By Christina Burke
Managing Editor

In the very first minutes of the 2014 Passion Conference in Houston, my expectations were blown out of proportions with the confetti cannons that shot off the four corners of the stage as a crowd of 18,000 roared inside the Toyota Center.

Started in 1997 by Louie and Shelley Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta, Passion Conferences has become a legendary gathering for all college aged students of the Christian faith who are looking for the most rejuvenating two days of their life. There are only two of these events each year: one it Atlanta and another in a different major city. This year was the first year Passion was brought to Houston.

At the beginning, I spent most of my time taking everything in, for it was difficult to fathom that a medly of the most famous Christian artists were together singing and dancing on stage at the same time as an entire stadium full of young adults excitedly clapped and sang along.

Chris Tomlin and Kristian Stanfill acted as frontmen for the performances with, delivering new music that was written to be premiered at Passion. Other artists including David Crowder, Matt Redman and Kari Jobe also got their chances to shine. I can now say that I understand why most Christian music is recorded live, they are absolutely amazing and it is clear that they have God given ability to sing.

The musical highlight of the entire weekend was the performance by Hillsong United. Its hit song “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” from its most recent album Zion was even more beautiful live than I could even imagine. The Australian band put on a captivating show that rounded out the first night nicely.

What really blew me away though was the amazing messages delivered by the speakers. Louie Giglio opened and closed the conference, with guests Francis Chan, Beth Moore and Judah Smith passing on wisdom in between.

Of course, Passion would not be complete without mission work. Before the conference, Students were instructed to bring new towels and socks for local Houston homeless shelters. During the sessions, Passion promoted the End It Movement cause supporting the ending of human trafficking and also took an offering of over $300,000 that will be used to print Bibles for the Christian brothers and sisters in Iran who are being persecuted for their faith.

To sum up everything I cannot even fathom, the Passion Conference was the most amazing thing I have ever been to. I am still in awe of my experience, and I cannot wait to return next year.