Over 65,000 College Students Gathered To Worship Jesus While Ringing in the New Year
Thousands of young Christians gathered in Atlanta this week to celebrate the new year with the fire of their faith at the Passion 2020 conference.
The three-day event began Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will continue until Thursday, according to Fox News.
The event is focused on young Christians aged 18 to 25, and features Tim Tebow, Ravi Zacharias, Christine Caine, Levi Lusko, John Piper and Sadie Robertson as speakers.
The gathering was set to unite more than 65,000 young Christians from 1,680 universities, 50 states and 81 countries.
Worship is being led by Hillsong United, Lecrae, Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Elevation Music, Crowder, Trip Lee, Andy Mineo, Social Club Misfits, Tedashii and Sean Curran.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6xOvTxnrhx/
The Passion 2020 website said the event is not just a New Year’s Eve party.
“A gathering of 18–25 year olds, Passion exists to see a generation leverage their lives for what matters most … To live in such a way that their journey on earth counts for what is most important in the end. For us at Passion, that’s the fame of the One who rescues and restores, and the privilege we have to amplify His name in everything we do,” the website said.
“Passion is more than a conference. More than an event. More than a feeling. Passion is you and me saying goodbye to lesser things and saying yes to Jesus, the One whose name is above every name.”
65,000+ / 18-25 year olds / praising the name of Jesus / ringing in a new decade ✨ #passion2020 pic.twitter.com/5u2PufVqDC
— Karina Noelle (@karinanoellelab) January 1, 2020
Ringing in the new year with over 60,000 18-25 year olds in Atlanta for Passion 2020! pic.twitter.com/55NtgBfOrq
— MacKenzie Ross (@mackenzies_ross) January 1, 2020
On Tuesday, the conference featured the arrival of a flame lit in Jerusalem, which stands as a symbol of the light of Christ in the world.
The conference uses the money raised by the event to help translate the Bible.
“We’re not simply keepers of the light, but we are carriers of the light of Jesus to the world,” Louie Giglio, founder of the conference, told Fox. “One of the practical ways that we can carry that light to the world is to participate in the goal of Scripture translation.”
Last year, more than $400,000 was raised to translate the Bible for the deaf.
This year, Passion is channeling money toward Share Light, an effort to translate the Bible into all known languages.
The Passion conference was not the only way Christians marked the new year as a time for something more than a party.
In Australia, Christians held a New Year’s Day Sunrise Prayer Relay, according to CBN.
The goal of the relay is to have Christians pray at sunrise around the world, wherever they might be.
“This year we feel to have a focus on praying for nations to turn to Jesus, we believe we are coming into a time now when whole nations will be saved, there are many problems in the world that we can pray about but ultimately Jesus is the answer to all of them, so we believe it is time to pray for nations to turn to Jesus, and it’s time to go and proclaim the gospel to every person in every nation because now is the time of salvation,” the Sunrise Prayer Relay 2020 posted on its website.
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