The College Fix

‘The love of God transcends nations and politics’

Tens of thousands of college students recently converged in Atlanta and Houston for a massive Christian conference that will have a lasting impact on the least and lost of this world – the young people raised $812,000 to build a hospital in northwest Syria for women and children struggling in the war-torn region.

“More than 40,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 flocked to three arenas in two different cities from Jan. 2-4 to attend ‘Passion,’ an annual Christian event that brings scores of youths together to worship, pray and learn more about their faith,” reports The Blaze.

Together we gave $811,813.39 to build a hospital in NW Syria! Together, we are a force for good! #Passion2016 pic.twitter.com/4TfwnE75aY

— Passion Conferences (@passion268) January 6, 2016

The facility will provide care for more than 12,000 displaced Syrian women and children every year and become the first newborn ICU in opposition-controlled Syria, according to organizers.

“Most people will seek a political angle any time Syria or the Middle East is mentioned, but the reality is that the love of God transcends nations and politics,” Zach Walden, a law student at the University of Alabama who attended the conference, told USA Today.

The conference took place Jan. 2-4, and was live-streamed among the locations in Houston and Atlanta as well as across the Internet for the globe to take part. It consisted of sermons and worship music from big-name pastors and artists.

“Attendees at Passion 2016 represent 51 countries, all 50 states, and over 1,650 colleges and universities. The majority of conference participants are students and young professionals ages 18-25, along with pastors and church leaders attending with their groups,” reports The Christian Post.

In addition to the money given to the Syrian hospital’s construction, the young people donated thousands of towels and socks for local women’s and homeless shelters in Houston and Atlanta.

“This will be absolutely well used and is a huge benefit to us,” the Rev. Bruce Deel, CEO of the Atlanta-based City of Refuge, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Among the speakers at the event was Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, who urged college students in the crowd to seek truth. The Gospel Herald reports:

“The furry of relativism today,” said Zacharias, “is being presented in the highest institutes of our learning, producing a whole generation of young men and women who no longer believe that there are absolutes.”

He added, “The early stages of corruption may be behind lecterns, the end stages are the devaluation, the dehumanization, the denigration, and ultimately, the desensitization of your conscience and mine.”

“On the day that you see your heart as desperately wicked and in need of a savior,” Zacharias said, “you could become an answer rather than just another question.”

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