Louie Giglio (The Trees of Hong Kong)

Louie Giglio, is the founder of Passion, a global movement among college aged women and men. Giglio is passionate about the glory of God and the movement is focused around seeing Isaiah 26:8 become a reality in our generation:

“Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”

In a world where everything is changing, what remains unchanging? That was the question with which Giglio began his 18 minutes. Jesus Christ is the One who stands both inside and outside of time and if we are united with Him, we as well are both inside and outside of time. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Everyone has a gospel - their understanding of the good news of their lives. Our goal ought to be helping others connect their hope and future to Jesus’ hope and Jesus’ future. In Jesus there is not only a “way” forward but a “why” forward. The Good News for followers of Jesus is that in Him we transcend:

• time (we were saved, are saved, and will be saved)
• culture even as we create it
• pessimism of circumstances because we are tied to the eternal hope

Giglio described Q as “a conversation about potentiality and possibility.” Those words resonate with me and I believe that is why the entire Q experience spoke to me in such a deep way. Here’s an important question for you: do you have a space where you can envision the future, a space where you can dream venti kinds of dreams? So much of our lives, even within the community of faith, are focused on the now, this present moment and pragmatism seems to be one of the spirits of our age. Where and with whom do you dream, imagine and envision the future, the coming kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Ok, why was this talk entitled “The Trees of Hong Kong?” Giglio described a recent trip to Hong Kong where he discovered that trees are so scarce that they actually go to great lengths to build skyscrapers around the few trees that do already exist. They didn’t scrap building plans because of the trees that were already established, they didn’t raze the trees but instead they designed and integrated the trees into their building plans. He called this process, “excavation and renovation” and illustrated it with the great story of his own partnership with songwriter Chris Tomlin and the creation of “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).” They maintained the integrity of this historic hymn of the Church, but created a simple but powerful new chorus that a new generation of worshippers can claim as their own. Masterful.

How will you move forward into God’s future?

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