A capacity crowd of 18,000 college students from all 50 states and more than 20 countries filled Nashville’s Gaylord Entertainment Center Jan. 2-5 for Passion 06.
A capacity crowd of 18,000 college students from all
50 states and more than 20 countries filled Nashville’s Gaylord
Entertainment Center Jan. 2-5 for Passion 06.
“Our heartbeat is to see the campuses of this nation
awaken to God,” Louie Giglio, who founded the Passion movement in 1995,
told the students in attendance.
At Passion 06, students were discipled by Giglio,
Beth Moore and John Piper, worshiped with the David Crowder Band, Chris
Tomlin, Charlie Hall and Matt Redman, met in small community groups.
They also were encouraged to visit the “Go Center,” where more than 50
exhibitors from educational institutions and missions agencies shared
with them how they can be involved in sharing the gospel throughout the
world.
When they entered the mobilization area of the Go
Center, the students were met by tour guides who listened to their
particular interests and then directed them to booths for more
information. Many of the collegians met with representatives from
Boston, New York and Toronto – Passion’s three focus cities.
Passion has organized history-making worship
gatherings in each of the cities, all of which have large collegiate
populations but few professing Christians. In 2004, Passion went to New
York City and 3,000 college students united under the banner of Christ.
Previously the largest known Christian collegiate gathering there was
500 students.
Students who attended Passion 05 and have since been
placed on the mission field returned for Passion 06 to celebrate and
testify to what God had done in the past year.
Susan Loyd was one Passion 05 attendee who responded
to the call to share the gospel in New York. She visited the Go Center
and spoke with representatives from New Hope New York, part of the
North American Mission Board’s Strategic Focus Cities initiative.
“God had already put seeds in my heart for New York
City,” Loyd said. “He was already leading me there. At Passion 05, it
was like he was using a megaphone.”
In June 2005, Loyd moved to northern New Jersey as
part of The Leadership Journey, which gives college students and recent
graduates an opportunity to serve with local church-based collegiate
ministries in metro New York. “I went to Passion 05 expecting God to
tell me to go somewhere,” Loyd said.
This year’s Go Center mobilizers, including
representatives from the International Mission Board and NAMB, met with
students who are in the process of discerning what area God has called
them in which to serve.
Abby Rhodes, a recent college graduate from Pine
Terrace Baptist Church in Milton, Fla., came to the Go Center seeking
clarity about the specific calling that God has placed in her life.
“I hear Him saying go, go, go. I’ve had all this
time already, and I haven’t done anything yet. I’m not waiting around
anymore,” she said.
Susan Peugh, who represented NAMB in the Go Center,
spent the week sharing about missions opportunities with students like
Rhodes.
“That’s my job – making connections and sowing a
seed, even though I may never see the result,” Peugh explained. “I’m
here to be a link while they’re uncovering the thing God has for them
to do.”
During the last worship gathering on Thursday
morning, a majority of the students stood in agreement saying, “God has
called and equipped me to go. I will go. Go across the hall of my dorm,
across the country and across the world. I have the best reason to
party … my passions have the highest purpose.” (BP)