Where does Sean Feucht’s money come from?

In recent years, Sean Feucht has been everywhere: Singing in Washington, D.C.; engaging in “worship warfare” at every state Capitol and becoming the guitar-strumming frontman for Christian nationalism.

What Franklin Graham and Jack Graham and Robert Jeffress have done for Donald Trump as pastors, Feucht has matched and exceeded as an almost-groovy troubadour for conservative evangelicalism.

But not everything is in tune, according to accusations published June 1 on a new website called Truth and Freedom Stories where former colleagues accuse Feucht of financial, spiritual and moral abuse.

The public allegations are signed by five former officials with various affiliates of Feucht’s “Let Us Worship” empire: Christy Gafford, former USA national director and global communications director for Burn 24-7; Peter and Amanda Hartzell, former Burn 24-7 members; Liam Bernhard, former Oklahoma City director of Burn Field Training, Mid-South regional director of Burn 24-7; and Richie Booth, former administrative staff for Burn 24-7, Let Us Worship and Light a Candle.

The website for Burn 24-7 says it was founded by Feucht and is “an organization kindled from the flames of spontaneous day and night worship gatherings among college students in 2005.”

This courageous group is daring to take on a shining star in the Christian nationalist movement and launching a public reckoning for Feucht.

And I’m here for it.

I began looking into Sean Feucht (whose legal name is John Christopher Randolph Feucht) late last year. The Truth and Freedom group’s report confirms what I have found in the financial records of Feucht’s overlapping nonprofits and many property holdings. Especially helpful is the group’s research on those properties, some of which I had yet to discover.

But there is still more to be made public. While the Truth and Freedom group broadly discusses Feucht’s fraudulent and spiritually bankrupt actions, it is worth going deeper into his business dealings — especially how he acquired his various rental properties. It also is worth noting that records indicate a previously unknown fourth nonprofit tied to Feucht has launched in Texas.

The public accusations

The Truth and Freedom Stories website explains: “Based on the documented and corroborated nature of these concerns, we strongly urge that Sean Feucht be removed from positions of leadership and financial stewardship. This statement is made in good faith for the purpose of preventing further harm and upholding standards of biblical accountability, transparency and justice.”

“The signers indicate that Feucht has been consistently confronted by his sin and has not repented or changed his ways.”

The signers indicate that Feucht has been consistently confronted by his sin and has not repented or changed his ways.

“We have consistently witnessed Sean publicly point his finger at the sin of the world yet repeatedly fail to take responsibility for acknowledging, repenting of and turning away from his own serious and habitual sin,” the group asserts.

And this final blow: “Having witnessed firsthand what we have witnessed about Sean, we can no longer encourage financial contributions to him and his endeavors. We corroborate the recent MinistryWatch database assertion that Sean Feucht Ministries’ financial integrity and accountability ratings have shifted in the last few years, leading to Sean’s transparency grade and overall donor confidence score to plummet to a ‘withhold giving’ designation. We can no longer encourage anyone to work for him, paid or unpaid. And we can no longer encourage anyone to partner with him in any ministry capacity or invest in him financially due to the following egregious, corroborated, and longstanding sin.”

What follows is an itemized list of four grievances:

• Longstanding pattern of moral and ethical misconduct by Sean Feucht
• Misrepresentation and abuse of power
• Retaliation against whistleblowers and failure to address internal complaints
• Negligence of oversight by Burn 24-7, Light a Candle, Let Us Worship and Sean Feucht Ministries board members

Some of these board members — Adam Miller, Jamie Dickson, Caleb Klinge — “have either actively contributed to the abuse or repeatedly denied, diminished and concealed it, in many ways reinforcing Sean’s actions,” the statement says.

Likewise, the boards of Let Us Worship and Sean Feucht Ministries “have also seemingly exercised little to no practical oversight of Sean’s dealings in keeping with their fiduciary responsibilities as board members, accepting Sean’s near complete autonomy in the daily affairs of these two organizations.”

Where does Feucht’s money come from?

In addition to an array of real estate deals to be explained below, Feucht has spent what must be tens of millions of dollars on his various tours across the nation, visiting every state Capitol and the nation’s Capitol where he often puts on elaborate rallies with outdoor staging and electronics.

He owns a tour bus and a semi-truck that hauls his staging and gear to all these events. The travel and staging costs alone must be staggering.

Feucht was born in Montana and traveled the world with his missionary parents as a child. He attended Oral Roberts University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 2005. The child of missionaries more recently has hit the jackpot.

A California online news site called ANewsCafe reported on Feucht’s apparent wealth in May 2024. This report says Feucht has made millions through recording deals with Bethel Music, a nonprofit music label affiliated with Bethel Church, a New Apostolic Reformation church in Redding, Calif.

“Feucht is perhaps the greatest success story to come out of the Bethel machine when it comes to, not only his rise to stardom, but also the way Feucht has transformed himself into a money-making machine,” the publication says.

And then there’s his array of nonprofits.

“In just the last four years alone, Feucht has made millions of dollars in revenue with his Redding-based tax-exempt nonprofit organizations and grown a multi-million-dollar real estate empire,” ANewsCafe said. “Feucht’s antics have increasingly made the news over the last few years. In August of 2021, for instance, Feucht hired an armed right-wing paramilitary force to provide security at a Portland event shrouded in mayhem and attended by members of the Proud Boys and other extremist groups.”

Whether there are significant outside donors funding Feucht’s tours — most likely yes — is not known for reasons I’ll show below.

The “donate” page on Feucht’s website lists a Washington, D.C., address for gifts, plus options to give online or to give through cryptocurrency.

“Sean travels tirelessly bringing hope, life, perspective, prayer and worship all over the U.S. and into the nations! We are honored that you are freely willing to be a part of this kingdom initiative,” the website declares. “Your gift will be immediately invested back into the various needs of the ministry as we continue the mandate God has given us. With your help, we can see not only revival, but reformation as people encounter God and are moved into a lifestyle of gospel action.”

Feucht’s rise to fame and wealth begins in 2007, however.

Burn 24-7 and Feucht’s first real estate properties

Burn 24-7 was the first nonprofit Feucht established. It was organized in Texas in 2007 where Feucht was living at the time. The 2007 IRS Form 990 listed the organization’s address as a home owned by Brian and Amy Woods in Corinth, Texas, which is a far northern suburb of Dallas. No board members were listed on this first filing.

The following year’s IRS submission listed a post office box in Richardson, Texas, for the organization’s address. The filing also included Feucht as the principal officer at an address in Richardson, which is a suburb immediately adjacent to Dallas. Property records show John and Katie Feucht owned that home at 433 Sandy Trail from Sept. 7, 2007, to Aug. 17, 2010. The house was used primarily as a rental property and, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District, the Feuchts’ actual residence was the Corinth home owned by the Woods.

This is perhaps the earliest record of Feucht’s fraudulent activities. Not only had the Feuchts already left the state of Texas for Pennsylvania, but Brian and Amy Woods also had sold their Corinth home and moved to Midlothian — a far southern suburb of Dallas — where they still live today.

Even though the Dallas Central Appraisal District has Feucht living in Corinth, according to the 2009 tax filing for Burn 24-7, the organization relocated with Feucht to Camp Hill, Pa. And that’s where Feucht’s various property holdings get really interesting.

In September 2009, Feucht and his wife, Katie, purchased — from the probate court — a  home located at No. 8 South 16th Street, Camp Hill, Pa. They paid $135,000. This address was listed on the 2009 tax filing as the address for Burn 24-7.

It’s worth mentioning that in 2010 Feucht launched Sean Feucht Ministries. The 2010 tax filing for this nonprofit lists the 8 South 16th St. address as the business address. The board included Feucht, Robert Zoellner and Alvin Chun.

In May 2012, Feucht and his wife purchased a second property in Camp Hill located at 3108 Harvard Ave. They purchased it for $180,000 from a widower whose wife had died the year before. The widower and his wife had lived in the home for more than 55 years.

In September 2013, Feucht’s wife, Katie, purchased a third property nearby in her name. She paid $48,000 for 2028 Bellevue Rd. in Harrisburg. She purchased it from a widow who had lived in the home 50 years.

In October 2014, Feucht and his wife purchased a fourth property in Pennsylvania, this one at 730 Indiana Ave. in the nearby town of Lemoyne. They paid $270,000.

After taking out a $200,000 line of credit against the property at 730 Indiana Ave. (in January 2015) Feucht purchased a fifth property out of foreclosure, located at 14 South 17th Street, Camp Hill, Pa. He paid $132,000.

In April 2016, Feucht purchased a sixth property from the Department of Veterans Affairs for $10. The property is located at 434 Reno Ave., New Cumberland, Pa.

In July 2016, Feucht and his wife sold the property at 730 Indiana Ave. for $360,000 — a $90,000 profit from the purchase price less than two years earlier. They also paid off the line of credit taken against the property.

In July 2018, Feucht purchased another property from probate after the death of its longtime owner. He paid $128,000 for this one located at 1716 Locust St., New Cumberland, Pa.

In July 2019, Feucht purchased yet another property — this one at 1506 Letchworth Rd. in Lower Allen Township, Pa. Following the death of its previous owner, this property (which she had inherited from her own mother in 1987) was seized to fulfill debts. Feucht bought it for $140,000.

In November 2019, Katie Feucht sold the property at 2028 Bellevue Rd. for $51,000 — a small profit.

In January 2023, Feucht purchased a home at 332 Deerfield Rd. in Camp Hill, Pa., for $280,000. The previous owners were an elderly couple who had lived there 55 years.

As the individuals behind Truth and Freedom note, these Pennsylvania properties — nine in all — now serve as rentals for Feucht.

While it is certainly legal for a religious leader to own multiple properties, it is worth considering how Feucht came to possess these properties. All were purchased below market value either from elderly owners or from the government after these properties had been seized from elderly owners (either living or upon death). More than one of the biblical prophets had something to say about financial transactions like this.

Feucht’s expanding property holdings and a third nonprofit

As Feucht was accumulating properties in Pennsylvania and juggling two nonprofits (Burn 24-7 and Sean Feucht Ministries) he also was expanding his real estate portfolio beyond Pennsylvania.

In 2016 — the same year Feucht purchased the Pennsylvania home from the Department of Veterans Affairs for $10 — Feucht and his wife also purchased a home in Redding, Calif., (21096 Shadow Hill Lane) and relocated.

Feucht re-incorporated Sean Feucht Ministries in California, and on the Form 990 the nonprofit’s address was changed to his new home there. But the business address for Burn 24-7 was changed to a home in Gig Harbor, Wash., which, at the time, was owned by George and Janet Thoreson. Ruth Stocklin signed the tax return and listed her title as administrator.

In 2018 while Feucht was purchasing another Pennsylvania property out of probate, he also launched a third nonprofit, Light a Candle Project. The tax filing for this nonprofit reported it operated out of a home in Round Rock, Texas, which is still owned by Gregg and Machelle Barnes. At this point, the boards of Burn 24-7 and Light a Candle Project were identical in makeup and Ruth Stocklin was the administrator for both.

In 2019, the boards for both Burn 24-7 and Light a Candle Project added new people — the same new people (Adam Miller and Jamie Dickson). So these boards remained identical in makeup to one another and Stocklin remained the administrator for both nonprofits. The address for Light a Candle remained unchanged, but the address for Burn 24-7 reverted to the Corinth, Texas, home formerly owned by Brian and Amy Woods — even though they had sold that house more than 10 years prior.

In 2020, Ruth Stocklin no longer was listed as the administrator for the other two nonprofits. Instead, Feucht was. And, most important: Feucht was back to signing the tax filings for each of the three nonprofits he was connected to.

In 2022, Sean Feucht Ministries purchased a property in Washington, D.C. for $967,000 in cash.

Also in 2022, Feucht and his wife purchased a home in a gated community in Coto de Caza Village, Calif., for $1.65 million. It is unclear how this property was paid for.

In 2023, Sean Feucht Ministries purchased a hunting property in Montana for $931,010 in cash.

In 2024, Sean Feucht Ministries purchased a property in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., for $3.45 million in cash.

In January 2025, Feucht and his wife sold the Coto de Caza Village property for $1.7 million, a small profit.

In April 2025, Feucht personally purchased a condo in Dana Point, Calif., for $770,000 in cash.

Sean Feucht Ministries, the pandemic and a financial windfall

Sean Feucht Ministries is the largest and the most lucrative of the three nonprofits confirmed to be tied to Feucht, but he was regularly paid by all three organizations up to their most recent filings.

Two of these nonprofits paid Feucht both a salary and “other compensation.”

For example, on the tax filing for Sean Feucht Ministries, in 2013 his salary was $46,082 and the “other compensation” was $18,000. The combined total was one-third of the organization’s total expenses for the year. By 2018, Feucht’s salary was $57,000 and his “other compensation” was $48,000, which was 53% of the organization’s budget.

Again, between 2013 and 2018 is when Feucht seemed to be acquiring and selling a number of properties, which leads to the question of what the “other compensation” was and how it was paid to him. Was this other compensation paid into a retirement plan? Was it some sort of housing stipend that helped him to acquire his many rental properties?

“Feucht’s notoriety and that nonprofit’s income skyrocketed during the first year of the pandemic.”

Given Feucht’s rapidly expanding real estate portfolio during this time, any prosecutor looking into potential fraud would want to examine these nonprofits’ records in detail.

The last Form 990 filed for Sean Feucht Ministries was for the 2020 fiscal year — five years ago. Feucht’s notoriety and that nonprofit’s income skyrocketed during the first year of the pandemic as he led a protest movement against government-mandated masks and closures.

On the 2020 tax filing for Sean Feucht Ministries, the organization brought in more than $5 million. Feucht’s salary was listed at $119,000 with “other compensation” of $48,000. The organization ended the year with well over $4 million in the bank. Feucht immediately filed an appeal to the IRS to reclassify the 501(c)(3) as a church and hasn’t had to make public the organization’s finances since.

To be clear, Sean Feucht Ministries is not a “church,” but neither are many other faith-based groups the IRS allows to take that designation.

The board members on the last tax filing were the same as the first: Zoellner, Chun and Feucht.

A new nonprofit waiting in the wings

As questions about his businesses and properties began swirling in recent years, a new nonprofit was formed in Texas in 2023 with the name Let Us Worship. It is classified as religious organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 170(b)(1)(A)(i), which means it is not required to submit tax filings.

Feucht’s name is not on the IRS determination letter. The address listed on that letter is a law firm in Roanoke, Texas, called Anthony & Sparkman. The firm specializes in providing “solution-minded legal services to nonprofits and faith-based organizations.” One of its partners, John A. Anthony, graduated from Oral Roberts University and was a classmate of Feucht’s.

Feucht has trademarked the name “Let Us Worship.” The trademarked name and a second trademark on the image associated with the website he runs are owned by Sean Feucht Ministries. It is unimaginable that a law firm would create a new nonprofit with that name for anyone other than Feucht.

No additional information exists on this “religious organization.”

The Turning Point USA connection

One last point on the lack of transparency around Feucht’s finances: Feucht and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk partnered for a two-year “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour in anticipation of the 2024 election.

Feucht’s numerous nonprofits have not filed Form 990s in several years. Neither has TPUSA. However, the last Form 990 on file for TPUSA is from the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2023 — just three months after Feucht and Kirk announced their two-year tour. Even before that tour had ramped up, TPUSA’s Form 990 reports the organization received $80 million in grants and spent more than $13 million on its TPUSA Faith Initiative.

How much did TPUSA take in between July 1, 2023, through Election Day 2024? How much of that was funneled to Feucht via the TPUSA Faith Initiative?

We may never know because of the lack of transparency required by the IRS and by Feucht’s donors. But it’s obvious some kind of reckoning is coming. And that would be good for the country.

 

Mara Richards Bim serves as a Clemons Fellow with BNG and is the first Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. She is a spiritual director and a recent master of divinity degree graduate from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. She also is an award-winning theater artist and founder of the nationally acclaimed Cry Havoc Theater Company which operated in Dallas from 2014 to 2023.

 

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