Passion 2011

Passion is an opportunity for thousands of young adults (college aged) to come together from across the US and the world to celebrate their common faith and purpose.  KW, Julie, Hal and I volunteered this year together along w/1,300 other volunteers to serve the 22,000 kids.  What a humbling experience.  These kids came w/open hearts and minds to seek, understand and learn more about their journey to live and how to serve our Lord.  We were "Community Group" volunteers which meant we had a room of 970+ kids for 2 hours each morning and evening plus a Break Out Session for 3 days.  The 970 kids would break out into groups of 8 to create  "Family Groups".  In the beginning, this was not an easy thought for the kids to take in, however, by Tuesday, there were hugs, pictures taken and many tears as they said good-bye for now.  I too was right there with them with the hugs and tears.

 Each Community Group room had it's own audio/visual tech guy.  How awesome is that? I told Mark I would only move a few buttons on his console...

 On Monday the plan was for the students to eat lunch outside.  The temps were to get up to around 50, and they probably did later on in the day but not by lunch time.  They took their box lunch from our hands and found the sun and pavement w/o any grumbling.  Again....very humbling.

 Ben Stuart was speaking on Fighting For Holiness in our room the first Break Out session.  We packed as many kids as possible in our room and had to turn others away.  The next day Ben was moved to a ballroom that holds 4,500-5,000 and again, the room was filled to capacity.  Note, that everyone sits on the floor, there are no chairs w/exception to the Main Sessions held in the Phillips Arena and the Georgia World Conference Center.  Again, no grumbling.

This group of kids gave so much to the homeless shelters in Atlanta as well as many other mission organizations.  Each person, participant as well as volunteer was asked to bring a towel and socks.  Here is just the beginning of the pile that was being created. The total number of towels was, 17,478 and 85,358 pairs of socks.

The last night the kids were dismissed from their Worship service and asked to leave in silence.  It was a very moving scene to watch 22,000 kids walk in silence to their Community Group rooms.  When our kids arrived, they stood until most arrived and began to sing Amazing Grace.

Our Community Group leader, Aaron Coe, was outstanding w/the kids and us. 
When asked...how was Passion?  Answer....Jesus and let me share w/you how he touched my life.

In 2003, Blake, Camille (Blake's girlfriend at the time), Julie, Hal and myself served at the Passion held outdoors in Sherman, TX.  We were all touched by the event back then.