November 7, 2025
McDONOUGH, Ga. — More than 1,200 college students and ministry leaders from across Georgia gathered Sept. 19–21 at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough for Confluence 2025, a gathering designed to help participants grow in their faith and understanding of God’s Word, uniting around the shared mission of making Jesus known.
Hosted by Georgia Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Confluence brings together students from dozens of colleges and universities. They come from different schools, backgrounds, and cultures, yet they share a passion to follow Christ and take the gospel to their campuses. Attendees worshiped together, studied Scripture, prayed, played, and discovered new ways to live out their faith in community.
This year’s event drew 1,250 total participants, including 1,104 students, 77 group leaders, and 42 staff and volunteers. That marks about a 20 percent increase over 2024 and the highest attendance in at least two decades, according to Beverly Skinner, college ministry catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. She said the weekend stood out not only for its size but for its spirit.
Skinner added that the energy and attentiveness of attendees were unlike anything she’d seen in recent years. “This generation is responding to the gospel, not just to a call to faith but to a call to discipleship.”
The featured speaker was Travis Agnew, lead pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, S.C., who led participants through the entire metanarrative of Scripture in four sessions. His messages traced God’s redemptive story from Genesis to Revelation, helping students see how the same God who worked in creation and at the cross is still at work in their own lives.
Skinner explained that the four messages followed the broad categories of creation, corruption, cross, and commission, with each session leading to a challenge for students to consider how they would respond to what they had learned.
Agnew wove the threads of Scripture into a short poem he wrote, which was printed on bookmarks distributed to those who attended. The poem read, in part:
Glory to God and peace upon the earth.
A Savior was given, a virgin gave birth.
God in the flesh lived free from sin.
Jesus conveyed grace and truth from within.
Justin Tweito led worship. He has collaborated with artists including Shane and Shane, The Worship Initiative, Citizens, Worship Together, and more.
Breakout sessions offered students opportunities to go deeper in their faith. “We had breakout sessions that covered topics all the way from how to share your faith, how to lead a Bible study, discovering if God is calling me to ministry, and answering hard questions about Scripture and understanding the New Testament in light of the Old Testament,” Skinner said.
Skinner reported that 53 students accepted Christ as Savior, 102 began exploring a call to ministry, 387 committed to a 100-day Bible reading plan, 728 made other spiritual commitments, and participants gave $5,000 to Send Me Now missions, supporting summer missionaries across the U.S. and abroad.
Testimonies from participants captured the life-changing nature of the weekend. “God has been stirring in me a call to do international missions as a career. And I feel this weekend He confirmed to me that is what I’m supposed to do with my life,” one student said. Another wrote, “This weekend was awesome. I'm glad I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet everyone in our group that showed me what it means to be a true Christian.” One participant shared, “That was the clearest I’ve ever heard the Bible talked about in my life.”
“It is really robust content,” Skinner noted, “but there’s also time for the students to have fun.” On Saturday afternoon, teams of students competed in a kickball tournament, an ultimate Frisbee tournament, a dodgeball tournament, and engaged in e-games. "We even did a personal safety class for women," Skinner added.
What stood out most to Skinner was how deeply students connected with God’s Word and with one another. “This generation is hungry for truth,” she said, “They’re eager to make a difference. What we’re seeing is God at work in a powerful way.”
Share with others
