This week, over 50,000 18-25 year olds (including myself) gathered together to worship the name of Jesus Christ. It was held in Atlanta, GA at the Georgia Dome and it was called Passion 2017. For the last 20 years, Louie Giglio and his wife Shelley Giglio have been working with a team to bring the word of God to the hearts of thousands upon thousands of college aged students across the globe. Millennials are pinned with this idea that we are the generation that is losing religion, and turning away from this idea of God, but that's hard for me to believe when you can gather 50,000 of us, from over 90 countries, into one arena, for the SOLE PURPOSE of praising God!
Would you believe it if I told you that the same 50,000 students that spent hours in musical worship, also sat willingly through, not only one, but six messages? SIX! It's hard enough to get anyone to attend 2 church services, let alone six of them! With each speaker we got the opportunity to dive into the Word of God. We learned about having Endurance in faith, The true essence of evil, tuning into the Holy Spirit and shutting off the thoughts of others, The freedom we have through the Cross, etc, etc. With each message you could've heard a pen drop... because we were hanging on to every word. 50,000 of us... all excited about the preaching of God's word.
One of the most life changing parts of Passion is the community groups. In the community groups, you break out into separate locations and you pair up with 7 other people that you don't know from all over the country, and sometimes the world. This year I was fortunate enough to be in a group of nine people, all of which were some of the greatest people you would ever meet. For three days, we grew as a family, asking each other deep questions about our hopes, fears, and our faith. This was not the time for the reserved heart. The community group is focused on breaking the walls down, and growing godly relationships with fellow believers that have the potential to last a life time. The fellowship that is experienced during this time is life changing. We discuss God together, we pray together, and we expand our walks with Christ together.
There was a lot of give and take at this conference. Passion, along with giving us a life changing worship experience, also presented us with a special gift: The Jesus Bible. This is a bible with special commentary written by people of the Passion team. I wish you could'be been there when they told us we would each be receiving one of these bibles. Many say that the college age student isn't interested in the things of God... but it sure didn't seem that way when the 50,000 attendees of this conference all jumped up and down, clapping and cheering in excitement while receiving the Bible's.
We also were able to give back at Passion 2017. We worked together with two groups: The End It Movement and Compassion. The End It Movement is a movement working to end modern day slavery. We were able to bring awareness to this cause during Passion. Compassion is a group geared toward supporting children in struggling countries to provide them with food, water, shelter, education, bibles (in their language), etc. They have a sponsoring program where you are asked to put forth $38 a month to support a child. To give that much money is a lot to the average college student, especially when giving to something that might not seem self-beneficial to the giver. The goal was to support all of the children in 3 countries: El Salvador, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Not only did the students at Passion 2017 support every single child in those three countries, but we also were able to support all the children in Indonesia, and half of the children in Bolivia. Over 7,000 children received the support they SO desperately needed thanks to the convicted, giving hearts of college students. It beats down the idea that we are a "selfish" generation.
By far the most inspiring part of Passion was seeing the students who gave their life to Jesus. All across the Dome students stood deciding they wanted to put their trust in God. Among these people were two people who are near and dear to my heart: my little sister, and my girl Katie who was a part of my community group. As people stood, friends and essentially strangers would pray with these people, showing love, support, and excitement. It just goes to show you that Jesus still saves, and this generation still cares about other people's souls. My eyes were anything but dry during these moments.
Louie Giglio once said: "It is not fiber optics that links us together. It is the Spirit of Jesus." We are a linked generation. I have no doubts that the Christians of this Generation is doing everything they can to exalt the name of Jesus Christ. It's not that religion in our generation is dying, but in reality, it's not about "religion" at all. Our generation is all about spreading the name of Jesus like a wildfire! We are on fire for His name and for His sake! That was proven at this event, Passion 2017, and it will continue to be proven as this generation grows in faith!
"YES LORD, WALKING IN THE WAY OF YOUR TRUTH WE WAIT EAGERLY FOR YOU, FOR YOUR NAME AND RENOWN ARE THE DESIRE OF OUR SOULS."
— ISAIAH 26:8
