I think it’s pretty amazing how the older you get, the more your birthday becomes about the people around you instead of about yourself. You want to be with the people you love…to celebrate, to remember, to dream about the days ahead and just know that you have a home with someone… I just wanted to write a thank you note today, on my birthday, to honor some of the people around me, right now, who make my life what it is…and who make my birthday truly happy today.

I’m pretty sure I made fun of Hillary Clinton when she said, “it takes a village to raise a child”…but on the flipside… I look around and it’s absolutely true in my case, for my children. What makes me ok with that is that I know that God Himself placed me in this village around me and around my family. He ordained my steps, and those around me to intersect at just the right time so that I could enjoy true friendships and also so that I could fulfill my calling in the Church. He gives much grace to me in order to accomplish what He’s called me to do. Part of that grace comes simply through this village of people that He put me in…

There is a constant sense of the gap that lies between my abilities and my calling. There’s only so much I can do…I’m limited. With 3 kids, life has to be intentional to accomplish what I feel I’m called to do. There’s also a certain sense of release that I have to have at all times, knowing if God has purposed it, He will do it. I’m convinced that part of how God accomplishes His purpose in me is through the people who step in at just the right time and move into that gap…

So, today I humbly celebrate the people who stand in the gap for me…

Nathan, thank you for loving me and for always telling me that I can enjoy what I do…for constantly releasing me to walk in my gifting and letting me be me. You are an incredible Dad…anything I can do, you can pretty much do better – except maybe cooking. Thank you, you fill in the gap.

Mom & Dad, for your prayers, the Kingdom kind, that are a constant wind in my sail and for countless times you’ve flown and driven to us – hours upon hours- to be with our children so that we can do what we do. It’s an amazing ministry to me. Thank you, you fill in the gap.

Eric & Kristin, you are my brother and sister-in-law, but most of all, you are my dear friends and I really, really need that. What a joy to have you near us…it’s better than I dreamed. I’m so excited that my kids get to see you and know you. Nobody cheers me on better than you both do…thank you…you fill in the gap.

To “Aunt Molley”, you are the sister that I always wanted. I’m so grateful that my children know you and that you are a huge part of their lives. Thank you for your humor, for truly getting me..and for being that person that I never feel I have to be “on” with… You’re like a comfy sweater. Thank you…you fill in the gap.

I think of Anna Brink who tutors and loves on our children so they can school at home…thank you Anna for every bit of your passion for teaching our kids and for loving them the way you do…down to the last tiny detail. Thank you…you fill in the gap.

Thank you Deeann for countless times you’ve stepped in to hold down the fort…even through tornado drills…and for helping to finish major school projects in the past and managing “Brave” the dog with humor. Thank you…you fill in the gap.

Miss Mo Mo, you’re not forgotten either and your countless hours of loving on the kids…thank you..you filled in the gap. Recently, Miss Kristine for stepping in to fill in for Anna and being an absolute cheerleader to Noah & Ellie. Thank you…you filled in the gap.

I think of Shannon Scott, always reassuring me that I’m ok to head to the main stage for soundcheck…that the kids will be more than fine…they will be loved on, poured into and cherished in Bloom and Passion Kids. Thank you for scooping up Annie Rose when she cries for me, handing her a cup of goldfish and saying, “Let’s go hear Mommy sing”. That means the world to me…releasing me all the more to lead. Thank you…you fill in the gap.

Janet Reeves…I’m happy today that you wake up with Passion Kids on your heart because 2 of my kids are in there every Sunday and they need to hear what God puts in that heart of yours. You’re amazing. Thank you…you fill in the gap, dear.

John Pritchard – for your thoughtfulness & kindness. Do not grow weary in doing good… You are irreplaceable. You fill in the gap. Thank you.

Legacy Academy of Alpharetta, GA – Thank you…you fill in the gap.

Jennifer Bossart – for play dates and pick ups for Annie Rose and for being my friend even after you’ve seen me at my worst. You fill in the gap. Thank you.

Louie & Shelley, thank you for reminding me that I’m released to lead and for believing that over me even before I did. Thank you for the culture that you have kept at PCC – the ultimate “village”. You fill in the gap. Thank you.

PCC Door Holders – you fill in the gap. Mike M. – thank you for putting up with all my questions. Leighton, thank you for just helping me and encouraging me cheerfully, always… sixstepsrecords…you fill in the gap. Thank you.

I’m grateful for the Tomlin Band & Crew…you set me up to win. As much as you tease me, you encourage me… You fill in the gap. Chris & Lauren, every time I see you, I walk away encouraged because you have taken the time to speak something into my life. You fill in the gap.

To Lindsay W, Wendy S, Lauren C., Donna S, Whitney P, Joy G, Julie C…my dear friends, even from afar….you fill in the gap. Thank you.

God– you hem me in, behind and before. You put Your very own dreams in me. You loved me before anyone did. You made me… You are perfect. You made all these people because You love them and you love me… You allow them to fill in the gaps of my life because it just brings You joy when they do…and lots of glory. Thank you. You are enough for me. You obviously can fill every gap in my life from now until eternity…so even more, it makes me thank You that You still love to use people – just ordinary people – to accomplish Your purposes in extraordinary ways… I love you with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.

This is a happy birthday.

Love,
Christy Nockels

Sarasota! What a beautiful day! The kids and I went to the beach with the Reeves family…Jesse is Chris’s bass player..and his wife Janet is out with us this week! Their kids and ours are good buddies and currently all bus mates for the Florida run! Woohoo!  We all got too much sun. I’m now convinced that generic sunscreen does NOT work. Gonna pay the extra $20 next time for the name brand kind.

We got to the venue this afternoon and were all so excited to clean up and have a little rest… Turns out, there’s no hot water in the building..so my kids were screaming in the bathroom like they were being tortured. It really was sad to watch them shiver and shake and realize that our bunks were just gonna be a little sandy tonight cause they would never really get all the way under the shower head. I told them to toughen up, that this was how all the rock-n-roll tours are! Just kidding I didn’t…

It’s always fun to come to Joy FM land and Carmen, I’m so sad I missed you tonight if you read this! You are the best… It’s fun to come back too because I lived here as a kid, when I was about 10. We moved to this area to help start Sarasota Baptist Church. My dad was the first pastor and we lived here a few years while it first got off the ground. Again, another “Ebenezer” in my life…coming back somewhere I’ve been and remembering the faithfulness of God. So powerful…

Tonight was incredible. Again, we left convinced with much faith that Jesus healed hearts and awakened souls who have been “sleeping”… Praying as people go that the name they can’t quit talking about is Jesus!!

I’m headed off to my bunk, where even though I’ve dusted off, showered, changed clothes, shaken every article of clothing out, I’ll still have some grit in there with me somehow. Just enough to grind against my sunburn…you know what I’m saying…can’t wait.

Tomorrow, the beautiful West Palm.

Love,
Christy

Cincinnati - just when we thought it couldn’t get any better!! What??? You guys are amazing… We know that many of you came from Kentucky as well as Ohio…what a night! Seriously, like Chris said tonight, if you could only see what we see. It’s people watching at its finest to be able to watch them connect with the living God! I often stand there and just tell myself to really take in the moment and take a snapshot in my mind and in my heart to remember it forever… It truly is one of the greatest honors of my life to lead people in song, and certainly the greatest honor to carry the name of Jesus everywhere I go.  

Tonight we head towards Atlanta - next stop, our home church, Passion City Church! I truly get excited when it’s time to go to the House of God together… Nathan (my husband) and I will lead tomorrow with Chris & the band guys. Our children love to go to soundcheck with us and run around the building before church starts…reminds me of when I was a kid and how much I loved going to church even then. Sundays are amazing days and we always look forward to them…

Next week I will miss the Jacksonville show…wish I could be two places at once. I’ll be leading that night in Charleston, SC at Northwood Baptist Church - that is March 23rd, at 7pm. It is co-hosted by Charleston Southern University….so looking forward to be there! Come join us if you’re in the area! I’ll rejoin the tour in Sarasota on March 24th and will be on the rest of the dates from there on out. I’ll also have at least one if not all 3 of my kids with me for the duration of the tour, so I’d appreciate your prayers! They are beside themselves with excitement. In fact, they probably aren’t even sleeping this night thinking of it. To get to go on tour with me is hands down, better than Disney World to them! Annie Rose, in particular…our 3 year old…will be especially excited since her biggest crush right now other than her Daddy is “Mr. Chris”. I kid you not that she already picks out her outfits for church based on what she thinks Chris might think is cute…oh my word!

So, headed home…can’t wait to see my sweet family…to get a few nights of sleep in my bed…the one that sits still at night, with my husband an arm’s length away…and a black dog named Brave at my feet.

Before we head home though…a feast of Chick-fil-a, the best chicken on earth. And I’ll leave you with a bit of trivia… Did you know that Louie Giglio’s very own dad designed the logo for Chick-fil-a?? It’s no joke, that’s his handwriting that came up with the big capital “C” and the little chicken face in it… How cool is that, seriously…

Love, Christy

I think I became semi-delirious last night because of all the chocolate I consumed yesterday.  I don’t normally eat chocolate on a daily basis.  Yesterday may have been a record for me, and that’s why my last words were that you Hershey, are “beautiful and chocolately”.  Not only did I consume chocolate from Chocolate World, but someone brought Amish goods on the bus last night.  I have to admit, I just went for it,  and of course the band guys were egging me on… There were these things called “Whoopie Pies”?? - All of you Pennsylvanians are laughing right about now ’cause you know what I’m talking about..but oh my word!  This is two little homemade chocolate cakes with that stuff in the middle like in an Oatmeal Creme Pie…except it was probably made yesterday and not several months ago.  And then, there was CHEESE. I’m getting sick now telling you about it because it was 1am when I ate that - but I think I can still say this morning that it’s the best cheese I have ever tasted. Anyway… I need to have our friends - The Rend Collective - tell you what they think of American chocolate.  I will just say, that one of their descriptions for the aftertaste was “vomit”.  Crazy Irish…

Well, moving on…what an incredible night in Hershey…one that will live on, I’m sure of it.  You have to know that when we come out there and say that we have great expectation of what God is going to do, we really mean it.  Sometimes you might see our mouths moving in prayer, our hands raised, our feet dancing - but it’s not part of the “show”, it’s us coming and believing that anything is possible when we come together and lift up Jesus.  We are trusting Him fully to set people free, to heal, to lift up the broken, and to save.  We’ve learned to believe in the unseen as we are up there giving it our all.  We can’t know fully what is happening in the room, but we know that God is at work. Yes, there are occasionally those who stand there and just stare at us, some even fall asleep on the front row - it happens - but we’ve learned to keep our eyes on Jesus and have faith that even though it may appear one way, the Spirit of God is alive and well and He is the One who is at work.  It does fill our hearts with joy when we do see the evidence but there’s really just as much joy when we look around and know that God is working immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.

Speaking of the unseen, I got some great shots last night of the “unseen world” on the Tomlin tour.  No, I’m not going to show you Chris snuggled up on his bus…I’m going to show you some of the guys who set up the party and have to start tearing it down even before the last person has left the parking lot.  I can’t mention everyone, because we’ve got a lot of crew out here…but I did get a couple of shots of some of the guys last night.  These guys are up before anyone else and in the building first thing in the morning.  They set up ALL DAY LONG and then we start sound check in the afternoon and some even assist with that.  They get a few short breaks but then it’s concert time and they work ALL NIGHT and then like I said…they have to tear down the party and when we are all snoozing in our bunks, they are loading trailers and trucks and are the last ones to lay their heads down each night.  Amazing…

There’s “Hillbilly” and no, he doesn’t care if we call him that.  He’s the guy that makes the lights do amazing things!! There’s Jeff…he runs “front of house” - which means he’s at the sound board and is making everything come together to sound incredible… There’s “The Bearded Wonder” who I call “Beardy” behind his back…who has a bunch of different roles throughout the day and night, but is also Chris’s guitar tech…he tunes each guitar and switches them out for Chris as the night goes on.  The Beard also comes on our bus at night to just bring us joy and fellowship, he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.   There’s Joe, who I know does 100 different things during the day and night, but one of them that personally blesses me is that he holds a flashlight to the stairs when I have to go up and down them in the dark.  I wear high heeled boots sometimes, so I’m thankful for Joe that he’s always there to light my way.  Kyle runs ear-monitors and is the best I’ve ever worked with - he’s like a security blanket… You can just look over at him when you can’t hear and do some sign language and he always knows how to make it better.  And last, but not least, is Brian - Triple B, I like to call him - “big brother Brian”…always watching…he’s in charge of allot of things but he always takes the time to make sure I am getting where I’m going safely, and my husband appreciates that about Brian!  Brian puts on his really nice cowboy boots when it’s showtime, and I’m convinced that if anyone ever tried to harm any of us, they’d be getting to know those cowboys boots “up close and personal”….  : )

There are many more guys out here that do tireless work and they make things run really well for Chris and for all of us.  I’ve known Chris a very long time, and it’s really a joy to see what God has done through his life and how God has brought people together to help him steward well the songs and gifts he has been given.  I’m humbled to be a small part of that as well…

Cincinnati - Good afternoon - we are HERE!

Love

Christy

THIS IS JOE…he’s packing up his flashlight, among lots of other things…

THIS IS JEFF…very cheery for midnight! Way to bring it…

The Bearded Wonder - need I say anymore?

KYLE! Expert at all kinds of random sign-language and somehow always knows what we’re saying…and fixes it!

The UNIFORM they proudly wear….

THIS IS HILLBILLY… see what nice guys they are?

And Brian…hands me a water at every turn during the concert, like I’m some kind of rock star..seriously. Give it up for the unseen world of “And If Our God Is For Us” tour 2011! You guys are amazing…

What a beautiful day in Baltimore! It’s amazing to be back in this gorgeous city. When I walked into the arena this morning, in my pj’s, I looked around and realized, “oh yeah, I’ve been here before.” That happens allot to me. When my husband and I were called “Watermark” we traveled on many a tour through this area. It is so fun to be flooded with those memories of when we first began…

I was telling my brother on the phone  how weird it is to come back year after year to these same places, same arenas and concert halls… He said, “that’s cool, you should look at that as an Ebenezer each time”… An Ebenezer is a memorial or a remembrance of what God has done in your life and in your family’s lives… So sweet to think of it that way… Now every time I come back to a place where I’ve led worship before I can raise my hands in remembrance that Jesus is still my all, and He is faithful to continue to lead me, year after year, to lift up His name in all the earth… I’ve been doing this a long time, and the more I do, the more I see His faithfulness and that its all still worth it!

Baltimore, you are top 3 favorite for sure, a night I’ll never forget! How fun was it to spend St. Patrick’s Day with The Rend Collective, the lucky little band from Ireland who is opening for Chris!! When I saw them this morning, they told me that their accents would be extra thick all day long. I already have to strain to understand them… They were decked in green and so happy… but the funny thing is, they don’t really celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland like we do here.  Last week, they asked us why there were shamrock posters in all the windows and stuff in the different cities. They didn’t understand why or what we were celebrating. Its weird how we Americans like to make up holidays and especially turn something that started out really pure and holy into an excuse to party and miss work…sad but true! St. Patrick was actually a man who led many thousands of people to Jesus in his lifetime. This might be preschool knowledge to all of you, but fairly new to me, but he often used the shamrock to explain the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit…the God-Head three in One. Hence shamrocks hanging in every bar tonight from coast to coast. I’ve heard it said that many times throughout our history, things that began as pure and even miraculous have been “explained away” by turning them into mystical, magic fairytales…. I will stick to believing in the miraculous not leprechauns!!

I’m hoping to get some rest tonight. I haven’t been sleeping that well on the bus. I have a little cold too, so hoping and praying my ears stay clear and my voice stays strong over the next few days!

Next stop, Hershey, PA. I’m thinking I’ll need to head to the Hershey factory for some special chocolate treats to take home to my kids! You know, they say that you can actually smell the chocolate throughout the city…I won’t be able to because I can’t smell or taste anything right now, but I’ve never really been able to smell it before… That’s another place I’ve been many times… So, picture me in the morning, in my pj’s, walking through the arena in Hershey, PA, raising an Ebenezer to the Lord…in remembrance that He is faithful and worth it all!

Love,
Christy

Madison, WI, you are a beautiful city.  Louie was right tonight when he said from the stage that our little crew often encounters cities at their moments of protest and turmoil.  It’s never an accident of course…it’s assurance that God is working in the mysterious way that He does…  We ate lunch with some dear friends of the Passion family, Matt & Rachel Metzger. Matt is one of the pastors of Black Hawk church here in Madison.  They know Louie well enough to know that he’d want to be where the action was today, so we ate lunch just a few blocks from where all the protesting was going on… I kept a safe distance, but listened… They basically had an open mic for people to just get up and voice their opinion and people stood around with various signs and yelled and cheered… I saw a little dog that looked sort of like the one we just adopted and decided to go talk to him for a minute. : ) That’s my way of keeping my distance but still listening and observing.  I talked to the dog’s owner for a little bit too.  Funny how dogs open up a line of communication with complete strangers… I kept thinking…people just want to know that someone is listening to them.  As I watched these passionate people try to demonstrate their desires for their community, that’s all I could think was that they just want someone to listen.  Everyone wants someone to watch their back….to look out for them…to hear their cry.

Tonight was an amazing night of worship.  As we leave this place, I pray that God’s Spirit will continue to rest here.  I pray that in the midst of turmoil, one by one, people would encounter the Fortress who is our God.  The One who seeks to show Himself strong to those who would fully commit their hearts to Him.  He does have our backs.  He does look out for us… He does hear our cries, day and night… He can handle our protest, our turmoil… Jesus has overcome the world.  He never said this life would be easy or free of pain, He said HE IS WITH US and FOR US and if HE is with us and for us, who could be against us?

Praying peace over you Madison, WI…peace and warm weather.

Chicago, IL…here we come!!!

love,
Christy

Just had a great few days off at home…  Church on Sunday night was amazing…it’s our favorite time of the week. Not sure why that seems odd to say but it is…and it should be! Incredible night… Many of you have asked where I was on the Chattanooga concert this past Saturday when Chris and the guys played there… I was not there because I had already booked (a year ago or so) a concert in College Station, TX for the end of the Masterpiece College Girls Conference… so early Saturday morning the bus dropped me off at the airport (which is always so rock n roll by the way) but was met with the news that my flight was cancelled!  So…I knew at that moment, it was going to be a long day… Spring Break was in full swing with every counter of every airline slammed with really tan girls in Juicy suits!  I prayed and somehow didn’t even get mad that Continental cancelled my flight and just calmly walked over to the Southwest counter and bought a ticket to Houston. Since my flight flew into Houston now, I was able to see family there and my sweet brother, Eric and his wife Kristin drove me to College Station. All things worked together for good… The night was great and I got to share the stage with the very talented Lizi Bailey… if you haven’t heard her music…find it!  She’s amazing…

So…we are back in full swing today in Ft. Wayne, Indiana… It’s great to be back out!  For those of you following the contents of my dressing room - today I had allot of great snacks which is unusual. There was this sweet little lady named Joyce and she brought me a fruit tray - not the kind that’s pre-packaged from the grocery store - she brought me one that was fresh, cut up fruit on a bed of greens…it made me really happy and I actually opened it and ate it!  There were even blackberries and raspberries! She also brought me a little hot plate with a glass kettle of water for hot tea…bless Joyce!  I felt so loved.  When she was leaving she asked me my name and said that she wanted to know because she was going to be praying for me tonight and while we are touring… How amazing is that? She just worked for the catering company, but in the sweetest way, from the time I first met her this morning, she has carried the name of Jesus through it all.  She called me “Honey” too and that made me feel extra loved…

Tonight was a great night - it really felt strong and that God was working specifically in some people.  I mean it when I say that we sensed that God stirred in some people’s hearts tonight in a really new way and THAT is always humbling to be a part of.  I think most people come ready for just a concert so I love the point in the night when I can see God reaching down into someone’s life and I can see it on their face.  So incredible.  My little (big) nephew came tonight… He lives near Ft. Wayne - so just a shout-out to Coleman and the rest of the family and friends I saw tonight, so great to see you!!  The crazy thing, I can remember changing Coleman’s diapers when I was in college…life goes by so fast…we are here but a moment.  (that’s a Lizi Bailey lyric)

Next stop….Madison, WI!!

Love to all tonight…
C

On the road, I’m convinced that sometimes it’s just cleaner to not take a shower… I think I’m a clean enough person that I’m better off to just keep yesterday’s clean on me rather than expose myself to the very new and interesting elements of the belly of an arena.  Ahhh…touring life continues to be extra glamorous.

If anything, it’s entertaining during the day to walk around and experience the sights and sounds… Yesterday was a bit more fresh and clean… we were in a church in Springfield, MO.  They graciously gave me the Bride’s Room.  This was not your traditional bride’s room at your grandma’s church…this had hot pink walls, fun lamps, brown velvet furniture and welcoming throw pillows… I turned off the overhead lights and just had a chilled, lamp-lit day.  How many of you are with me that bright, overhead lighting rarely needs to be turned on, ever?  My friends laugh at me about how many lamps I own.  Back when I used to shop for my house, I would wait for the half-off sales at Hobby Lobby and go find lamps for about $15.00.  This resulted in quite a collection.  A friend was over once and she said, “so how long does it take you at night to turn off all these lamps in your house?”  I’m really ok with spending an extra 10 minutes at night turning off my cheap lamp collection…lamp light makes me happy and it hides dirt and dog hair….

So today we are in Springfield, IL.  This is not a lamp-lit dressing room.  But, I will say that I do have those theatre make-up lights!  I have a tile floor, 3 folding chairs, some bottled water, and cool theatre lights!  The sights, sounds and smells of today are: someone is clearly smoking in the building….the CT Band, minus CT are busy in the next dressing room doing their daily P90X workout…periodically I hear howling, like a few of them are in legit pain…on the way to catering this morning I saw (inside the building) a riding lawn mower, a set of tires, some old typewriters, some chef uniforms hanging on hangers, some old ping-pong tables folded up… I tried to take a picture with my phone to prove it but I’m not a rocket scientist. Apparently you have to be one for the upkeep of an iPhone.  There’s a corrupt file somewhere in it and it crashes my phone when I try to open up my camera.  All the guys who know how to fix my phone are the busiest people in the world.  So…in the meantime, I’ll just have to describe to you what I’m experiencing out there…

In all seriousness…what we are experiencing truly IS amazing…  It’s a JOY to be on this tour.  Night after night we know that God is doing a powerful work in people.  We see it, we sense it, we believe it.  These are the days to carry boldly what we know to be true of Jesus.  To lift His name high without holding back. We are fully believing and genuinely praying for God to do a work in the people that come each night…we pray specifically for those who enter the doors.  The song I’m carrying and featured on in the night is called “Waiting”.  I’m believing what I’m singing because I’m in a season of waiting. I was thinking yesterday…to wait on someone really is a big statement because essentially what you’re saying is, “nothing else is more important in my life right now than to wait on you”. That’s what I’m saying with my life right now… “Jesus, there is nothing more important in my life right now than You…so I’ll wait on You and I’ll move when You move so that I’m walking in step with You..cause You are ALL to me.”

Looking forward to the Passion CD release “HERE FOR YOU” on March 8th.  Get excited…  : )

Love to you all and hope to see you on the tour!
Christy

I told you I’m not very good at this!  No blog this week? That’s mostly because Texas is awesome and we know some very special people that reside there and most of my time was spent with them!  Also, Chris & Louie’s wives and 2 of the band guys wives were out with us this week and that meant some much needed GIRL TIME for me and I just soaked it in…all that to say, I totally forgot to blog…sorry!

Our first night in Texas was in Wichita Falls… We had lunch at a little “hole in the wall” type place called Pat’s Drive In.  They had really good onion rings and great Coke from the fountain…not that I ate or drank that… : ) We also were blessed with the presence of our new Irish friends, Rend Collective, our opening band for the tour.  They had been delayed in joining the tour because of some Visa troubles, but finally were able to join us!  They have added so much joy and energy to the night with their amazing love for Jesus and their incredible ability to bang on trash cans and look really cool while doing that sort of thing…

The next night in Texas was at Fellowship Of The Woodlands, a little tiny church there in The Woodlands, TX.  Nothing in Texas is tiny actually…it’s a BIG church and we had a blast that night with a GREAT H-town crowd and our friends from KSBJ.  My brother and sis-in-law picked me up for lunch first thing and we headed to one of my favorite spots in town - Lupe Tortilla…  It was as great as it always is… My 3 sweet nieces and my sis-in-laws parents joined us later that night for the concert and I got to spend the night with them… so much fun to be with family!  We had several friends join us that night to either just drop in and say “hey” or to pray with us before hand… Two of my favorite people, Steve & Bonita Seelig joined us for prayer that night - such a special moment to have them with us…they have been like parents to Nathan and I for years and have supported Passion Conferences for many years… What a joy to still know them and to get to worship with them…

Next stop - Houston’s First Baptist Church - I can’t tell you how amazing it is to come back to that place when we get to…that’s where it all began for Nathan and I many years ago… God used so many people there to shape our lives…  I remember meeting Beth Moore in the hallway of that church in 1997, she was a sunday school teacher there at the time.  So many incredible memories with people there - including the current pastor Gregg Matte and his sweet wife Kelly.  Our first memories of Passion Conferences are being teamed up with Gregg to lead a community group together… Now to get to come where he is serving as pastor and see what God is doing there - it’s humbling.  It was a sold-out concert but the presence of God is what we will savor and leave remembering the most….

We came home to an incredible night at Passion City Church!  Nathan and I were not leading on the worship team this week, but it was incredible to get to worship along side our 3 kids - to sing, to dance, to SEE Jesus for who He is, once again, it’s life-changing.  We are SO grateful to feel like we are in this wave of getting to see God working in people’s lives - bringing hope and joy and freedom… These are the best days of our lives…

grateful,
Christy