For many of you, this New Year is viewed as another year come and gone. It’s a time to spend with family and friends, celebrate the New Year and wonder what God has planned for you in the coming year. However, for those of us that belong to the FBCW some of us in the College and Career Bible Study Group, it’s been another opportunity to fellowship with thousands of other Christians. At Passion 2017, we were part of 55,000 other young adults who gathered in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the name of Jesus. It was also one of the last events in the Dome before its demolition happening in 2017.
This year marked 20 years for Passion and with musical performances by; Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Matt Redman, Hillsong United, Christy Nockels, Jimi Cravity, and the Passion Band made it a musical masterpiece all in the name of Christ. Also, this Passion conference brought together many great speakers including; Christine Caine, Beth Moore, John Piper, Levi Lusko, Francis Chan, and founder of the Passion Conference, Louie Giglio. With all of this, Passion had one of the largest gatherings since its beginning 20 years ago in 1997, making history not once but four times this year alone.
Every year, Passion partners with an organization to support their cause. This year, Passion partnered with Compassion International to sponsor children in order to provide them food, water, and an education. The original goal for this year was to sponsor every child left on the waiting list in El Salvador, which would be making history in itself. However, with overwhelming support from the attendees, Passion 2017 sponsored every child left on the waiting lists in El Salvador, plus Rwanda, Indonesia, and Tanzania. Along with sponsoring an additional 900 from Bolivia, the attendees have sponsored over 7,000 children! God does great and wonderful things with even the smallest of resources...even those of broke college students. It lets us know that no matter what age you are, God can and will use you to do great things for His kingdom.