College football is on a lot of minds tonight. I myself am sitting here watching the BCS Championship out of the corner of my eye (my other eye is crying for the plight of the Fighting Irish) while writing this blog.
But, some college students have something other than the national championship football game on their minds.
Last Friday, the Passion 2014 conference wrapped up at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Attending were about 60,000 young Christians from 56 different countries and 2,300 universities. The four day conference consisted of community group learning sessions.
What was on their mind? Primarily, it was “to shine a light on modern-day slavery.” The conference focused on four goals – awake, prevent, rescue, and restore. The president and CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM) reminded the crowd of college students that there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today. But, he reminded them that they can be the generation that ends slavery.
IJM has partnered with Passion to focus primarily on slavery. At this year’s conference, 19 different organizations dedicated to helping stop human trafficking were identified during the conference and money was raised for the charities.
This year’s goal was $3 million, with about $400,000 of that already being raised. Donations are still being accepted at the Passion 2013 web site. https://secure3.268generation.com/2013/freedom/give Last year, organizations such as Hagar International and Wellspring Living benefited from the conference’s donations. Both organizations help those rescued from human trafficking.
Passion was started by Pastor Louie Giglio in 1997. He wanted to use it as an outlet for college students to come together to “awaken to the reality of an omnipotent and glorious Creator.” Attendees also had more local issues on their minds as well. A large number of towels and socks were donated by those at the conference and will be distributed to local homeless shelters.