A Powerful and Transformational Experience

Picture this: A sold-out conference with 7,000 people in attendance. I’ve been to many of these in my career. This one was at the Ocean Center Convention Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. A lone figure stands on the stage with the crowd cheering approvingly numerous times as he delivers his powerful and transformational remarks.

The speaker talks about anxiety and depression being at all-time highs in the country. For high school students, time spent in person with friends is down 65% since 2012.  “We are so distracted today with our minds and attention constantly elsewhere, not present and in the moment.” He went on to say, “It’s not all your fault.” The loneliness and isolation epidemic are in large part due to technology. “Don’t let your technology own you.”

He reassures the attentive audience that there is hope and encourages everyone to take hold of that hope. “But to do so you must leave some things behind and stop doing some things that hold you back.” He challenged us, “What has a grip on you that you should flee? You do not need to go back home to find things you know shouldn’t be there. We want to give you the confidence to do the right things.”

Wow, I thought to myself. This is transformational stuff going on here. According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy we are in a “loneliness epidemic.” In my own personal “digital detox’ experiment , (I gave up all social media in January of 2021), I have gone from FOMO (the fear of missing out) to JOMO (the joy of missing out). Then the speaker paused and said, “We all need people to keep us on track. Who is that in your life?”

So, you probably think this must have been a national conference on education or a business conference with the likes of world-renowned motivational gurus Tony Robbins or Brene Brown or even Oprah Winfrey speaking to business leaders or educational administrators.

You would be incorrect.

The speaker? Ben Stuart, pastor of Passion City Church in Washington, D.C. and former executive director of Breakaway Ministries, which ministered to thousands of college aged students every week. He is also the author of two books, including “Single, Dating, Engaged, Married: Navigating Life and Love in the Modern Age.”

The audience? Almost 7,000 middle and high school students, youth pastors and church volunteers from Florida to Maryland to Wisconsin to Texas and a lot of places in between.

The conference? Passion Camp 2024 , and it featured Christian pastors Louis Giglio, Brad Jones, Grant Patrick, Dan Watson and other members of Passion City Church, including the Passion Music group and a special performance by Contemporary Christian singer and songwriter Crowder. It was a powerful and transformational experience, and not just for the kids, but also for many of the youth leaders (like me) who were attending for the first time.

I departed LowCountry Community Church (LCC) in Bluffton, South Carolina on July 8 with my friend and fellow youth leader Ed Grecco, and we joined other leaders driving in advance of our two busloads of 120 sixth-to-12th graders bound for Daytona. Our LCC youth pastor Anthony Lucarini gathered the staff at our first meeting and challenged us to make the week about more than just having fun. “We want the camp to be a great experience, but we want it to be a gamechanger in their lives.” His wife Liz was our rock who organized the logistics with help from other members of our home church staff.

Well, we definitely had fun whether it was at the Lagoon Water Park, the hotel pool, the beach, the Slingshot and Vomatron rides or the Squad Wars and worship music at the conference. We bonded as a group, and we met people from across the country. But we also learned a great deal about living a Christ-like life. Morning prayer was followed by Squad Wars, worship music and morning and evening programs led by the Passion ministry team.

During Pastor Ben Stuart’s presentation, he talked about Social Psychologist and New York Times Best-selling author Jonathan Haidt, who is a self-proclaimed atheist. Haidt says that perhaps what we need in this country is a spiritual awakening.

I actually heard Haidt, author of the “Coddling of the American Mind,” speak at Penn State in 2019. His latest book is “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”

In his new book, Jonathan says, “we’re under protecting children in the virtual world and overprotecting them in the real world.” One of the best chapters in his new book is the section on spiritual practices. Although an atheist, he understands the value of traditional spiritual practices for mental health. There are six that he believes are impactful:

1. Shared sacredness (times and places set apart).
2. Embodiment and real-world experiences.
3. Silence, stillness and focus developed by prayer and meditation.
4. Transcending the self in worship.
5. Be slow to anger, quick to forgive (the opposite to habits developed by social media).
6. Find awe in nature.

We live in a time of spiritual degradation, a selfish age of “me over we” where the focus is too often on superficial personal branding to get more “likes” on social media. There is little depth or any moral compass in the Instagram world.

Pastor Dan Watson, who hails from London, England, spoke about the feelings of hopelessness that sometimes overtake us. The world’s hope is wishful thinking; it is “Hopefully”. There is a heavenly hope that has “weight” and is “hope full.” Instead of focusing on worldly things that can “hopefully” resolve our issues, we should lead a life focused on God that will leave us hope-FULL.

Not every student who attended Passion Camp experienced the same results. Kids are like popcorn kernels, they don’t all pop at the same time or under the same heat and pressure. Some of these kids come from rough upbringings as a result of the effects of divorce, severe illnesses, gambling, alcohol, drugs, gangs and the relatively new evil of being cyber bullied.

Passion Camp transformed the lives of students, adult leaders, volunteers, the musicians and even the speakers. Not just in worldly ways, but spiritually for eternity.

On Thursday evening, Grant Patrick concluded the final session with a rousing talk about all that the week was about. “Maybe you feel brokenness as a teenager.  Maybe you feel like God’s grace is for everyone else but you. Failure is an event. It does not define you. You have purpose, you are significant.”

Back to Ben Stuart’s question from earlier in the week. “We all need people to keep us on track. Who is that in your life?” I think if you asked the 7,000 in the Ocean Center you would hear a thunderous response. “Jesus!”  It was inspiring, yes even hopeFULL to see these kids jump to their feet and cheer at this challenge: “Serve more, do more and encourage more than you get credit for! It’s not about you, it’s about service to others.”

When we returned to our hotel, our own youth pastor, Anthony Lucarino, challenged the rising seniors to mentor freshmen. Challenged all of our students to reach out to other kids at their schools. “It won’t be easy,” he said. “The world is a tough, mean-spirited place sometimes and people will make fun of you and even ridicule you for your faith. Be strong and bold.”

Given the violence in this world, the drugs and alcohol, the sex trafficking, the abuse, I’m all-in for a force that advocates peace, love, unity, service to others, forgiveness and eternal joy. Yes, we believers are going to be mocked and laughed at. To those who choose to do so I say this: I forgive you and I will pray for you.

When I reflect back on my first experience with Passion Camp, it gives me goosebumps. I couldn’t help but be in awe of God’s grace and his mercy for saving a wretch like me…over and over again. When someone asks me what was it like? My answer is simple. Powerful and transformational.

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