Transcript
A (0:00)
You're listening to a new evangelicals production, The Tim and April show, where we unravel faith, politics and culture. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Tim and April Show. I am April A joy.
B (0:27)
I am Tim Whitaker.
A (0:29)
And we have, I think, an interesting show for you today. Yep, yep. So for those of you who come from the evangelical world or still in that world, you've probably heard of the Passion Conference. It's one of the largest, if not the largest, youth Christian conference in the world. They have it every year. This year it was in Dallas, Texas. It was held at the Texas Rangers ball, Ballpark. And I. They're claiming they had 45,000 students that went to this Passion Conference. Now, if you've never been to a conference like this, that's like focusing. I think the focus is like teenagers to mid-20s. Like, yeah, 25.
B (1:19)
A lot of, like, youth groups are going to go small, young adult groups, things, people like that.
A (1:23)
Yeah, the target are young people. It's really empowering. Like, you go there every. And you go there with your youth group. So you're there with your friends. They've got lots of worship, very high energy, very emotionally driven music, emotionally driven sermons and altar calls where you play pads in the background, like. And I remember, I. I don't think I've ever been to Passion, but I went to acquire the Fire. And that's. That was basically like my version of Passion where it's also in this huge stadium. So you're there with literally thousands of others of your peers being told that, you know, your life is bigger than you, that you're here to change the world. And you leave so empowered, like, you feel like you're on cloud nine. And, you know, they're constantly telling you too, that, like, those chills that you feel in the, in the worship services, like, that's God. And, and so you take that as proof of, like, everything that is said in this conference is from God. We are on God's side. God is on our side. And it's just a very compelling experience as a young person to attend these events.
B (2:36)
100%. In fact, if you're listening on podcasts, I'm playing footage of Passion Conference. It's a worship set, I think, you know, maybe for those who didn't grow up in this world. You look at this production, you would think it's, you know, you're watching like a U2 concert or something. This is not small time stuff. They're playing. Yeah, they're playing in a stadium. And, and the person who is kind of leading this worship set. Her name is Carrie Jobe, and her husband Cody Carnes is here, too. Just so you know, the connection. These are the same people who led worship at Charlie Kirk's funeral service. So there's a huge connection to this world and like that Charlie Kirk, Christian nationalist world, even if it's not overt in moments like this. Right? And I have never been to Passion myself, although this has been going on for a long, long time. But I've been to events like this. You're totally right, April. It's emotionally charged. It feels very hip. It feels very cool. It feels very with the times. I mean, look at these people playing, right? They look all modern. You would never guess that these people hold conservative Christian fundamentalist views that are not just for themselves, but also must be exported to the world around them. So it's the reason why we're doing this video today is because we want people to understand that. You know, I'm sure a lot of folks who didn't grow up in this world ask themselves all the time, how do Christians support what's happening right now with ice? Or how do they support Trump? Or how do they support this stuff that looks so dehumanizing, it's so blatantly unchristian? Well, a lot of it is because the funnel into that world looks like this. It looks like this really cool, modern, almost progressive kind of vibe in Christian thought. But it's a Trojan horse to get people into fundamentalist Christian evangelicalism that tells them if they don't witness to their friends and convert them, they're going to burn in hell forever. And of course, that term conversion has a whole litany of.
