Under the Dome

Isaiah 61 lays out the wonderful purposes of God, recognizing that where His Spirit is, there is freedom:
1 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Christ came to set the captives free, by His truth, He has come to bring freedom to all of us - freedom from the slavery of sin, from the fear of death, and from the past that can keep us bound in the present and bound from the hope and future God wants to give to us.   But - the good news is that as we exalt God in our lives, He will exalt us and pull our hearts out of captivity, and He will empower us to extend a helping hand to others who are facing bondage in their own lives - spiritually and physically.

In Isaiah 26, we read this verse, that highlights our purpose - it's verse 8::
8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for You; The desire of our soul is for Your name And for the remembrance of You.

It is indeed a strange and wonderful juxtaposition during the last day of one year and the first four of the next in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.   You see, New Year's Eve is the fixed date for the bowl game once known as the Peach Bowl, now called simply by the name of its title sponsor.    And, a crowd estimated at over 68,000 witnessed an epic finish before the clock struck midnight Monday night.    The game made such an impact that Chick-Fil-A was a trending topic on Google.

Less than 24 hours after that game-winning field goal by Clemson, the Dome was transformed into a venue for a far greater epic event - the annual Passion conference, with some 60,000 students from over 2,000 colleges and university.   And, from reading the abundance of tweets, there is a sense of expectation of what God is going to do - already, there are reports of an incredible first night.

There is an element of both these events that I wanted to bring out.    I read a Forbes article that characterized the Chick-Fil-A bowl as the most charitable of all bowl games.   The article is quoted as saying:

In a day and age when talk about bowl games centers more upon television contracts and team payouts, the Chick-fil-A Bowl’s charitable efforts are a nice reminder of why many bowl games got their start:  to stimulate their local economy while also giving back to those in need in the community.

Over the last decade, the Chick-fil-A Bowl has distributed over $15.7 million to charities and scholarship funds.  During the last six years, the bowl has given charities over $1 million annually, with $1.485 million to charities in 2012.  The game provides scholarships for the universities playing in their games and their conferences.   Plus, the Bowl participates in the “Play It Smart” program, which was created by the National Football Foundation in 1998.  The program provides academic coaches to high school football players in economically disadvantaged communities.  This year, the Chick-fil-A Bowl donated $180,000 to the program, and has donated $1,080,000 since 2002.

Along with donating money directly to the “Play It Smart” program, this year the Chick-fil-A Bowl utilized the program to expand upon its scholarship endowments.  According to Chick-fil-A Bowl President and CEO Gary Stokan, the bowl is linking the scholarships it has endowed at 18 universities back to the “Play It Smart” program.

The idea here is to give back - tying in a greater purpose to an event.   And, that's what the Passion conference is doing, as well.    These young adults are coming together to worship and to be inspired and motivated - they're being challenged to make Jesus famous, and they're also given the opportunity to be involved in addressing modern-day slavery.    The Christian Post reports that since 2007, over $5 million has been given to causes around the globe in Jesus' name through Do Something Now. "As a result we've seen slaves freed, children released, the hungry fed, the Church equipped, women restored, scripture translated, wells dug, healing provided, and so much more," said Bryson Vogeltanz, chief steward of Do Something Now for Passion Conferences, in a statement.

The Passion 2013 freedom causes are focused around four central themes in the fight to end slavery: Awake, Prevent, Rescue, and Restore. Passion is partnering with a number of anti-slavery organizations including the A21 Campaign in Thailand, Bombay Teen Challenge in India, and Wellspring Living in the United States. At Passion 2012 students and supporters gave a total of over $3.3 million toward the freedom cause, and this year's goal is to raise even more money and awareness.

It's thrilling to see how a greater purpose can drive people.   As we display the love of Christ and look beyond ourselves, we call attention to the God of the universe, the God of glory, who is exalted through His people.