Passion Conference

On January 2, 2019 I bought tickets to the Passion Conference after watching it online. Unlike most of my calculated decisions, this was a risk with a lot of things yet to be determined. I bought 4 tickets, knowing Anna would come with me but not knowing who the other two people would be. I didn’t know exactly how we’d get to Atlanta or where we’d stay. All I did know was this is a good thing and something that would make me lean into God.

Fast-forward to almost a whole year later, done with my first semester of college, and the next big adventure was this conference.

On a Monday, Anna, our friend/extra sister Caroline, and I drove down to Roanoke to meet up with my other friend Caroline from school. We stayed the night at her house then got up and drove seven hours to Atlanta the next day. When we arrived in the city, we realized how big of an event this was. Groups of college students holding Bibles and journals were everywhere.

The process to get into the Mercedes Benz Stadium was a long one, I was stressed, but as I thought about it later, the waiting had been longer than just that day.

I grew up listening to the artists that perform at Passion and the music that came from it.

I wrote one of my college essays on a song recorded at a Passion conference.

I watched it online my senior year of high school, desperately wanting to be there.

I bought tickets then waited for a year.

3 hours to Roanoke, then 7 to Atlanta to wait in lines for over an hour, to get our room and realize there was one king bed for 4 people (not sure who thought that was a good idea), didn’t really have time to deal with it because we were running late. Walked to the stadium later than I had hoped, without eating dinner, then had to decide what line to be in and we waited for about an hour and half outside. We get into the stadium and head to the upper deck. This is probably my peak of stress, some moments I was not trusting God in.

But like this past year (& my whole life) has shown, God shows up even when I’m not trusting him. We checked a section on the upper deck, doubtful it had seats for us because it was directly across the stage, but the Door-holder (volunteer for Passion) had exactly 4 seats toward the front of the section. God showing up. Anna and I then went to get food and another Door-holder tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hey you look stressed. Just know it’s all good now.” I kid you not I almost cried. God showing up.

We rang in the new decade worshipping with Hillsong. The most epic New Year’s I have ever experienced. Levi Lusko spoke about how what you do in your 20s sets up what your 30s look like.

We got back to our hotel at 2am, they had delivered an extra bed, thankfully.

We got up at 7:30 am the first day of 2020, had time to find food and get in line early. We learned the trick to good seats was getting in line about 2 hours early, so that’s what we did. Full sends only because we are in college and that’s just the excuse we use for everything.

January 1, 2020 was one of the longest and best days of my life. We listened to speakers and worshiped all day and well into the night. These are some of my favorite quotes/points from that day and the next:

John Piper: “You will be saved from much nonsense on your campus if you’re a person of the book”

Jesus died to include others in the joy,

Sadie Robertson: “when you find the desire of your soul you know, you don’t need to look anywhere else to find it”

We say we are seeking love, happiness, peace, but we just keep scrolling and in reality are not finding what we are looking for
(She talked about the hot/cold game you’d play to find something as a kid) If you’re seeking life in your phone, you’re stone cold. If you’re seeking life in your Bible, you’re literally on fire.

*You could tell when Sadie came out everyone loved her and we felt like we already knew her. She was the only speaker our age.

Christine Caine: Foundational truths don’t change

“Dig again” the wells we’ve filled up

*I LOVED Christine Caine’s message, 11/10 recommend watching it on Youtube.

Ravi Zacharias: “You are an irreplaceable person”

“You are here to make an appointment with God”

Loui Giglio: “God turns pages”

God gives beauty for ashes
Walk in victory, not victimhood
The roaring 20s are back

Shelley Giglio: “what are you asking of God?”

Jesus wants to build a house of faith in my life (Shelley Giglio’s house of faith became a room sold out with 65,000 students on fire for Jesus)
God is here to clarify the gospel.

Tim Tebow: Do you life with a sense of urgency for what really matters?

There is a world, country, community, college, family that needs you. (this was good to hear as we sat in the stadium for the last time, not wanting to leave the mountaintop)
Don’t get to the end of your life only to realize you were successful in things that didn’t matter.

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What happened on stage was significant, but just as impactful was looking around at the 65,000 college students worshipping together. Every seat from the pit to the nosebleeds filled.

The last session ended at noon on Thursday and we started the trek all the way home. This was another serious test in trusting God. It took us about 3 hours to get to South Carolina where we stopped for lunch. It was then 5 hours to Roanoke where we dropped Caroline and 3.5 hours after that. We arrived home safe at 11:30pm after 11 hours on the road.

Through all of this, I was able to sleep and eat relatively normally which was a blessing because new places and experiences, especially when I feel responsible, can be stressful. The whole time on the road and when anything seemed uncertain I kept saying to myself “this is so prayed for,” which was true.

The atmosphere was different, you could tell waiting in line and in the stadium. You’d walk in and volunteers were high-fiving everyone, telling us they were glad we were here, helping everyone find seats. Thought there were thousands of people there, there was a sense of being seen and cared about.

I truly don’t have words to sum it up but I think that’s because it was really a beginning. A beginning of believing for miracles, encouragement for this year and decade, the beginning of a generation passionate about opening their Bibles and serving a big God.