Louie Giglio

Biography

Giglio was born on June 30, 1958. He graduated from Georgia State University and earned a Master of Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Later he went to Grace Theological Seminary to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree. After finishing seminary, Giglio and his wife Shelley began a weekly Bible study called Choice at Baylor University where he was doing graduate studies. After several years, over 10% of the Baylor student body was attending the weekly gathering and Giglio's heart for the significance of the "university moment" was set.

In 1995, the Giglios moved from their home in Waco, Texas, to Atlanta, Georgia, because of his father's failing health.

Giglio is the author of The Air I Breathe: Worship as a Way of Life and I Am Not But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story Of God. His talks "Indescribable" and "How Great Is Our God" have been viewed by churches and individuals around the world. The "Laminin" clip from his message "How Great Is Our God" has been viewed over 3 million times on YouTube.

In 2009, Louie and his wife Shelley founded Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

On January 8, 2013, the organizers of President Barack Obama's second inauguration announced the selection of Giglio to deliver the benediction at the ceremony, largely in recognition for his work against human trafficking. The announcement was met with opposition when a sermon Giglio delivered in the mid-1990s was publicized by ThinkProgress. In the sermon, Giglio called homosexuality a sin, declared that legalizing gay marriage would risk "absolutely undermining the whole order of our society", and asked his listeners to "lovingly but firmly respond to the aggressive agenda" of gay activists. On January 10, Giglio withdrew from participation in the inaugural, stating, "it is likely that my participation and the prayer I would offer will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration."

Passion Conferences

Since 1995, the Passion Movement has hosted close to a million university students at events ranging from the first Passion Conference in Austin, Texas, in January 1997 which 2,000 people attended to "OneDay 2000", a gathering of 40,000 students for prayer and worship outside Memphis, Tennessee, to the seventeen-city Passion World Tour of 2008. Passion has hosted local campus events at leading universities in The U.S., as well as larger regional and national events in cities like Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.

As a part of the Passion movement, the Giglios also head up sixstepsrecords, a partnership with Sparrow Records. This small label is home to artists Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Matt Redman, Kristian Stanfill, and Passion.

In June 2008, while speaking for pastor Andy Stanley, Giglio announced the planting of a new church in Atlanta, Georgia. Chris Tomlin announced he was joining Giglio in Atlanta for the Passion City Church launch. The Giglios were members of North Point Community Church for 13 years until the founding of Passion City Church. Two years later, the church has built a home for PCC.

Along with Tomlin, Matt and Beth Redman and a small core team, Passion City Church officially gathered in fall of 2008. Passion City Church held its first service on February 15, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia at The Tabernacle.

Passion Conferences hosted Passion 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 1–4, 2013. Over 60,000 university students from around the United States and over 30 other countries attended, and more than 170,000 people from more than 130 countries watched part of the conference online.

Writings