Final Coming of Age Project: Day 1 of Passion 2012

After the eight-hour drive to Atlanta, I stepped out of my car at The Varsity, a world famous hot dog diner opened in the 1920s. I was here. This was the place where my friends and I would convene. Coming from Florida, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas, the five of us would gather together in Atlanta, Passion City, for Passion 2012. All I had heard about Passion were great things, but it left me with no idea what to expect.

            I walked inside to see the friendly face of Jared Lax and got in line to order. We would have to wait for Will Peters’ cab to get to the restaurant before would could head to the hotel.

“What’ll ya have, what’ll ya have?” the man behind the counter chanted at me.

“Two chili cheese dogs and an orange dream slush, please,” I said.

I waited for my food and watched Will come inside. Jared left to go watch football at a fraternity brother’s house that lived in Atlanta. Will and I sat down and ate, attentively watching the bowl games on television. We sat for a while, talking about our Christmas Breaks and waiting for allotted time that we could check in to our hotel.

After about an hour of sitting, talking, eating, Will and I headed to the W Hotel in Atlanta. We pulled in to the parking garage and waited for Jared to arrive, because he had made the reservation.

The three of us waltzed into the hotel. I was fully equipped with bag, backpack, camera, case of water bottles, and most importantly, Red Bull. I sat and waited for Jared to check-in.

“We’re up on the 7^th floor. Let’s head up there and wait for Jim and Tom,” he said. He was talking about the Reed brothers, who were flying in from Kansas.

We made our way up to our room and I was relieved to remove the weight of my bags from my shoulders. I got on the Internet and checked Facebook. Jim and Tom were on their way. No new notifications. As soon as they arrived, we would need to head over to the Georgia World Congress Center to get our Passion passes.

I was excited. I was nervous. I was ready to go. The wait for Jim and Tom to show up seemed endless. Fifteen minutes felt like fifteen hours. I saw Tom’s flaming red hair walk through the door and knew it was finally time. They dropped their stuff and we headed to our cars to join the still secret number of college students at Passion.

Our hotel was about 3 miles from the Georgia Dome complex, just outside of walking distance in sub-freezing weather. So we had to drive.

As we pulled up to the Dome, our college student “Free Parking” radar went on. Everywhere seemed to cost $10 to park. We crossed a small bridge and found a sketchy lot where we could park for free.

“God’s on our side. Nothing will happen,” reasoned Jim. He turned out to be right.

I was in awe that the five of us could come from different parts of the country and meet in this one spot for this adventure. We maneuvered our way through traffic and walked up to the Georgia World Congress Center, situated a sidewalk away from the Georgia Dome.

I expected a lot of people to be at Passion, but not this many. Everywhere I looked, fellow college students from everywhere I could imagine looked back. We got in line to register, a line that appeared to never end. We wound our way inside the Congress Center, then outside, then around the corner, and then up an escalator, down another, up a flight of stairs, through random hallways, turned a corner, and below us, we could finally see people everywhere exchanging registration for wristbands and lanyards with access passes.

I felt my phone vibrating and looked to see an incoming call from Leon Jackson. Leon is essentially part of the family of my mom’s best friend since elementary school, the Kennards. I spent a week with them at the beginning of Christmas Break, which is where Leon and I connected. He’s black. Mr. Kennard met him one day at church and brought him home for dinner. Now, he’s just as much a part of the family as any of their three children. His skin color means nothing. He loves Jesus.

“Yo, Jimmy,” Leon said. “Where you at? I’m waitin’ in line to register.”

During the week I spent at the Kennards, Leon and I figured out we would both be at Passion.

“I just got done registering. Where are you in line?” I asked.

“Outside about to turn the corner by the street.”

“I’ll come find you.”

I had spent a total of a week with Leon, but he was like family to me. It was great to see him, even if only for a couple minutes. We could spend time together later in the week. It was time for me to head inside the Georgia Dome.

Our clan of five waded our way through crowds of people to get inside. We had made it. Jared spotted a row of empty seats in the corner of the lower level. It was about 40 minutes until the action began.

About 10 minutes after we sat down, a guy walked on stage. He had a microphone, and began reading a chapter of the Bible. Then a girl appeared and did the same. Then another guy. Then the first guy again. They were preparing us for the worship to come. For 30 minutes, chapter after chapter would be read.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” I said to Jim.

“This is only the beginning,” he responded.

All of a sudden, the Dome went black, and on stage appeared Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockells, Kristian Stanfill, and the rest of the Passion Band.

“Our God is greater,” they sang.

The entire arena had erupted. People all around me were opening up to the love and power that was being felt through God.

“Our God is stronger…”

I could do nothing but lift my hands in the air in total awe of everything around me. I was truly amazed at what God was doing.

“God, you are higher than any other…”

I looked around to see the guys I was with immersing themselves in the Holy Spirit surrounding all of us.

“Our God is healer…”

I had come with so much on my mind and heart and everything was being put to rest in these few moments.

“Awesome in power, our God, our God.”

This worship lasted for somewhere around an hour. It felt like nothing close to that amount of time, though.

The band left the stage and Louie Giglio, a prominent Christian speaker, head of the Passion Movement, and Pastor at Passion City Church, came on stage.

“After all of this hype and anticipation, all this talk about ‘Heading to the Dome,’ we are finally here,” he said, “Forty-five thousand college students have poured out from the entire country and converged on Atlanta.”

There was the elusive number. A total of 45,000 college students and college group leaders were present. He progressed with his message for the night.

“A lot of you come here tonight followed by a funeral procession. You aren’t lost and in search of Christ. You’re dead.”

He called his message “No Funeral Today” and used Luke 7 as his reference. Christ comes at exactly the right time to raise us from the dead.

Louie ended his message by asking us for a confession. He wanted to know how many people were participating in their own funerals. Ten thousand people stood up.

“Well, guess what? There will be no funerals today!”

The words reverberated around the Dome and were followed by a roar of applause. Prayer. Amen.

Louie began to instruct the crowd for our next activity. We would be getting in to our community groups, based on the color of our wristband.

Yellow community group.

It was time to go. Forty-five thousand people stood up and tried to move. Tried. And failed, for the most part. Wading through a sea of people as thick as smog, I gradually got closer and closer to the doors. I could feel the icy cold wind on my face, and I knew that I was outside, headed in the right direction.

I was towards the back of the pack, so I was one of the last people to walk into the room where the Yellow Community Group was residing. I walked around the side of the room and sat about 10 feet from the side of the stage, alone. I knew nobody.

Almost immediately, Matt Metzger, a college minister at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and our Yellow Group leader, got up on stage.

“Before we do anything else, we need to divide into family groups. Find somebody around you that you don’t know.”

“Well, that won’t be too hard,” I thought.

I just started wandering around, looking for somebody else who looked partially lost.

            I caught the eyes of somebody and put out my hand.

“Hey, I’m Jimmy.”

            The response I got was completely unexpected.

“NO WAY, MY NAME’S JIMMY, TOO!” Family member number one: Jimmy Funchess.

            Jimmy is a junior at the University of Central Florida, only an hour and a half from my house.

            “Okay guys, now find another pair where somebody has the same birthday month as you,” announced Matt.

            With no luck, Team Jimmy grabbed another couple that was struggling. Family group members three and four: Brock Fiedler, from Montana, and Charity Fischer, from Michigan.

            “Okay everybody, now find a random set of four people to finish off your family group.”

            We circled around looking for a group to join with, and I caught eyes with a girl across the room.   Family group members five through eight: Amy Clark from Texas A&M, Megan Berndt from UCF, Hailey Patrick from Tennessee, and Stephanie Danielle from Georgia Tech. Eight people, hailing from Florida, Texas, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, and Montana; all of us brought together by the grace of God.

            We sat in a circle and got to know each other. Name? Age? School? What brought you to Passion? What are your expectations for Passion?

            It was about midnight. We held hands and prayed and parted ways for the night. We would see each other again in the morning.

            “Hey Jared, where are you guys? Where are we meeting?”

            I called Jared to try and find where we would reconvene. I thought the night was over. I had forgotten that David Crowder Band was preparing to play their final concert.

            I headed into the Dome and walked down to the ground level. I pushed and maneuvered my way to the front of the standing crowd. I was now in the front row for the final concert of one of the best Christian bands of all time.

            The buzz in the crowd was amazing. People could not wait for David Crowder, from Waco, to come on stage. I looked over and spotted the lead singer and namesake standing off to the side of the stage.

            The lights dimmed and out walked the band. Everyone around me went insane. They weren’t even close to my energy and excitement. An hour and a half set seemed to go by like a couple minutes.

            The last song played. The lights went up. The band members looked at each other. It was over for them. All they could do was thank God for their success and the fans for their support. They walked off the stage. It took a couple minutes for the crowd to realize that the end of David Crowder Band had just been witnessed.

            Jared, Will, Jim, Tom, and I met up and left the Georgia Dome. The first night of Passion had just ended at 2 a.m.

            “I can’t wait for the rest of this week. This was moving,” I said.