Louie Giglio - The Future Is Now
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I don’t know if this is really a talk necessarily today, but the journey that we’re about to embark on has a title over it or a banner over it. And the banner is, «The Future is Now.» Above and Beyond is the season. And I know it’s been mentioned at every location, but many of you just came to church today. You may not be in the flow with Passion City Church, and that’s great. I’m so glad you’re here. We’re so glad that you’re here today. And there’s no pressure for you around our generosity movement today at all. We’re just glad that you’re in the house of God today. To recap briefly, Above and Beyond is a season every year where we give above what we normally give so that we can go beyond where we normally go.
If we’re praying for a move of God, we want to have enough resources in the cupboard that if God answers our prayer and a thousand people get saved this week, we’ll be ready to activate instantaneously, and we won’t have to say, «Wow, we didn’t plan on a thousand people getting saved. We need to do this and add that and have this in place.» No, we’re giving above what we normally give so that our house can go beyond where we normally go. Today, we’re not just putting our financial gifts in the envelope; we’re putting our faith in the envelope, saying, «God, we’re praying for a move of God. We’re giving for a move of God because we believe the future is now.»
The text today is familiar to you if you’ve been in church. I want us to encourage each other with this today. Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesus, coming down to the end of the third chapter, beginning in verse 20. He makes this benediction. He’s already prayed this incredible prayer for them that they would be able altogether to comprehend how high, how wide, how deep, and how long the love of God is so that they could be filled up to the full measure of Christ. Then he comes with this big, beautiful benediction. He says, «Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.»
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more. This is above and beyond language. This is above and beyond thinking. This is an above and beyond benediction. This is above and beyond praise. Now to him who is able. Can we just pause right there for a minute today and celebrate once again that God, our God, the God we are worshiping today, is able? I might not be able, but God is still able. Amen. I might not have the ability to change this circumstance, but God is able. I might have run out of my strength, my energy, my resources, my ideas, but God is able. He’s still able. He’s able for your family. He is able for your children today.
I know someone in this gathering feels so much pressure right now regarding your child’s situation. I’m telling you, God is able. He’s able for your family. He’s able for your mind. He’s able for whatever you’re battling. He’s able today. And he’s able for us at Passion City Church as we come today to really trust him for a miracle in our house. The thing I love most about the 30 hours of prayer we just shared together is that I don’t remember a prayer in any of the hours I participated in where there was a prayer for financial giving for Above and Beyond Sunday.
The prayers were, «God, we want you. God, we want you. We want a move of God. We want salvation to break out in this city. We want churches to come alive in this city. We want you to do miracles in this city.» The prayers were not, «Oh, we need a certain amount of money.» The prayers were, «God, we want you. We are here for you, God.» But in the midst of being here for him, we have an incredible opportunity together. This is the Above and Beyond giving that begins today. For some of you, it’s already begun. Our financial oversight team has set a target, if you will, in front of our house of $10 million in this Above and Beyond giving.
You might think, «Man, that’s a big number.» But it’s something that I believe we can achieve. Last year, the financial oversight team led us to the target of $7 million in Above and Beyond giving, more than we had ever experienced at Passion City Church before. Not only did you give $7 million, but over the course of that year in Above and Beyond Giving, you gave $8.5 million — $1.5 million more than the target.
So, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to believe we can give $1.5 million more than the target we set last year at the $8.5 million mark and see God provide $10 million for our house. I believe that God is able. I want to repeat that to you today: God, we know that you are able. What will that money do? Well, we talked about this last week, but many of you may have missed that. Some of the things the money will do include helping us continue doing what we’re doing. We’re still in a season, as Passion City, where we have two locations that opened over the past few years, and we have a lot of new people in our house, a whole lot of new people who aren’t yet fully on the generosity journey.
Much of the giving into Above and Beyond will help us continue to serve your family and create environments where you and your family can encounter Jesus and experience transformation in your life. A significant part of our Above and Beyond giving, praise God, will allow us to expand across the street from Town Stage right now, where folks are worshiping at Trilith, into this new space. You want to check this out? This is Trilith Live, and it is coming online right now. Lord willing, we will be moving into it at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. This will be the last Above and Beyond Sunday where we discuss moving into Trilith. I hope there’s a big applause down at Trilith right now. People are fired up up here at 5:15.
This venue is phenomenal. I wish I had 30 minutes to tell you all about it, but this is the auditorium where we’ll be meeting. It’s probably the state-of-the-art concert performance venue in Georgia, maybe even in the Southeast, possibly in America. It is unbelievable. There will be concerts of all kinds happening here, but on Sundays, the people of God will gather there, lifting up songs of praise and bringing heaven into this space. These escalators and stairs lead down. Here’s the auditorium entrance over here, and movie theaters are on this side.
So, if you don’t want to socialize, you can jump out and catch a show. There are TV studios down below, but these escalators and stairs lead you down to Passion City Church’s level, where Bloom is happening, Passion Kids is taking place, students are gathering, people are working during the week, door holders are rallying, and small events can happen. All that space underneath is dedicated to Passion City Church. There’s one of the student spaces; you can see the stage up here. Really a cool area for people sitting on these risers. Everything is getting ready for us to move into this space. It’s going to be beautiful.
But we have to outfit the rest of it. We didn’t pay $1 to build that building. Praise God. However, we need to cover the millions of dollars for carpeting, desks, cribs, tents, sound systems, desires for students and Passion Kids, kitchenware, and all the things you need when moving into a new house. We’re purchasing all of that right now. We’ve already paid a couple hundred thousand for items and have bills waiting for the next wave. All that can happen if Above and Beyond happens at Passion City Church. We’re excited about our move. Trilith, we are so fired up to see this significant step that you’re going to take, and know that the community in South Atlanta will see an incredible change thanks to what God will do through Above and Beyond.
We will support partners; 10% of everything you give to Above and Beyond will be leaving our house because that’s kingdom thinking. That’s how kingdom economy works. Our global partners include Illuminations, who are translating scripture all around the world -a great partnership. We have A21, friends of ours who are on the leading edge of anti-trafficking work worldwide. Convoy of Hope ensures that we’re first in on every disaster. When hurricanes hit and flooding occurs, Convoy of Hope comes in, ready and prepared to meet immediate needs in situations like those that you or I may be unable to address. Our Above and Beyond contributions will resource Convoy of Hope so that we know that our prayers and our giving are addressing these circumstances.
Our local partners this year include Atlanta City of Refuge and crisis transition services for men, women, and children. At 5:15, we are supporting the Atlanta Mission, Cumberland, Table on DeKalb, and Trilith Healing Bridge. Our giving is not just for what’s happening inside our walls; our giving is meant to impact what people are doing outside of the walls of Passion City Church, and we’re pumped about it. Passion Equip is doing phenomenally well. This is a resource we have created to carry the theological DNA of our movement to people around the world.
It’s not just a website for browsing; it’s where content is being curated daily. So, when a message is preached here, or Ben preaches a message in D.C., a devotional plan can be created that thousands can use in the following week or a month later anywhere on the planet. A talk from a conference two years ago can be made into a study guide, allowing us to share gospel-centered, God- glorifying theology with people worldwide. Just last year, we’ve had 933,000 site visits so far this year, an 18% increase. Total users so far this year are 210,000-a 15% increase. We are reaching 206 countries, and average time spent is up 106%. Equip is closing in on 2 million minutes of content read, watched, and listened to. That’s a powerful way for Passion and Passion City Church to touch lives around the world.
The interesting thing about Passion Equip is that it has no funding. It’s entirely free and currently unfunded. In these early seed -sowing stages, we are the funders of Passion Equip. Through our Above and Beyond giving, we will continue to be in the above and beyond as Passion Equip impacts lives. We’re setting aside money for Passion Global gatherings. As many of you know, we just had incredible gatherings in South Africa in two rugby stadiums. Here’s what that looked and felt like. This is Cape Town, South Africa. We have an incredible stewardship in various corners of the world, but you can’t charge enough in South Africa to make two stadium events viable. Passion Conference serves college-age young people, doesn’t generate surplus either. So, how do we say yes when the doorway opens? We say yes because we had above to go beyond. We reached above to seize the moment and to make a difference worldwide.
Additionally, we discussed last week that Passion 2026 is on the horizon. Amen. If you want to see something inspiring, this is where we’re going this year: Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers. It’s our first time in a baseball stadium. We’ve done Mercedes, the Georgia Dome, State Farm tons of times, arenas, and stadiums worldwide. We’ve never been to a baseball stadium before. Can you imagine? This field is going to be packed with 10,000 18 to 25-year-olds, filling the stands. It is going to reverberate for the glory of God. We want high school seniors and young adults from Passion City Church and Arlington to be there, so we want to help them get there. It’s a $500 investment on their part. If you want to go and your family cannot cover the cost, then we are your family, and we want to make this possible.
We’re allocating a significant portion of Above and Beyond to support the next generation at Globe Life Field for Passion 2026. We believe -no, I believe-we believe as a church that God is able. He’s able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. I don’t want to dwell on the 30 hours of prayer, but there was a lot of asking and imagining in this room. The God who is in the midst of it is saying, «I’m able to do immeasurably more than all that you’re asking,» and wow, «more than all that you’re imagining.» In other words, I’m thinking about things bigger than what you’re thinking. I’m seeing things wider than what you see. I’ve got plans that exceed your wildest dreams. And I’m able to do it -why? For the glory of God. For his glory.
There are all these things we’re trusting God for that weren’t on the list today because we don’t know what they are. We don’t know what God is about to do. We don’t know what door God is about to open. We don’t know what opportunity God has right before us. So, we’re positioning ourselves in faith, wanting him to get glory. The outcome of all this Above and Beyond effort is that he gets glory. Where does he get glory? He gets it in the church and in Christ Jesus. From 2 Corinthians 4, we know we’ve all seen the glory of God in the face of Christ. That’s where the glory of God is visibly seen the most -in looking into the person of Christ. But he also wants glory in the church.
I want to say this again: the church is the hope of Atlanta. Not just any church, but a Bible-preaching, Holy Spirit-filled, prayerful, Jesus-focused, gospel-driven, serving community church that is healthy -a church where people are changed by the power of God. That church is the hope of Atlanta, Georgia. We need hundreds of them to be born in this city because that’s where God’s going to get glory — through a church moving in the power of the Spirit, focused on giving glory to Jesus. He does it throughout all generations. I love where this benediction ends: «Throughout all generations.»
In other words, Paul isn’t just saying to the church in Ephesus, «This is what God wants to do in Ephesus right now. This is what he wants to do with you right now.» No, he’s saying God is a generational God. He always has been and always will be. The followers of our faith used to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their entire thinking was generational, rooted in the faithfulness of God — not just to their generation, but to the generation they heard about and the next generation, and the generation that follows. The generation that comes after them will also see his faithfulness. He’s going to be just as able for your kids and just as able for your grandkids because he’s given a benediction that says, «And this is going to happen throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.»
You may say, «Man, you’re getting fired up.» I know because there is a big, fat exclamation point right at the end of this benediction. You cannot help but be energized by having that spoken into your heart and over your life. God will do this through all generations. The future is now because God is always thinking about the generations. Above and Beyond is about the future. If you’re in my demographic, I’m a boomer -happy about it. I didn’t have a choice. I don’t know who gave us that name or who has the job of naming these generations, but I’m a boomer, and there are a lot of boomers here today. Looking around, I’m seeing many heads nodding at this moment. You’ve got your hearing aids adjusted and can hear me.
As one of the oldest people in this room, I just need to keep saying this: This church is for me. And if you’re a boomer, it’s for you — so much so that a couple of Sundays a year, we’ll turn the volume down just a bit on the music and get in that acoustic flow. This church is for you. But Above and Beyond is primarily about the future. Come on, it is our faith for the future. There are babies in cribs in Bloom all across our house today. This Above and Beyond is for them. They don’t know it; they can’t comprehend that. They likely aren’t giving much to it and may not understand the whole program, but this giving today is for them. It’s a generational preparation because God is speaking today for something to happen throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
This Above and Beyond season is about the future, and that’s because passion in our DNA has always been about the future. Passion started with a desire to see an awakening come to 18 to 25-year-olds and their generation. That’s where we took our first breath — saying, «God, we want you to stir an awakening among 18 to 25-year-olds across the world.» We started in 1997, planting the seeds for a spiritual awakening in this generation, and it’s happening. It’s happening right now.
The Bible uses two main Greek words to discuss time. One of them is «Kronos,» which represents sequential time -time that can be measured like a minute, hour, day, week, or year. But the Bible also talks about time with a different word: «Kairos.» «Kairos» refers to a specific, opportune, or decisive moment in God’s plan — a divinely appointed moment. I believe we are living in a Kairos moment. People have sensed something shifting for the last handful of years. You can travel around the world, talk to others leading churches or movements, or just tuned into the Holy Spirit, and everyone says, «It feels like something’s shifting. It feels like something’s changing. It feels like something’s breaking open.» Do you feel it?
Yes, we feel it too. God is moving. He’s stirring something on earth-some kind of Kairos moment. The data is catching up with the hunch people have and the stirring in their hearts. Barna Research shows that there are 30 million more U.S. adults who claim to be following Jesus today than in 2021. Think about that — 30 million more people. And the language is specific: «I am following Jesus.» Not just, «I am a Christian.» That’s why you’ve been feeling something, even if it hasn’t been shared widely in every media outlet connected to us.
Barna Research told us that among Gen Z men, commitment to Jesus jumped 15% between 2019 and 2025. We are indeed in a Kairos moment, and much of it is being stirred by Gen Z. Praise God. You may wonder, «I’ve heard about Gen Z; who are they exactly?» Gen Z consists of people born between 1997 and 2012 -those who are currently 13 to 28 years old. And there’s something happening.
You could type «Gen Z Christian Movement» into your browser, and articles pop up everywhere. This past Easter, a piece in USA Today said, «Not just at Easter, Gen Z is returning to Christianity, and the data proves it.» Axios reported, «Young men are leading a religious resurgence.» The Wall Street Journal stated, «Sales of Bibles are booming, fueled by first-time buyers.» The Guardian reported a revival happening in the UK, hailing a resurgence among young people. God is moving in this generation in a mighty way.
I’m not an expert on generations, and I always tread lightly when describing them, whether boomers, Gen X, or millennials amalgamated together with Gen Alpha emerging. We’ve gathered a lot of them in our lifetime, but I don’t think I’m an expert on all of them. I want to serve them more than I want to describe them. However, people say of Gen Z that they’re seeking a Christianity that not only explains its tenets but demonstrates its practical, transformative power in everyday life. They want to see how faith works — not just hear about how it works.
This generation is looking for authentic, relatable experiences of faith rather than abstract theological concepts or superficial practices. They are mobilizing and turning the tide. For the last few decades, the narrative was decline, decline, decline, and the media loved to tell that story. But guess what? The decline has stopped, primarily thanks to Gen Z. Now, it’s all about increase because God is still able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or imagine according to the power that’s at work in us. So, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Forever and ever. Amen.
When I think about Gen Z, I think about the early days of Passion with Shelley and me. We didn’t start out intending to lead college-age students. We always assumed I would graduate from seminary, she from Baylor, and God would call us to a church somewhere and we’d start down that road. But something changed during my last summer as a college intern in Houston, Texas. Throughout my seminary years, I served as an intern in Houston, surrounded by a handful of students from universities like University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, and the University of Arkansas. They were on fire!
The first summer I was there, I met an incredible, passionate, beautiful, Jesus-filled woman named Shelley Graves. Her and a few friends came by the house I lived in on the second or third day I was there and knocked on the door. The family I was staying with greeted them, and they asked, «Is Louis here?» They wanted to see what I was about because they had just experienced a spiritual awakening at school and were eager to learn more about how Jesus can continue to change their lives. They asked if I could lead them in growing deeper into understanding their identity in Christ.
I was like, «Hallelujah! Let' s have a revival with Jesus!» And we did! Those summers added up, and the last summer I spent in that setting, I was fully aware of what God was orchestrating. I was now finished with seminary and, interestingly enough, was going to graduate school at Baylor. To make a long story short, Shelley and I were very close to a girl named K. Dossi, who said to me one day, «Louie, you know that God is bringing you to Baylor for a reason.» She was right. I knew it: Shelley’s senior year turned into an opportunity for us to be together in the same city for a year before marriage. K knew I was passionate, and she encouraged me to take advantage of God' s grace.
Eventually, K saw an awakening at Baylor where, on certain Monday nights, 1,500 out of 10,000 students worshipped together with Bibles open, hands raised. But K’s journey took a turn-she graduated, married, and later passed away from cancer before witnessing the incredible work God was about to do through Passion. She never saw Passion, yet she planted the seed, shifting the trajectory of generations. K was like the embodiment of Gen Z, though she would be a boomer now. A few years after K’s departure, we walked through the doors of the Austin Convention Center for the first Passion Conference, reuniting 2,000 college students eager to learn how to live their lives for the glory of God.
Interestingly, that event took place on January 1, 1997 — the very first day any Gen Z person was born. Passion took its first breath on the same day the first Gen Z baby entered the world. God is stirring, moving, and has a place for all of us in it. We hold on to Psalm 145, which reads, «One generation commends your works to another and they tell of your mighty acts.» Generations speak of the glorious splendor of God’s majesty, and we meditate on his wondrous works.
One generation passes along your work to the next, sharing stories of God’s enduring faithfulness. This is why today, we lean forward, aware that the supernatural move of God involves all generations. We need boomers to share stories of God’s goodness with Gen Z and for Gen Z to embrace that legacy. They need the wisdom of past generations to navigate their spiritual awakening, while they also prepare the next generation, Gen Alpha, to continue passing on the mighty acts of God and his glorious majesty.
Our movement is forward-leaning, and I invite every boomer here today to join us in not only creating but resourcing Above and Beyond for future generations. I invite every Gen X person to join us in leaning into the Above and Beyond for those who will follow. We need places to gather, but we aren’t just about buildings. We are building a kingdom culture, not merely an organization. We are a living organism, not a corporation. We are a cause, not monuments. We are a movement, and we are spirit-led.
We’re not about business as usual; we’re hungry for an outpouring. We are not hands folded; we are hands raised. We don’t seek to promote people; we preach Jesus. We’re grateful for what’s come before us, but we are future-leaning. We’re not looking back because God is doing something new. That’s why we’re saying goodbye to yesterday. It’s an anthem that Gen Z loves. If you' ve been on Instagram, you’ve likely seen clips of the Gen Z crowd in the streets of some city in Italy cranking up «Goodbye Yesterday.»
The lyrics say, «Goodbye yesterday. I’m living in the light of a new day. I won’t waste another minute in my old ways. Praise the Lord, I’ve been born again. Goodbye yesterday. I’m living in the light of a new day. I won’t waste another minute in my old ways. Praise the Lord, I’ve been born again and again and again and again and again. You rescued me out of the mess I was in. You traded my sorrow for something to sing. Now I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in.» So, goodbye yesterday — I’m living in the light of a new day. I won’t waste another minute in my old ways. Praise the Lord, I’ve been born again.
And then, they declare, «I have decided to follow Jesus, the world behind, the cross before, and I won’t turn back. I have decided to follow Jesus, the world behind, the cross before. Goodbye yesterday.»