Passion 07 Ending Report

Passion 07 came to a close in downtown Atlanta last Thursday afternoon and has already begun looking at future gatherings to reach students around the globe.

Speaking to students at the gathering’s closing, Passion Conferences founder/director Louie Giglio said, “Colossians 1:6 says, ‘All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit.’ The same changing power in your lives is working all over the world. This gospel is bearing fruit and growing, and we can see that in what you’ve done through the Do Something Now campaign.”

Passion 07 set a goal for individual students and student groups to raise $500,000 for global aid through its Do Something Now campaign. As the Global Awakening: The World Mobilization Area officially closed in the Georgia World Congress Center Thursday, students and groups had pledged over $700,000 toward various global initiatives.

Giglio announced that in place of one four-day conference in January 2008, Passion Conferences is planning smaller gatherings similar to the four-day conference format in cities around the U.S. for Fall 2007 and Early Winter 2008. “At these larger four-day gatherings, like Passion 07, a majority of students come from neighboring states,” said Giglio. “From there, students trickle in from more distant states like California or Massachusetts. Passion wants to get closer to the students who haven’t had a chance to experience this gathering.”

The global reach of the Passion message is evident as 33 countries were represented at Passion 07, and Passion Conferences consistently receives requests for overseas events. Looking forward to Late Spring 2008, Passion Conferences plans to launch out to 20 cities in 15 nations. “After years of hating to say ‘we can’t right now,’ the Passion team began asking how it could go to the nations,” Giglio said. “It takes 19 hours to fly to South Africa, and we thought, ‘Once we get started, why don’t we just keep going?’ Go seven more hours, then eight more, nine more, until we’ve gone around the world?”

At the opening of the gathering on Monday, the tally showed that 49 U.S. states were represented at Passion 07, all but South Dakota. As Giglio led students in prayer for college campuses during Wednesday’s evening General Session, specifically mentioning South Dakota, it came to the gathering’s attention that one student from South Dakota State University, Nick, did make it to Passion 07, confirming that all 50 states were represented.