Passion Tour Stops In Bentonville

Passion Conference is one of the largest Christian conferences in the world, bringing together tens of thousands of young adults every year to comprise a community that has touched more than 20 million people over the past 20 years. Many have heard of the Atlanta-based conference that takes place in January, but not all have the means or the opportunity to attend. That’s why, in 2013, the worship team decided to take their message to the road on a regular basis.

“The tour is really unique in that it’s for all ages — anyone is welcome,” explains Passion worship leader and songwriter Kristian Stanfill. “The heart of the tour really is the heart of the conference — it’s just not quite at the scale. It’s the people and the leadership of Passion going out to people and taking that experience to [them].”

This year’s Passion Worship Nights tour — titled “Faith is Greater Than Fear” — builds on the themes Stanfill says he and his team are encountering at staggering rates in their ministry: anxiety, depression and fear.

“I remember when I was coming through high school and college, there was zero social media; nobody had a smart phone,” Stanfill recalls. “There’s just so much to compare your life against, and so many voices coming from so many different angles telling you what’s valuable and the scale that you should measure your value on. It feels like the freedom that Jesus offers maybe has gotten lost somewhere in that. And so we want to come into these cities and go, ‘Hey, anxiety is getting a lot of airtime, but Jesus is the healer. So let’s look at Jesus.’”

The Worship Nights tour brings the Passion worship band (pictured) together with speaker Louie Giglio and hip hop artist Trip Lee to offer an uplifting night of music, worship and encouragement at First Baptist Church in Bentonville on Oct. 13.