Life-altering...

Passion Conference 2007:

**23,000 college students from
**20 different countries
**In one city: Atlanta, GA
**Avg sleep per night: 4.5 hours
**Avg standing-in-line-for-food: 45 min.
**Avg standing-in-line-for-good-seats: 1hr 30m
**Avg decibels for praise & worship: CFC x 25
and that's pretty loud!
**Avg walking distance per day: 2.5 miles
**Time spent with God: 24/7



I went with a group of 40 students from a church here in Johnson City. The church paid for our hotel and it had been rumored we were staying at the Hilton. Well, it wasn't a rumor. Our caravan: a mini-bus, van w/ U-haul, suburban and sedan, arrived in downtown Atlanta at 430pm. The first session of the conference didn't start until 7 that evening, so we figured we had a couple hours to chill in the rooms. As we fight our way into the crowded lobby, filled with 200+ other confused college students, we are told our rooms won't be ready for another couple hours. So what are 40 people with 2 bags of luggage each supposed to do when their rooms aren't ready? Do what 10 other groups of 30+ did....pile luggage against the wall in the lobby and wait. Brett and I were tired so we made space against the wall and attempted to sleep--which is hard to do with the roar of students milling about.


It came time for us to leave to go to the session, and as we were leaving they told us our rooms were available, but it was too late, we had to hurry to the service. Our luggage must wait. (Sidenote: once we finally got our room keys and headed up to the rooms...it was quite an adventure. The hotel had 27 floors...we were on the 17th. There were 8 elevators, but amazingly it was about a 20 minute wait to even get on the elevator. Not to mention, stopping at every floor because someone on each floor had to get on or off the elevator. Or if we were going to the conference in the morning, people were trying to get on, on each floor--and I wish I could've taken a picture of the peoples' faces when the doors open and they see that not even a hamster could fit on the elevator. Finally, after waiting for 15 minutes, and after seeing the elevator doors open 7 different times, each with a slam of rejection...one opts for the stairs...yes 17 flights of stairs. That equals 299 steps, but not like I was counting.) So back to the story...we were onto the session. No one knows for sure which direction to head, we only know to follow the mass of people. We walk 7 blocks to get to our main session. Because there are so many students, an overflow "room" (more like warehouse) was needed. Everyone was assigned to one of 4 groups, and these groups switched out between the huge arena and the overflow. It was our group's turn to be in the overflow. I was kind of disappointed, because who wants to be in the overflow on the first night, watching the session via satellite on the big screen? Away from the many thousands of students all gathered in the arena?? We hurry in and find some seats in the back balcony. I see the stage and realize we're going to have a live band and then the preaching will probably be via satellite. The musicians take the stage and who is it? None other than Chris Tomlin...the one person I really wanted to lead our worship! It was amazing!! Then Louie Giglio came onto our stage and welcomed us as well as the people over in the Philips Arena across the street. The two venues were able to say "hi" to each other. Our overflow venue contained about 6,000 and the other 17,000 were in the arena.

After the main session, all 23,000 of us split into 20 community groups, divided by wristband color (separate from the other wristband telling which venue to be in). Within each community group, there was a leader and then a small praise and worship band, basically a "mini-session." Within the community group containing 800-1000 students, we were divided again into family groups of 8 people each. This is my family group...from Mississippi, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky...all over. Throughout the week, our community groups would meet before the morning session and after the night session to discuss things over and have an intimate group setting to be able to talk about whatever was on our heart. Each family group had a leader and I was nominated to that position. My job was to "facilitate" discussions. I didn't realize how hard this would be. But for eight people to talk to each other on a deeper level than initial conversation was somewhat difficult. Some people don't like to open up to seven complete strangers, yet others pour their heart out. Finally by the second to last meeting, we were able to find a balance, but it wasn't easy.

After the morning sessions, the conference provided box lunches for us....yeah that's right 46,000+ box lunches over the course of two days...that's insane. There was only one restaurant in Atlanta that took up the task: Lenny's. The lunch included: a sub sandwich, bag of chips, apple or orange, bottle of water and a cookie. Not bad for a box lunch! I don't know how many hands it took to make 46,000 box lunches, but may the Lord bless them. For dinner however, it was every man for himself...as you can see ..this was the food court attached to the arena. This was near dinner time...about 530pm. And it is PACKED out. If you wanted food and didn't want to stand in line for more than 30 minutes...you better be eating at 4pm. It looks as if all these people are standing around or walking to their destination...false; they're actually all standing in line for dinner. But the lines were so long they began to intertwine so you always had to ask, "Is this the line for Chick-Fil-A?" or "Are you standing in line for Arby's?" After standing in the masses to get food, one did not even consider trying to find a table to sit at---instead, head for the doors and find a clear spot outside on the sidewalk.



In this picture, people are leaving from their community groups to go to the main session. Yes, it's true..the escalators were ONE-person escalators, which caused for quite the traffic jam sometimes. I remember watching from above once, as people were standing in line for the escalator to the next level---but more people continued to come up the escalator from the previous floor, causing a sort of domino effect...it was hilarious. People kept stepping off the escalator but with nowhere to go because there was a line in front of them..so they kept smashing into the person in front of them! By the last day, there was finally some clarity: when you get on the escalator, you WALK up or down it to make things move more smoothly.







David Crowder was definitely the crowd favorite: him and all his craziness. The arena was a madhouse. Everyone was on their feet the whole time, praising and worshipping with David Crowder. I will admit, after he was finished, my eardrums were not the same.







Part of the Passion Conference was a mission called "Do Something Now Campaign" geared solely towards serving the poor, seeking the lost, and helping the needy. (Get ready for these statistics I'm going to give you..) The goal at the beginning of the conference was to raise $500,000 for all these different causes. Now, I don't know what kind of college students YOU know...but most of the ones I know...are poor. The word FREE is the most frequently used word in their vocabulary. But Louie Giglio addressed that issue and said "You can still do it!!" Half a million?? Pocket change. There were several different ways to get involved...I will list the Goal and then what was actually Achieved:

**Chinese Bibles sent to specific Chinese people who had requested them, along with a commitment to pray for the person for one year:
Goal: 5,000 Bibles sent
Achieved: 6,500 Bibles sent + 1 yr. prayer commitments

**Build wells in Africa $10/person:
G: 11 wells at $3,000 each
A: 38 wells for $3,000 each and 1 well in Sudan for $12,000

**Bricks to help build Freedom Student Center in Iraq
G: 500 bricks --- $500 at $10/brick
A: 2,400 bricks = $24,o00

**Money for the Freedom Student Center
G: $50,000
A: $65,000

**Students to honestly pray about going to Iraq for one year to work among the Kurds at the Freedom Center
G: 30 students
A: 150 students



**Surgeries paid for, for children in Central and South America
G: 50 surgeries
A: 100 surgeries w/ a matching donor, so really: 200 surgeries

**Money to send African college students to college for 4 years. $200/month for 4 years
G: 20
A: 14, but with more pledges on the way

**Money to translate the whole New Testament for the Dehlah people group in Indonesia at $20/verse. Once you paid your $20, you could go and highlight the verse on the big board for which you paid for.
G: The whole NT for the Dehlah people
A: The whole NT for the Dehlah people, the whole NT for the Recuh people and enough to pay for over half of the NT for a third people group; ($150,000 to translate the NT)

Uh yeah---pretty impressive for college students, eh? Brett and I committed to sending a Chinese Bible, praying for our persons for a year, as well as giving money for the wells in Africa. Along with giving for the well, they asked us to commit to drinking only water for 2 weeks, to help us remember what we did and to pray for the Africa people.
In all, the group of 23,000 college students raised over $700,000!!!!!!!!!! God can do amazing things!!! Wow.

The last night we had a candlelight service out on the lawn. The "lawn" was no bigger than 2 acres...and we all squeezed on there. It was kind of tricky with everyone holding a candle--you had to be careful not to get too close to the person in front of you. They moved the stage outside as well as one of the big screens and we had a worship service out there...it was awesome! Before the service started, as we filed in from our community groups, they asked that we not say a word--remain completely silent until we heard the singing start from the stage. I don't think you can comprehend 23,000 "kids" in complete silence for 30 minutes...unless you experience it. COMPLETE silence, no talking, nothing. It was a-mazing!

God really spoke to my heart in two ways: one of the speakers talked about really and truly loving God. He asked us, "are you in TRULY in love with God?" Of course my immediate response was, "well yeah...I love God." But then, I really thought about it...and what does it mean to really love God? To be in love with Him? I had to repent because my heart was not where it should have been. Also, I think God has really put a burden for missions on my heart...so I need to keep praying about that. It's not something I'm used to--it's something new for me, but I like it :)

And so, if you've just spent the last 20 minutes reading this post, YOU are awesome...because it's pretty dang long. But basically: Passion Conference was awesome and God rocks my face off!!!