Passion Conferences (also referred to as Passion and the 268 Generation, originally named Choice Ministries) is a Christian organization founded by Louie Giglio in 1997. The organization is known for its annual gatherings of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, more specifically college students.
The organization is also responsible for sixstepsrecords, the worship band Passion, and the megachurch Passion City Church,[1] which serves as the organization's headquarters. Until 2009, the headquarters were in Roswell, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.[2][3] The first conference was Passion '97, held in Austin, Texas.[4] According to the organization, its purpose is to unite college students for a "spiritual awakening in this generation."[4] The foundation of the organization's purpose can be found in Isaiah 26:8.[5]
Since its start, Passion Conferences has operated national conferences annually. In 2008, Passion Conferences launched its first global tour that visited 17 countries,[6][7] starting in Kyiv, Ukraine and finishing in Sydney, Australia. Since then, Passion Conferences have continued to host gatherings and tours nationally and globally.
History
Passion Conferences, at Georgia Dome, Atlanta, in 2013
1985–1997: Early years
In 1985, Louie and Shelley Giglio founded Choice Ministries at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.[8] Choice Ministries began as a campus-based student ministry and after 10 years of ministry at Baylor, Louie and Shelley moved to Atlanta, Georgia. In 1997, Giglio founded Passion Conferences in Atlanta under the banner of Choice Ministries to see a spiritual awakening among college students all across the United States and the world.
1997–2007: National success
Chris Tomlin performing at the May 23–24, 2008 Passion Conference in São Paulo, Brazil.
The first conference took place in Austin, Texas where thousands of college aged students came together during January 1–4, 1997.[8] The first event had 2,000 students in attendance. The following year grew to 5,000 attendees in Fort Worth.[9] Passion have hosted five more national gatherings in the next decade (1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007), which involved more than 70,000 college students in total.[8] During this decade, thousands of additional college students connected with Passion through one of several other gatherings, including the OneDay Gatherings in 2000 and 2003[10] and the Passion Experience Tour.[11] Passion also became known for its worship albums over this decade, which featured many prominent contemporary Christian artists like Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder.[12][13]
2008–present: Passion City Church and world tours
In June 2008, while speaking for pastor Andy Stanley, Giglio announced the planting of Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia with Chris Tomlin.[14][15] Along with Tomlin, Matt and Beth Redman, and a small core team, Passion City Church officially gathered in fall of 2008. Passion City Church held its first service on February 15, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia at The Tabernacle.[16] In 2017, Passion City Church announced plans to expand to two new locations - Passion City Church, Cumberland[17] and Passion City Church, D.C.[18]
Also in 2008, Passion Conferences embarked on its first world tour, reaching out to 17 different cities in all six continents.[19] Passion has continued to launch world tours and regular tours throughout the years, including Passion NYC Subway Series,[20] Regionals '07–'08, Passion 2010 University Tour, Passion 2012 University Tour, A Night of Worship with Passion Tour, Passion: Let the Future Begin Tour, and Passion: Take It All Tour.[21]
In 2017, Passion held its annual collegiate event in Atlanta's Georgia Dome, former home of the Atlanta Falcons before renovations.[22] That year, Passion encouraged participants to sponsor more than 7,000 children from Compassion International.[23] The conference also saw the debut of sixsteprecords artist Jimi Cravity[24] and the appearance of country music singer Carrie Underwood, which incited backlash from some right-wing Christian fundamentalists.[25][26][27][28]
Passion 2020 was held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, a return to a single stadium. More than 50,000 people were in attendance, the largest of the Passion gatherings.[31][32][33]
In 2024, Passion hosted its third conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with approximately 55,000 students in attendance from the evening of January 3 to the morning of January 5. Musical artists included Crowder, Sean Curran, Kari Jobe Carnes, Cody Carnes, Brooke Ligertwood, KB, Phil Wickham, and Brandon Lake. Speakers included Louie & Shelley Giglio, Sadie Robertson Huff & Christian Huff, Christine Caine, Ben Stuart, Levi Lusko, Jonathan Pokluda, and Earl McLellan. [34]
Conferences
Passion's annual conferences attract around 65,000 participants. The conference invites prominent Christian speakers and musical artists annually.[35]
Passion (worship band) has released 28 albums over two decades. Most of the Passion albums are live albums, recorded during performances in conferences or tours. Passion Conferences also owns the record label Sixstepsrecords, whose artist roster includes Crowder and Passion.[42]
The men and women who volunteer at the conferences are called door holders.[35][43] They serve on different teams such as community groups, logistics and registration and are considered to be at the core of the gatherings. They travel from all over the nation to serve at these gatherings. At various times throughout the year Passion City Church has special events for Door Holders.[44][45]
Charitable contributions
In 2011, Passion started the Do Something Now fundraising campaign,[46] later renamed 72DaysForFreedom. The fundraising campaign encourages participants in Passion's annual conferences to donate to different charitable organizations. In the Passion 2011 conference, more than 22,000 students raised over $1.1 million towards multiple causes.[47] At the 2012 conference, students raised $3.3 million to fund seven different organizations that battle sex trafficking.[48][49] Passion 2013 saw the launch of the End It Movement, an anti-human trafficking fundraising campaign. Attendees gave more than $3.6 million towards various causes at this conference.[50]
At the 2015 Atlanta conference, attendees collected items to donate to Atlanta's City of Refuge homeless ministry.[51][52] In 2016, participants raised more than $800,000 towards Project Haraka حركة, a partnership with World Vision USA to fund the building of a health facility in Syria.[53] The building is intended to serve as the first newborn ICU in opposition-controlled Syria.[54] Passion 2017 saw the start of the Make History Together fundraising campaign, in which the organization partnered with Compassion International to sponsor children in poverty around the world. The students sponsored more than 7,000 children in total, including all of the Compassion International children from El Salvador, Rwanda, Indonesia, and Tanzania, and another 900 children from Bolivia,[55] creating the largest surge of sponsorships in Compassion International's 65-year history.[56]
