At the conclusion of the 2013 Passion Conference, 60,000 college-aged students from around the world had raised over $3 million to combat human trafficking worldwide. Pastors and speakers Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, Judah Smith, John Piper, and International Justice Mission President Gary Haughen gave messages at the conference’s main sessions, and worship was led by Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Jesus Culture, and more.
The conference garnered media attention from NBC, CNN, Christianity Today, and me, live blogging for ChicagoNow: read a rundown of the conference below.
CNN: “College students raise funds to fight slavery”
NBC Atlanta: “Passion 2013 tackles sex trafficking, slavery”
Christianity Today: “Passion 2013: Live from Atlanta”
PASSION NEWS UPDATES 1/4/13: 60,000 attend candlelight vigil & spotlight illumination in Atlanta’s International Plaza
Thursday night, 60,000 conference attendees gathered in Atlanta’s International Plaza for a candlelight vigil honoring victims of human trafficking worldwide. The spotlight beam reached nearly three miles into the air, and required FAA clearance to illuminate. At the conclusion of Passion’s final session Friday, conference attendees and online contributors had raised just over $2,900,000 to combat human trafficking worldwide.
Watch a video of the vigil here:
Christianity Today news update: Passion 2013: Live from Atlanta
Today’s Christian Woman blog post: 3 Ways to Stop Human Trafficking at Home and Abroad
PASSION NEWS UPDATES 1/3/13:
Approx. $410,000 was raised during the first 24 hours of the conference to combat human trafficking worldwide, and more individuals are watching the conference online than the 60,000 that are in the Dome. Fundraising continues online and at the Dome, and the conference will conclude Friday afternoon, with two main speaker sessions remaining: one tonight from pastor John Piper, and one tomorrow morning from founder and pastor Louie Giglio.
WATCH THE PASSION CONFERENCE SESSIONS LIVE AT THIS LINK: http://live.268generation.com/
Christianity Today news update: Passion 2013: Live from Atlanta
SESSION SUMMARIES
Thurs. morning session, Seattle City Church pastor Judah Smith preached on 1 Peter 2, with the following highlights: “You want my best? It’s JESUS. If you’re looking for love grace or goodness you can find it in him, so let’s make Jesus a big deal. What is more important than the world seeing God? There is nothing more important. If that is of our highest importance, what urgency does that place on our interconnectedness and our commitment to community and relationship and love, one to another, friends – without community, our world will not see God.”
Thursday afternoon session: representatives from a variety of human trafficking organizations including International Justice Mission, Slavery Footprint, and Polaris Project spoke on the importance of raising awareness and funds to fight human trafficking.
PASSION NEWS UPDATES 1/2/13:
WATCH THE PASSION CONFERENCE SESSIONS LIVE AT THIS LINK: http://live.268generation.com/
Christianity Today news update: Passion 2013: Live from Atlanta
Today’s Christian Woman blog post: My personal encounter with Jesus at the Passion Conference
SESSION SUMMARIES
Tuesday night main conference by Louie Giglio: “God is capable of more than you could ever ask or imagine. Heavenly father, I believe: help my unbelief!” #passion2013
Wednesday afternoon session by Beth Moore: “The Gospel isn’t just GOOD news – it’s GLAD news!” #passion2013
2nd Wednesday afternoon session by International Justice Mission president Gary Haughen: “The Holy Spirit wants to move in power through you.”
Wednesday evening session: Francis Chan and Jesus Culture: Revelation 21.
A DAILY MIRACLE BLOG POST 1/1/13
As 2012 draws to a close, 60,000 university-aged students are on their way to Atlanta, Georgia, to kick off 2013 at 268 Generation’s Passion Conference, in hopes of “making Jesus famous.” Pastor Louie Giglio birthed the Passion movement in Austin, Texas, in 1997 with 2,000 attendees, and the conference has grown every year since then. It has now expanded into a global movement including annual conferences in Atlanta, worldwide tours, a local church in Atlanta (Passion City Church, launched in 2009), Christian worship-focused record label (sixstepsrecords) featuring Grammy-award-winning artists Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and a global fundraising campaign to end human trafficking, also known as the “Freedom Campaign.”
Last year’s meeting (Jan. 2012) featured worship music by internationally acclaimed artists (listed above) and speaking by teachers and preachers including John Piper, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, and boasted over 45,000 attendees – that number is expected to hit nearly 60,000 this year. That being said, I will be reporting from the ground in Atlanta this week for Christianity Today magazine, and will keep a live feed of the happenings going on this blog as well – follow me on Twitter @ajalthoff for live Twitter updates, and hit the hashtag #passion2013 or #headedtothedome to get a glimpse of the madness occurring on social media.
Here are three reasons why, if you don’t already, you should care about Passion 2013:
1) 60,000 university-aged students will be there.
Let the number of attendees speak for themselves: tickets cost over $100 to get into this conference, plus, hotel accommodations in Atlanta are not cheap. Also, a main focus of this conference is fund-raising: last year, attendees raised $3.5 million to combat human trafficking worldwide – that’s approximately $77 per attendee in addition to ticket, transportation, and lodging costs – and that number has increased annually ever year of the conference. Why do they go? Because, in the words of thousands of attendees on Twitter, worshiping God in the Georgia Dome is “more exciting than Christmas.”
2) President Obama cares.
Passion 2012 raised $3.5 million to combat human trafficking worldwide (a list of the organizations/recipients of the funds are listed here), and the effort merited a mention from President Obama at the 2012 National Prayer breakfast:
“Last month, it was inspiring to see thousands of young Christians filling the Georgia Dome at the Passion Conference, to worship the God who sets the captives free and work to end modern slavery.”
3) The funds raised at the conference combat human trafficking.
This year, millions of dollars will be raised at the conference to combat human trafficking worldwide – that’s kind of a big deal.
Visit Passion’s live feed starting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 1, at this link: http://live.268generation.com/
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