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8 Leadership Lessons From Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and The Passion Good Friday Concert

on April 19, 2014 in Church Leadership
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Good Friday 2014

Friday, April 18th was a miserable day in the North Atlanta.  But in the midst of the rain and cold God brought a ray of sunshine through Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and the Passion Good Friday concert.  Going to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in North Atlanta has become an annual Dodd family tradition.

To give you some perspective, this concert annually sells out with about 12,000 to 13,000 in attendance.  Verizon is an open-air venue where approximately 1/3 of the audience sit on an uncovered hill farthest from the stage.  These are still good seats but you definitely want to be under the roof, especially when it rains.

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View From My Place In Line

We arrived one hour before that gates opened (two hours before the concert’s beginning) and were still about 1,500th in line.  A picture is provided to the left showing you our view.  The wait is always worth it.  Once we got into the venue, it was an incredible time of worship and reflection of Jesus’s work on the cross.

As I reflected back on the evening, I gleaned 8 Leadership Lessons From Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin and The Passion Good Friday Concert which I want to pass along to you:

  1. Jesus Should Be The Primary Focus Of Everything We Do – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about Passion City Church and the Passion Movement, it’s all about Jesus.  There is no higher compliment I can give any person or ministry.
  2. Making Memories Takes Effort And Intentionality – As I type this post, I am dry, warm and sitting on my comfortable sofa.  I have already forgotten last night’s terrible weather and feel none of its effects.  However, I will never forget the shared experience my family had celebrating what Jesus did on the cross.  We made up our minds in advance to have fun and make a wonderful memory.  Mission accomplished.
  3. People Will Line Up EARLY For Great Moves Of God –  People line up for ministries and movements which are all about Jesus and add value to their lives.
  4. People Are Willing To Be Inconvenienced When They Truly Love Jesus – I estimated at least 2,000 people were on the lawn in the pouring, cold rain hearing about Jesus.  As Louie pointed out during his message, the number of people on the lawn actually increased as the evening progressed.
  5. People Line Up For Excellence – I have simply not had a better worship experience in my 34 years as a Christian than when led by Tomlin, Crowder, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels and Passion Band.
  6. The Power Of Humor – Humor is your friend.  For many in the audience it was difficult to initially get into the experience.  With the hard rain, muddy parking lot, long lines and cold temperatures, the conditions were challenging to say the least.  Brad Jones of Passion City Church came out for the welcome and put everyone at ease with humor and acknowledging the terrible conditions.  God used him in an invaluable way to disarm people, relieve pressure and position everyone for a wonderful evening.
  7. We Are Imperfect People – Louie’s message focused on what we need to do in our life to respond to what Jesus did on the cross.  I asked my teenage daughter what was her top takeaway from the service.  She said, “You don’t have to have everything together to come to God.”  Thank you Louie.
  8. Life Is Better Lived When Done With People You Love – One of the things which made Good Friday so wonderful was we went with friends from church.  Also, I ran into a number of old friends including Mark Marshall, the new Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church Conyers (Ga).  Mark is a lifelong friend who baptized me, ordained me and performed my wedding.  It is great to have him back in the Atlanta area.  I also want to give him a HUGE Thank You for the shout-out on Twitter:

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