Passion 07 A Huge Success, Future Event Plans Announced
The Passion 07 worship conference held last week in Atlanta, Georgia, exceeded expectations with more than 22,000 college students in attendance from around the world, including all fifty United States. With global aid as a major theme, a fundraising goal of $500,000 actually reached $700,000 as the event closed.
Passion founder/director Louie Giglio said, "Colossians 1:6 says, ‘All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit.' The same changing power in your lives is working all over the world. This gospel is bearing fruit and growing, and we can see that in what you've done through the Do Something Now campaign."
Indeed, the student-based worship movement's commitment to global outreach was further confirmed by the announcement that Passion Conferences will visit 20 cities in 15 nations beginning in late spring 2008.
"After years of hating to say ‘we can't right now,' the Passion team began asking how it could go to the nations," Giglio said. "It takes 19 hours to fly to South Africa, and we thought, ‘Once we get started, why don't we just keep going?' Go seven more hours, then eight more, nine more, until we've gone around the world."
It was also announced there will not be one major four-day Passion conference in January 2008, but a growing number of smaller same-format gatherings in various U.S. cities in fall 2007 and winter 2008.
"At these larger gatherings, like Passion 07, a majority of students come from neighboring states. From there, students trickle in from more distant states. Passion wants to get closer to the students who haven't had a chance to experience this gathering," Giglio explained.
Highlights from Passion 07, which included performances from Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, and Matt Redman plus speaking sessions from Giglio, Beth Moore, John Piper, and others, are recapped online at http://www.268generation.com/.
In stores now, THE BEST OF PASSION (SO FAR) is a two-CD set featuring 30 of today's favorite modern worship songs performed live at previous Passion events. Learn more here.