I can't go to Passion '06.  A) It's sold out. B) I can't take the time off of work.

I went to Passion '05.  It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and led me to Paint the Town, and even Phusebox.  I am broken hearted that I cannot partake in the blessing that is Passion.  So now I'm looking for conferences that I can go to.  Maybe a weekend Women's thing.  Beth Moore (B-mama) is coming to my state in September, and you bet I'll be there, but I would like something a little earlier than that.  I need refreshing.

Passion is great.  It is this amazing resource for the college generation.  It's my generation.  But what happens when my generation graduates college and becomes the working generation?  We have all these tools for reaching the colleges of the U.S. and of the world, but I have found nothing for the Passion-withdrawal generation, i.e. those of us who graduate college, still have a fire for Christ, want to reach the world around us, but have no idea what to do.  I can go to "adult" conferences, but they are a disappointment a lot of times.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't want to be a conference junkie.  You can't just go to conferences and never use what you learn.  But I need some refreshment.  Has the church completely forgotten the young, unmarried professionals who have yet to start a family, who still get excited when they hear Crowder (New CD in March!), who have a fire and passion for God, but don't quite fit with the college crowd or the "adult" crowd?

I can't hang with the college ministries that changed--and in many ways, saved--my life as much any more because I just don't run on that schedule.  Every event starts at 9pm, but I'm in bed by 10 because I have to wake up at 5am, the time at which many of my college friends are just discovering the comfort of their pillows (especially the ones with the last name "Taylor"!).  I can't do the whole adult ministry thing because they're all talking about their marriages and their kids--two things I don't have.  I have a job, but I am not completely sure where I'm going to live next year, or whether I'm going to stay in this job forever.  I would like to keep it, but that just might not happen.  My future is little more stable than a college student, but I don't have the same things to talk about.

There just aren't a lot of people like me.

So those of you going to Passion, promise me that when you graduate and get out into the "real world" that you will not lose that fire and passion for God.  And maybe those of us who are single, passionate, non-parents, with jobs will start to make waves, come together, and minister to one another.  Maybe we can be a forgotten demographic no longer.

Meanwhile, enjoy every second.  Open your hearts.  Drink in every word that Louie, B-mama, and Piper say.  Sing praises at the top of your lungs--Make a LOUD noise...as Crowder says, "not a little bitty quiet, quiet noise, but a LOUD noise."  Lose your voice, and in doing so, find it.  Raise your hands and hold them high until your fingers turn blue because they have no circulation.  Cry.  Let loose.  Be changed.  And then GO.  Because what good is a conference if you don't GO with it.