Posted: 5/19/03
Massive collegiate worship event coming to North Texas
By Leann Callaway
Special to the Standard
What happens when a generation comes together to pray, worship, and fuel their fire for Christ?
On Memorial Day weekend, college students from around the world will meet on a private 400-acre ranch in Sherman seeking a spiritual awakening in this generation. The event will be called OneDay.
A previous OneDay was held in May 2000 and was the largest collegiate gathering of its kind in 25 years, drawing more than 40,000 college students from 26 countries to Shelby Farms, Tenn.
| IN MAY 2000, more than 40,000 college students converged on Shelby Farms, Tenn., for the first OneDay concert. The follow-up concert and worship event will take place near Sherman Memorial Day weekend. |
Hosted by Passion Conferences, led by Louie Giglio, the assembly will begin May 24 and build to the focal point, OneDay, on May 26 and conclude May 27.
For three days, students will hear messages from well-known worship leaders focused around intercession, celebration, confession, reflection, adoration and repentance.
Leaders of Passion Conferences and OneDay03 said they are dedicated to uniting college students from campuses and churches across the nation, uniting them across ministry and denominational lines to seek God together in worship and prayer.
“We want people to really grasp the idea that it's a God-centered world and to live our lives in a very God-centered way,” said lead worshipper Chris Tomlin. “You'll see everything with the Passion movement that has '268 Generation' on it. People are always like, what's that? We've always been rooted in the Passion scripture, Isaiah 26:8, which says, 'Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you, for your name and your renown are the desire of our souls.'”
Tomlin continued: “That's what we want to be about. We want to hold up God in front of people as big as we can, and say here's the living God–live for this.
“Even as people from stage, we're not up there saying we've got it all together. We're saying we're in this with you. We want to lead you in this way, and I think it's very unique. We just want to pray that we step out of the way, and God is glorified, and that the people come who need to come.”
More than 1,500 volunteers are needed to help facilitate an event of this magnitude, which was open to ages 18 to 26, graduate students, adult leaders and students entering their senior year in high school.
“It's very university-driven, a specific age for them,” Tomlin said. “We're very excited, but we have no idea what God's going to do. We have no idea what to expect, but we really sense that it's going to be something very special from the Lord. This is different in that it's a solemn assembly–a gathering of people opening their hearts to God and being honest before the Lord.”
Many Baptist churches and colleges around the state, including Lake Pointe Church of Rockwall, First Baptist Church of Richardson, Dallas Baptist University and Hardin-Simmons University, are among the student ministries with large groups planning to attend OneDay03.
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