Passion Conferences

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.

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]

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 2019 was held in four sold-out arenas and churches throughout the United States, including Atlanta's State Farm Arena, Duluth's (Georgia) Infinite Energy Center, and in the cities of Dallas, Texas and Washington, D.C.[29][30]

Passion 2020 was held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, a return to a single stadium. More than 65,000 people were in attendance, the largest of the Passion gatherings.[31][32][33]

Pastor Louie Giglio, founder of Passion, often speaks during the conferences. John Piper is also a frequent speaker at Passion Conferences. Other speakers that have spoken at Passion Gatherings include: Francis Chan, Andy Stanley, Beth Moore, Judah Smith, Christine Caine, Carl Lentz,[35] Lecrae, Gary Haugen,[36] Ben Stuart,[37] David Platt, Matt Chandler,[38] Levi Lusko,[39] and Jay and Katherine Wolf, authors of the book "Hope Heals".[40]

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.[41]

Sixstepsrecords artists form the core group of artists performing at the Passion Gatherings, including Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Melodie Malone, Brett Younker, and Jimi Cravity.

Other artists that have performed at Passion Gatherings include Lecrae, Hillsong United, Jesus Culture, Kari Jobe, Tenth Avenue North, Shane and Shane, SonicFlood, Gungor, Rend Collective, and Sean Curran of Bellarive.

The men and women who volunteer at the conferences are called door holders.[34][42] 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.[43][44]