The lighting, fog machines, and high energy music creates a spirit of festivity among the youth and heightens the sensory stimulation-almost completely inhibiting this conference from teaching any valid form of biblical principles. This flexibility to rethink the ways in which a sermon should be delivered and how the listener experiences the message creates a confrontation of issues that are similar to those encountered by the Spanish upon the cross-cultural interaction with the Nahua tribes of Mexico-how religion should be administered, assurance of true devotion, and abandonment of old rituals and behaviors. .
Passion conferences are built on the mission of "calling students from campuses across the nation and around the world to live for what matters most." With such a specific target audience, fulfilling the Passion mission is entirely contingent upon how the event directors make the conference culturally relevant to college students. Pardo's piece states that the Mexican friars attempt to control the morality of the indigenous population by utilizing confession as an apparatus of control and as a mechanism to acquire knowledge about what is culturally relevant to the indigenous population. Through these insights about what was relevant to the indigenous, the friars could find ways to permeate the day-to-day lives of the Nahua. Passion leaders utilize social media, television, and the Internet, as a mechanism to engage the cultural and social themes of the young generation. With this understanding of what interests the youth, the directors create an adrenaline-pumping, concert like event complete with celebrity keynote speakers, light shows, and famous Christian rock bands. The directors of passion opt for a conference design based on its cultural relevance to college students and they create a model that ensures monetary growth and the continuation of fame and publicity from year to year.
