I think)
to help show their cause. Here is a link to the video, it's pretty sweet!
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/01/04/pkg-clancy-passion-2013.cnn
That started at 12, which got us out of there around 12:30! And home after 1:00.
Long days!
One more time, this time up at 6:00 am to catch the train into town. I was zombified but after a fantastic nap on the train, I was rejuvenated and ready for our last session. And then it was over!
So what did I learn?
A lot. I learned that I am judgmental, I don't esteem others higher than myself, and try as I might, I am still a respector of persons and crave recognition.
Why am I judgmental? Because I'm a sinner. How I guess is the better question. As we stood backstage checking badges, I found myself judging the famous worship leaders like Christ Tomlin and some of his singers because none of them said anything to us. They were "too good' as they walked by. I shook my head as I judged them, thinking the celebrity had gotten to them. Then the Lord opened my eyes to my hypocrisy and sin. Who the heck says hello to every single person they pass?! Especially in such a crowded venue?! I certainly don't say hi to most people that I pass, so why did I expect it of them? I was reminded of Jesus & how people found fault with him just because they wanted to, not because He actually did anything bad to them.
Late the 2nd night after we didn't get a chance to stop for dinner because we stayed while everyone else went out for food, I saw Louie Giglio walk out of the green room with a plate of food that just looked FANTASTIC! I guess most things look fantastic when you haven't eaten in 9 hours. I said to myself, "We worked all day, too." Because God is gracious, He immediately reminded me of Phillipians 2:3, which says, " Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." And I wasn't-I was esteeming myself first. My attitude instantly changed and I was able to say (and mean), "I'm glad that he gets to have that plate of food right now." It was an awesome moment and attitude adjustment that I hope will stick.
I thought I was cleared of being a respector of persons. Chris Tomlin, Christian Stanfill, Kari Jobe, and a few other well known Christian artists walked by all of the time and it really meant very little to me, but then David Crowder and Francis Chan walked by and I realized that I was still a respector of persons. Who are these men other than people that God has placed in a position to lead others to Him? It made me a little sad to realize that I still valued them on a level of "celebrity". I had spent the past couple days thinking how funny it was that people were so entranced with meeting celebrities-after all, they were just people. God is working it out in me.
Lastly, the desire for recognition is something that I think I may always struggle with. I fight it pretty well most of the time because when I serve the Lord, I shouldn't want other people to take notice. It isn't for them, it's for HIM. Wouldn't I rather have Him be pleased with me than to receive the praises of man? The answer of course is yes, but sometimes that's hard to remember.
Well, the Rogers left back to Ohio and here we are, wandering around Georgia. Tomorrow we'll most likely hit the streets. Pray for us! We've been having an emotionally trying few days. There is a lot going on back home with friends and family and it's already making the desire to go home very strong. Aside from that, we feel as though we are losing our passion to continue on this trip. We want to be here if that's what God wants for us, but in our flesh we just aren't excited about it anymore. Maybe it's the 2 months that we had off doing hurricane relief & then the conference. I don't know. There was a couple days where we were really praying hard because we thought that the Lord was going to send us home and we knew that we needed to both hear from Him very clearly. Going home when He wants us out is not a mistake we wanted to make, so we prayed and we read and we prayed some more, but neither of us heard anything. So here we are, still on the road, still waiting. We'll continue until He says it's time, but please pray for us that He would remove from us our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh and that we would desire to serve Him where He wants us, not just where we want to.
We'll spend at least the next few days here in Atlanta, and then head to Florida.
our awesome friends, Joe & Ashlee
Monday morning we were off....again. We made the trek from Winston-Salem, North Carolina all the way to Atlanta, Georgia for the Passion Conference. What is that, you ask? Well I'll tell you. The Passion Conference is a 4 day conference (2 half days and 2 full days) of worship, teaching, and small groups for people age 18-25. I had never heard of it until we went through Ohio and met the Rogers family. If you've kept up on my blog for a while now, you'll remember me talking about them. They are the family who is in the process (a $30,000 process) of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. (You can check out their blog on the right of your screen if you're interested.) So anyways, they told us about this conference back in July when we were there so naturally we were super excited about it! We signed up, assuming that we would be in Florida around January anyways and we would have been had it not been for hurricane Sandy. And that's why we drove from New Jersey down the coast to Georgia, skipping all of the states in between.
Monday evening arrived and FINALLY we were pulling in the driveway to the place where we were staying. I should have taken pictures because this house was gigantic! It had a foyer and all of the bedrooms upstairs had their own bathroom. It was pretty sick. But the best part about it was the huge surprise that awaited us! We expected that only Khris would be there-usually his wife, Michelle, comes too, but it was just too much for her this time. Well, not only was Michelle there but they had brought all 3 kids that we love so much! It was such a beautiful surprise! Many times in our travels we meet people and make friends, but it's not always a very strong connection. In fact, I'd say no more than 4 or 5 out of 26 states have we made a lasting connection in, but they were one of the few. To see them was so great and appreciated.
We celebrated New Year's together that night and hit the bed for our long, early day. In the morning we woke up to pancakes because our host family was awesome :) and then we were off! We were staying just outside of Atlanta so it was about a 40 minute drive to get to the dome.
Day 1:
We had our Door Holder (volunteer) meeting and then our security team meeting where we were split up into teams and received our assignments. We were, of course, on Khris' team, who has been volunteering since 2005. Let me tell you about Khris' team: it's awesome!!!!! We seriously, in my opinion, had the best assignment there is, especially considering that a good majority of door holders don't even get to see the conference, but more on our awesome assignment later.
The first session on the first day wasn't until 7:30 pm so we had lunch (thank you Chick-fil A for feeding us) and then walked around the registration area to "be a presence". One of the door holders from another team asked me what my job was and I told her I was there to strike fear into the hearts of the people. It was good times.
And then we were off to our real assignment...guarding the stage!
Marc & Khris catching up!
me & Lily
(I meant to take more pictures with KK & Reese, too, but forgot. boo.)
door holder meeting with Shelley Giglio
this is the entire room on their knees praying for the conference
the sweet lounge at Falcon stadium where we got to
sit and eat our lunch
and Khris, our awesome team captain, doing intros
setting up the stage
Georgia Dome!
just after the doors opened....about halfway to the 60,000 kids
Registration-they had already pre-registered about 40,000,
which left another 20,000 to be registered.
60,000 kids praying in groups of 3
So the typical session went something like this:
Worship for 30-40 minutes by any of the following artists:
-Passion worship group, headed by Chris Tomlin
-David Crowder
-Matt Redman
-Kari Jobe
-Jesus Culture
-Lecrae
-and a few others
Message for 40ish minutes
Worship for 2 or 3 more songs.
(sometimes) Filter everyone out of the building.
And the night is over around 10:45, getting us home around 11:30/11:45.
So the first day went awesomely! Louie Giglio taught, who is the pastor of the Passion City Church here in Atlanta. The focus of the conference this year, as it always is, was Jesus, but Louie has this idea that whenever that many Christians are gathered together in one place, they should be united for a cause, doing something to be a doer of the word, instead of just hearing the word. So the focus this year was ending modern day slavery and rescuing the slaves, of which there are over 27 million today all over the world. They raised $3.2 million dollars that will go to 19 different causes that already have their feet on their feet on the ground and are working to end slavery world wide. The money that was raised will fund the organizations for at least the next year. Check it out at www.enditmovement.com and like it on facebook.....please. :) Their main goal for at least right now is to raise awareness of the cause and promote the organizations who are already doing the work.
So the first day was just the evening session, but then came the craziness!
Day 2 went something like this- (give or take 10 minutes here and there)
6:20 AM-wake up
7:00-leave
8:00-security meeting-devo & assignments
somewhere between 8:30-9:30-take positions (stand around and make sure nobody touches the stage)
10:30-session starts. Keep the kids herded behind the tape during worship & message. Beth Moore taught the most insanely awesome message on the Last Supper I've EVER heard.
12:40-session is over-students stay seated while door holders bring them lunch. Yes, that's right....they feed 60,000 people in about 30 minutes. (we get a 5 minute break to eat, then retake our positions)
1:10ish-kids are released to do whatever they want
1:30 PM-session 2 starts. Gary with the flat top taught on modern day slavery. He works for International Justice Mission.
3:00-session is over, kids are released. We stay in place until all 60,000 of them are out and then we go to the backstage area where we have to watch anyone who is going towards the green room or dressing rooms and ask for their credentials. (just us, everyone else went to eat but we volunteered to stay back)
5:15-pre-evening session meeting. Doors open 2 hours before the next session starts, so we are there before that (still).
5:30-the team takes their places around the stage. It's my turn to stay backstage this time, so I guard the hallway.
7:30-I think to myself, why hasn't the session started? It should be any minute now. Then I realize that it's really only 6:19 and I must be in the Twilight Zone with how slowly time is moving. Finally, worship begins (and from the muffled hallway noises, I could tell that it rocked) and then Francis Chan spoke.
11:00-session ran late & the team is finally done clearing the kids out. longest 5 1/2 hours of my life.
11:30-we got lost on the way home, stopped at Waffle House for a meal that hit the spot perfectly!
1:00-home, sleep. Almost simultaneously. Bomb.
6:20 AM-repeat.
Today the schedule was essentially the same except for the speakers-Judah Smith, a round table discussion with leading champions of anti-slavery, and ending the night with John Piper. Also, I was inside the whole day rather than being tortured in the hallway.
Ending the night was different as well. Come 10:15, we wrapped up and then 11:15 headed out to the pavillion. After the small groups were done, the kids all gathered outside for the reveal-an event they do every year (I think)
to help show their cause. Here is a link to the video, it's pretty sweet!
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/01/04/pkg-clancy-passion-2013.cnn
That started at 12, which got us out of there around 12:30! And home after 1:00.
Long days!
One more time, this time up at 6:00 am to catch the train into town. I was zombified but after a fantastic nap on the train, I was rejuvenated and ready for our last session. And then it was over!
Louie Giglio
David Crowder, my fav
this is why we do it-so people can come
and have open hearts and open hands to
receive from God
my post
this is how they fed 60,000 people lunch
everyone is asked to bring socks & towels to stock up
the homeless shelters in Atlanta & surrounding areas
the reveal
security team :) (minus a few)
Reese & Lily's "my dad just bought Disneyland" face
(photobomb by Michelle)
So what did I learn?
A lot. I learned that I am judgmental, I don't esteem others higher than myself, and try as I might, I am still a respector of persons and crave recognition.
Why am I judgmental? Because I'm a sinner. How I guess is the better question. As we stood backstage checking badges, I found myself judging the famous worship leaders like Christ Tomlin and some of his singers because none of them said anything to us. They were "too good' as they walked by. I shook my head as I judged them, thinking the celebrity had gotten to them. Then the Lord opened my eyes to my hypocrisy and sin. Who the heck says hello to every single person they pass?! Especially in such a crowded venue?! I certainly don't say hi to most people that I pass, so why did I expect it of them? I was reminded of Jesus & how people found fault with him just because they wanted to, not because He actually did anything bad to them.
Late the 2nd night after we didn't get a chance to stop for dinner because we stayed while everyone else went out for food, I saw Louie Giglio walk out of the green room with a plate of food that just looked FANTASTIC! I guess most things look fantastic when you haven't eaten in 9 hours. I said to myself, "We worked all day, too." Because God is gracious, He immediately reminded me of Phillipians 2:3, which says, " Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." And I wasn't-I was esteeming myself first. My attitude instantly changed and I was able to say (and mean), "I'm glad that he gets to have that plate of food right now." It was an awesome moment and attitude adjustment that I hope will stick.
I thought I was cleared of being a respector of persons. Chris Tomlin, Christian Stanfill, Kari Jobe, and a few other well known Christian artists walked by all of the time and it really meant very little to me, but then David Crowder and Francis Chan walked by and I realized that I was still a respector of persons. Who are these men other than people that God has placed in a position to lead others to Him? It made me a little sad to realize that I still valued them on a level of "celebrity". I had spent the past couple days thinking how funny it was that people were so entranced with meeting celebrities-after all, they were just people. God is working it out in me.
Lastly, the desire for recognition is something that I think I may always struggle with. I fight it pretty well most of the time because when I serve the Lord, I shouldn't want other people to take notice. It isn't for them, it's for HIM. Wouldn't I rather have Him be pleased with me than to receive the praises of man? The answer of course is yes, but sometimes that's hard to remember.
Well, the Rogers left back to Ohio and here we are, wandering around Georgia. Tomorrow we'll most likely hit the streets. Pray for us! We've been having an emotionally trying few days. There is a lot going on back home with friends and family and it's already making the desire to go home very strong. Aside from that, we feel as though we are losing our passion to continue on this trip. We want to be here if that's what God wants for us, but in our flesh we just aren't excited about it anymore. Maybe it's the 2 months that we had off doing hurricane relief & then the conference. I don't know. There was a couple days where we were really praying hard because we thought that the Lord was going to send us home and we knew that we needed to both hear from Him very clearly. Going home when He wants us out is not a mistake we wanted to make, so we prayed and we read and we prayed some more, but neither of us heard anything. So here we are, still on the road, still waiting. We'll continue until He says it's time, but please pray for us that He would remove from us our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh and that we would desire to serve Him where He wants us, not just where we want to.
We'll spend at least the next few days here in Atlanta, and then head to Florida.
Hey Bonnie! Great to read all about what you two have been up to. Praying for you and Marc. So good to see your heart... just wanting to be in God's will. You're in a good place of needing to know what HE wants. I'm so glad to have met you two. Keep spreading that seed you sowers!
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