Conservative radio host and commentator Todd Starnes reported that 65,000 college students gathered in Atlanta's Mercedez-Benz Stadium on Sunday to worship Jesus.
In his blog and Twitter, Starnes praised God for such a large gathering of students who came from 1,300 universities and schools from across the country. The blog post included a video advertisement on the event posted on Rumble.
The gathering is in line with Passion 2022, a Passion City Church Conference that aims to speak the name of Jesus through two days of Bible study and incredible worship, and entitled, "All For Jesus."
Starnes highlighted that the event is attended by various celebrities such as former National Football League quarterback Tim Tebow, Christian music singer-songwriter Kari Brooke Jobe, Christian contemporary singer-author David Wallace Crowder, and reality star Sadie Robertson with husband Christian Huff. The event includes Passion Institute Founder and podcaster Louie Giglio, who announced in Twitter on Saturday that the event was already "sold out."
"Crazy times. Bigger God! Passion 2022 is S O L D O U T . Hearing about people looking and people selling! No doubt you'll find a ticket someone is selling if you need one! Let's go!!" Giglio declared.
Giglio, in a succeeding post, asked for prayers for the event and its attendees that he hoped would be changed by God "forever."
"Today is the day! Expectant for what God will do in the lives of students. Please join us in praying over these next few days- that lives will forever be marked by the Spirit of God at #Passion2022," Giglio said.
According to the event's website, Passion 2022 is composed of six sessions where "every nation, tribe, people, and tongue" will "hear the good news about Jesus." It is then streamed live online in "real-time" in various languages that include Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. The online streaming also takes into consideration the difficulties of traveling considering the pandemic.
Starnes said the event trended in social media and cited posts of various netizens about it. He noted that posts included videos attesting to Giglio's announcement that it is sold out.
"To give you an idea of just how large the event is--Passion 2022 is trending on social media. Video images show the stadium filled to the rafters with students from more than 1,300 colleges and universities from around the nation," Starnes emphasized.
One of those Starnes cited is a certain Chris Ward who expressed being "blown away" at seeing the event's volume of attendees, especially since it involved the youth. Ward's post included a photo of the stadium fully packed with people.
"I'm still blown away every time I see 65,000+ college students come together from all over the world to worship the name of Jesus," Ward said.
I'm still blown away every time I see 65,000+ college students come together from all over the world to worship the name of Jesus #passion2022 pic.twitter.com/gxDaXOL2dI
"” Chris Ward (@cajuw) January 3, 2022
Another was a post made by a certain Preston that showed a video of a group of young people said to be attendees of the event who are by the street singing worship songs. Preston indicated the post with a hashtag on "Passion2022."
"You can feel the passion that people have for God when your in settings like this!" Preston said.
Starnes ended his blog echoing Giglio's call for prayers for the youth. He hope that "God would move in a mighty way" in the lives of the attendees.
"Pray that souls would be saved and that believers would recommit their lives to follow Christ," he emphasized.
