Controversial Christian evangelist Andrew Wommack announced that he will transition out of leadership over his Woodland Park-based Charis Bible College next month.
Sources inside the ministry report that the announcement was first made internally at a staff meeting on Friday, July 26, the week after the Colorado Times Recorder published a first-of-its-kind series investigating the highly political Bible college and its founder. The Colorado Times Recorder‘s series revealed allegations that abuse has been allowed to flourish within Wommack’s ministry and Bible college, in addition to allegations that his organizations have fostered a cruel culture, fabricated claims of miraculous healings, and more. The announcement made no mention of the Colorado Times Recorder‘s reporting.
On Monday, the news of the “transfer of leadership” became public when Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWMI) sent an email to its followers with the subject line “HUGE Announcement from Andrew.” In the email, Wommack notes that he recently turned 75, then pivots to “a legacy move regarding Charis and how we plan to carry this life-transforming ministry into the next generation.” Wommack says that he is not retiring, but that he will “pass the baton” of leadership over Charis Bible College to his long-time acolyte, Carrie Pickett, and her husband, Mike. The Picketts are currently vice presidents at Charis.
“Jamie and I decided that Mike and Carrie Pickett are the ones the Lord has anointed for this role,” Wommack wrote, referencing his wife. “We shared this with our board of directors, and they all unanimously agreed that the Picketts are the ones the Lord has appointed to take Charis into the future.”
Wommack has led AWMI since its founding in 1975, and Charis since its founding in 1994. Today, the ministry claims $100 million per year in revenue, and the Bible college is pursuing a planned billion-dollar expansion to its Woodland Park campus and headquarters.
Despite his organizations’ tremendous growth, Wommack has become a controversial figure in recent years with his leading role in the Christian nationalist movement and his penchant for inflammatory rhetoric. From the Times Recorder‘s investigation:
“The organization is heavily influenced by the Seven Mountains Mandate, a belief popular in Christian nationalist and New Apostolic Reformation circles which asserts that Christians must conquer the seven ‘mountains of society’ or ‘spheres of influence,’ which adherents say are business, arts & entertainment, media, government, education, family, and religion. His political activity and comments he has made about his positions have repeatedly drawn a spotlight to Wommack in recent years. The day after a mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs in 2022, Wommack lamented that the media ‘went overboard‘ with sympathy for the queer community. In February of this year, he said that a civil war would be ‘worth it‘ if it brought Donald Trump back into power. The following month, he boasted on a livestream that Charis has ‘more weapons than the local police department,’ saying that his followers are ‘armed to the hilt.'”
Wommack’s email makes it clear that he does not plan to withdraw from public life.
“Just to clarify, I’m not retiring,” he wrote. “I’m going to continue doing everything I’m doing now and more. I plan to live a long, healthy, and productive life.” The caveat makes it difficult to interpret what, if anything, the leadership transfer functionally entails. Despite Wommack’s insistence that he will “continue doing everything [he’s] doing now and more,” he also says that the Picketts will “assume more and more of the daily decision-making and leadership responsibilities of Charis.”
Wommack will pass the torch to the Picketts at Charis Bible College’s 30th-anniversary celebration on September 6.
Read our investigation into Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College – Fire on the Mountain: Inside a Secretive Colorado Bible College – at these links: [Part I] [Part II] [Part III]
