More than 20,000 university students from 40 countries have converged in Atlanta for a four-day gathering that is being touted as more than just an event or a conference.
“Passion is a movement,” say organizers of Passion 2010. “Its heartbeat is to see a global awakening among a generation of collegiate and university-aged young people and to impact their communities and their world for the glory of God.”
Since 1997, Passion has been uniting 18- to 25-year-olds in worship and prayer for spiritual awakening on the college campuses of the nation and the world. Led by Louie Giglio, the movement seeks to spread the Gospel to the nation’s more than 16 million college students and the countless others around the globe.
“When we began planning for Passion Twenty Ten, we had one thought in our minds: that a generation would awaken,” says Giglio. “We’re not just at an event or a conference with really cool bands. There’s a heartbeat here and that heartbeat is that you and I would awaken to the same thing: that it’s good to trade something small for something huge. And that something small is lives that you and I ‘run’ and that we would trade that in for a life that is part of a grand epic that is God. That we would awaken to the face of Jesus.”
Since 1997, Passion’s annual four-day conference has witnessed attendance rise from 2,000 to more than 20,000.
This year, participants will be joined by Giglio; prominent speakers John Piper, Beth Moore, Andy Stanley, and Francis Chan; as well as worship leaders Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Matt Redman, and Hillsong United, among others.
Students will also participate in the movement’s Do Something Now (DSN) campaign, an effort to tangibly impact communities around the globe.
DSN 2010 initiatives include combating hunger, sex trafficking, poverty, orphans, homelessness, unreached people groups, unclean water, needed surgeries for children, lack of education and many more.
“DSN seeks to wed worship and justice and challenges students to shift into action and help those in greatest need throughout the world,” Passion promoters say.
Held at the Philips Arena and Georgia World Congress Center, Passion 2010 will run until Tuesday afternoon. The main sessions will be available online at www.268generation.com/passion2010 at the conclusion of each session and will be available online for 24 hours. There are expected to be a quarter of a million listeners/viewers online that will join those at Passion 2010.
Since Saturday, the conference has been concluding each day around midnight.
The Passion movement also holds other gatherings, including their OneDay gatherings, Passion Experience Tour, Passion U.S. Regionals, and Passion World Tour, which was held in 2008.
