PASSION TWENTY TEN OPENS TO 22,000 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM 37 COUNTRIES IN ATLANTA

ATLANTA - Nearly 22,000 university students from 37 countries embarked on a journey to Atlanta, Ga., to join others like them at Passion Twenty Ten, the first 4-day domestic gathering Passion has held since 2007. Students came expectant and excited to celebrate their common faith and worship together.

They also came prepared to impact the world through Do Something Now, a campaign birthed at Passion '07 with a mission to wed worship and justice. The campaign empowers students to personally connect and invest the lives of people from around the world for the glory of God. As a small picture of that, students and volunteers registered with towels and socks in hand to donate to 55 of Atlanta's homeless shelters.

"Whether they know what Passion is all about or not," said Louie Giglio, Passion founder/director of those receiving the items, "they will know that followers of Christ have been here."

Do Something Now is housed in the Go Center at the Georgia World Congress Center, an area where each student can interact with and choose to support any of 12 global causes that resonate with them by giving of their time and resources. The ultimate goal is to raise over $500,000 in global aid. Passion Twenty Ten is also challenging students to collect and pledge monies to bring clean water to villages in Guatemala, rescue women from the sex trade in India, crush the injustice of the Dalit people, feed 100,000 starving children, fund surgeries for children with cleft palates in war-torn Afghanistan and more.

Over the past 13 years, Passion has spawned a global movement of a generation of university students awakening to the reality of a larger story going on around them, a story about a God who spoke the universe into existence. At its core, the heartbeat of Passion is to see the 132 million university students in the world united and making their lives count for the glory of God.

"When we began planning for Passion Twenty Ten, we had one thought in our minds: that a generation would awaken," said Giglio. "We're not just at an event or a conference with really cool bands. There's a heartbeat here and that heartbeat is that you and I would awaken to the same thing: that it's good to trade something small for something huge. And that something small is lives that you and I 'run' and that we would trade that in for a life that is part of a grand epic that is God. That we would awaken to the face of Jesus."

Passion Twenty Ten is being held at Philips Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. Leading the worship, teaching and prayer gathering will be renowned speakers Louie Giglio, John Piper, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, Andy Stanley as well as acclaimed lead worshipers, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder*Band, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels, FEE and Hillsong UNITED.

As at past gatherings, Passion Twenty Ten will provide smaller sessions through Community Groups, Breakout Sessions and Late Night concerts with David Crowder*Band and Hillsong UNITED.

The main sessions will be available online at www.268generation.com/passion2010 at the conclusion of each session and will be available online for 24 hours. There are expected to be a quarter of a million listeners / viewers online that will join those at Passion Twenty Ten.

The Passion movement began in 1995 with a stirring in the heart of Passion founder Louie Giglio. Born out of a desire to see the 16+ million college students of the nation awaken to the reality of a glorious God, the vision took shape under the leadership of men like Giglio and the board of Choice Ministries, the non-profit umbrella for Passion Conferences. Like-minded campus ministers then met together in 1996 and paved the way for the first of three Passion gatherings (1997, '98 and '99) that united over 18,000 college students with the desire to see God magnified in their lives, their campuses and throughout the earth.

Since then, millions have experienced Passion through gatherings such as the OneDay gatherings, the Passion Experience Tour, Passion U.S. Regionals, the Passion World Tour in '08 or through the 11 Passion worship recordings and DVDs that have been released worldwide, selling over one-and-a-half million copies. The domino effect has spawned a movement that has circled the globe.

Centered on Passion's core scripture, Isaiah 26:8, the unique purpose of Passion is to gather college students from campuses and churches across the nation, uniting them across ministry and denominational lines to seek the face of God together in worship and prayer. Affirming and valuing the work of local churches and campus ministries, Passion seeks to foster unity and connectivity among them, encouraging them to draw strength and encouragement from each other, resulting in a louder anthem of God's renown.