Passion 2016

I'm currently piled up in a red jeep on my way home from Passion 2016. What an incredible weekend! There are so many things that I could write about- I've learned so so many things and thought I would share my experience.

First off, if you do not know what Passion is let me just tell you. Passion is a annual conference that is for 18-25 year olds and their leaders. It is here that many of the worlds best speakers and preachers and some of the best worship leaders lead tens of thousands of students to open their hearts to Jesus. It is unlike anything else. 

My story of getting to Passion 2016 is dear to my heart. When I was in the eighth grade, I had the sweetest small group leader in the world. She told all of us babies about Passion and what it was and promised us to take us when we were finally seniors in high school. The fact that God was so faithful keeping our group of eight girls together for four years and fulfilled that promise is so incredible. He is so good.

Passion 2016 was unlike any Passion conferences before it. It took place at three different locations simultaneously. There were two locations in Atlanta, Georgia (Philips Arena and Infinite Energy Arena) and one location in Houston, Texas (Toyota Center). How three locations of 40,000+ people all got to worship and learn together is pretty incredible. The three locations were on the same schedules. The worship artists traveled from location to location to location and the speakers were assigned to locations. Where the speakers were not located got a live stream of their teaching. Honestly it felt like they were in the room even though it was live streamed. It was a complete God thing how perfectly and smoothly things ran. 

Speakers included Louie Giglio, John Piper (I was in complete awe), Ravi Zacharias, Levi Lusko, and Christine Caine. Worship included Matt Redman, Christy Knockels, Hillsong United, Rend Collective, Crowder, the Passion Band, and Chris Tomlin. To say the weekend was powerful is an understatement. There are so many things that I learned and I'm sure I'll make separate posts on different talks from different speakers because I would never be able to recap it all here. 

There was much more to Passion than just the sessions. There were two great causes Passion 2016 was promoting. The first was the End It Movement. This is a movement that was started at Passion only a couple of years ago and now has global impact today. It is a movement to end slavery across the world. There are 72 million people trapped in slavery on this earth. We got to hear different stories of people affected by End It. Human trafficking has always been a topic I've felt very strong about. If you want to get involved with the End It Movement, February 25, 2016 is the national day for bringing awarenes. To get involved put a red "X" on your hand to bring awareness to your community about human slavery. 

The other project that Passion supported this year was a Project Haraka. The goal was to raise $575,000 dollars to build a hospital in northwest Syria that will be able to serve 12,000 Syrian women and their newborns. Louis Giglio described this in the best way. The reason we are supporting and loving these women and children is because it is what Jesus would do. This goal was not only reached but surpassed. The money raised in just one session was $785,127.89. And that was in less than 24 hours. All that money raised by broke college students whose hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit! How incredible is that?! Donating is still open. The more money given the more people that can receive medical care and a chance to hear the gospel. If you would like to donate here's the link: https://secure.268generation.com/project-haraka/

Another aspect of Passion is community groups. The tens of thousands are split of into smaller groups (my community group- #pinkislinked- had 5,000 students). Those groups then get split into smaller groups of 8 and these were our family groups. My family group of 8 girls ranged from high school seniors to seniors in college. It was great to get out of our comfort zones and be with complete strangers discussing the sessions and getting into the Word every morning. I was fortunate enough to be my family group leader. I won't lie, I went into family groups expecting to meet my future husband (a girl can dream) and came out with a leader experience that I will never forget. It is completely worth it getting up super early and having multiple coffees to ensure everything is perfect for your family group and getting to see their hearts on fire for the Lord. 

This is honestly just the tiniest glimpse of what Passion 2016 looked like. I hope to be back soon to share all that I leaned. If seeing all of this interests you in Passion- get ready for Passion 2017! (I know it is crazy to think of 2017 when it just turned 2016) Passion 2017 is going to be in one location at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia hosting 60,000 people all under the name of God. Check out Passion's website to be keeping up with when pre-registration opens up!

Most importantly never forget, "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Sarah