Erika Kirk kicked off her “Make Heaven Crowded” tour Jan. 21 at Harvest Christian Fellowship in metro Los Angeles, where controversial pastor Greg Laurie was on the program.
Laurie is senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and “has been named in a wave of lawsuits filed in U.S. federal court alleging child abuse and trafficking by former pastor Paul Havsgaard,” according to Yahoo! News.
“The lawsuit alleged that church leaders, including Laurie, allowed Havsgaard to act without oversight and overlooked multiple warning signs of his alleged misconduct when he ran church-supported children’s homes in Romania from 1998 to 2008. It also alleged that the church didn’t cease to financially support the Romanian homes despite reports of abuse, and that Havsgaard was also allowed to return to the United States with some of the children to raise even more funds.”
Nevertheless, Turning Point USA — which Erika Kirk now leads after her husband’s murder — used Laurie as a keynote speaker and his church as the launching pad for a planned 28-city tour. So far, two Southern Baptist churches are slated to host upcoming events: Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and First Baptist Church of Orlando. Most upcoming host churches and dates have not been announced, even though the cities are named.
In her comments at the tour launch, Kirk compared the political movement of Turning Point USA to an evangelistic movement that will get more people to heaven.
“This is why this tour exists,” Kirk said. “It’s unifying … when this nation rises up and prays for this nation and is in revival.”
She and other MAGA evangelicals continue to insist revival has broken out in America since the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk, who founded TPUSA and its political action arm. Those who study and document religious movements in America have said there is no statistical evidence to support this claim but in fact the opposite is happening.
More than 6,000 people filled the sanctuary of Harvest Christian Fellowship for the event, with others in four overflow rooms and thousands joining via livestream. Three days later, the video of the event had been viewed 53,000 times.
The Orange County Register reported many of those in attendance wore T-shirts featuring images of Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump.
Publicity for the tour says it is “a gospel centered gathering calling people to repentance, faith and bold obedience to Jesus.” Participants are urged to “join us for a powerful night of worship, preaching and ministry as we believe God will move in hearts and lives.”
Other featured speakers are Lucas Miles, senior pastor of the online Nfluence Church and senior director of TPUSA Faith, an arm of Turning Point USA; Jurgen Matthesius, founder of C3 San Diego, a multi-site church; Riley Gaines, a conservative political activist and former collegiate swimmer known for campaigning against the participation of trans women in women’s sports; Ross Johnston, a Christian evangelist who was raised in a lesbian household and uses his story to promote conservative Christian values; and Elijah Lamb, a 21-year-old social media influencer and conservative evangelist from Los Angeles.
After launching in Riverside, the tour went next to Awaken Church in San Diego. It is headed next to World Outreach Church in Nashville Feb. 15, Orlando First Baptist Feb. 25, Freedom Life Church in Philadelphia April 18, Prestonwood Baptist in Dallas April 29; Calvary Chapel of Greater Portland May 15; Mountain City Church in Anchorage July 26; Vintage Church in Austin, Texas, Oct. 14; and Andrew Wommack’s Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colo., Nov. 14.
Other planned locations include Seattle; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Denver; Toledo, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Lynchburg, Va.; Houston; Oklahoma City; Gainesville, Ga.; Augusta, Ga.; Rapid City, S.D.; Las Vegas; Billings, Mont.; St Louis; Birmingham, Ala.; and Roswell, N.M.