PASSION

Atlanta, Georgia's Passion, also known as Passion Conferences and the 268 Generation and originally named Choice Ministries, date back to the year 1997 when pastor Louie Giglio held the first Passion Conferences conference in Austin, Texas. Their aim was to rally the youth-led (18-25) Christian community, and so began the start of a multi-pronged organisation with global conferences and a record label. Also forming in 1997, Passion—comprising a revolving door of core artists that have previously included Kristian Stanfill, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Crowder and Matt Redman—are the worship band arm of Passion Conferences; leading lights of the Contemporary Christian music scene who have been at the top of their game for 25 years, notably for their succession of live albums recorded during performances in conferences or on tours. Their debut live album Our Soul's Desire arrived in 1997 with subsequent releases emerging at a consistent rate, including 1999's Better Is One Day, which cracked the Top Christian Charts Top five and kicked off a hold on said charts that has endured for the duration of their career to date. Passion secured their first Christian chart-topper with 2010's Passion: Awakening, which started an impressive run of seven consecutive Christian number-one albums. Meanwhile, their popularity outside of the Christian charts was felt with the release of 2013's Let the Future Begin and 2014's Take It All: both albums made it to number four on the Billboard 200, giving Passion their highest charting live albums to date. 2017 live album Worthy of Your Name is notable for yielding hits in the gold-certified "Glorious Day" featuring Kristian Stanfill. Beginning with The Road to One Day in 2000, and taking in 2016's Passion: Salvation's Tide Is Rising and 2017's Glorioso Día, the band have also released three studio albums, all on their own sixstepsrecords. 2020 saw the release of Roar (Live from Passion 2020) and in 2022, steered by the voices of Kristian Stanfill, Brett Younker, and Melodie Malone, a new 15-track album Burn Bright saw the light of day. In 2023, a new live album was released called I've Witnessed It, followed by Live from LIFT: Creative Conference (2023), the Spanish-speaking Testemunho (2023), and live from conferences Call On Heaven (2024), and Call On Heaven (Come Lord, Jesus) (2025).