Passion 2012

This past week, Campus Crusade had the privilege of partnering with Passion 2012 for our annual Christmas Conference. This year's Passion conference was held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for the first time and hosted over 42, 000 college-age students and 2,000 volunteers! The Southeast region of Campus Crusade had 1,200 students attend Passion from universities scattered around Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Southern Miss had a group of thirteen go and we were by far the best group, I think (but I guess I'm a little biased). From January 2-5, we rung in the new year by hearing the Word of God from great speakers such as Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. This year, Passion adopted a central message and theme for the week: FREEDOM. In addition to focusing on freedom from spiritual death and the bondage of sin and shame, the week was also spent being educated about alarming issue of human trafficking around the world today. There are over 27 million people in slavery around the world today- the greatest number of people enslaved in history! In order to fight this injustice, students were given the opportunity to donate money toward certain organizations that work to end modern slavery at "Freedom Stations" that were set up around the conference. With a goal of 1 million dollars, the students more than double that by raising 2.56 million dollars in 4 days!! Inspired by the amount that college students gave, other donors gave over 500,000 toward the cause. As of last night, the total amount of money raise was $3,066,670! All the Glory be to God!

At midnight on the last night,
42,000 students lit their candles and
took their stand against slavery.

This hand was made with
common materials made
by slaves that we use everyday
here and symbolizes
the freedom we are
fighting for. 

Although the money raised was extremely mind-blowing, the most incredible part of the week was witnessing students be freed themselves. On the first night of Passion, Louie Giglio gave a message based on the account of Jesus intercepting the funeral and raising the widow's son from the dead. Giglio pointed out that in those days, depending on the status of the family, the dead would be carried on stretchers outside of the city to where they would be buried. On the day that this man was being carried down the road to be buried, Jesus was traveling to the city and intercepted the funeral procession. Jesus went on to touch the young man, telling him to "Arise!". The man then awoke from the dead and was returned to his mother (Luke 7).

Giglio pointed out that many and most likely thousands in the crowd were currently being carried on a stretcher to their deaths. Whether it was a stretcher of unbelief, an immoral relationship, a hateful grudge, pride, or any other sin that was encompassing life and leading to death. Giglio challenged the students to identify the stretcher in their lives and to earnestly pray that God would intercept their funeral. Some students immediately knew what their stretcher was, while many students took a couple days to truly dig out the core sin that was slowly killing them. After four days of meditation, messages, and worship, thousands of kids stood on the last night to unashamedly proclaim that they their funeral had been intercepted by God. Again- All the Glory be to God!

Praise God for an incredible week for the students and staff alike. Please pray that the revelations that God granted this week and the missions he has placed on peoples hearts will continue on into the new school semester. Pray for unashamed hearts and for fearlessness as students and staff alike pursue their mission to boldly proclaim the truth of Christ!