Last night, I had the opportunity to speak to a crowd in Woodland Park about an investigative series I recently published. That series, “Fire on the Mountain,” was an examination of Charis Bible College, a controversial religious organization helmed by televangelist Andrew Wommack, which has locations in dozens of countries and is headquartered on a large compound just outside of downtown Woodland Park. 

Over the last three years, the town has found itself locked in a series of escalating conflicts with the Bible college and the ministry which runs it. Wommack, a proponent of an idea named the Seven Mountains Mandate, believes and teaches that Christians should “conquer” the seven “mountains of society” – family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government. In pursuit of that idea, Wommack exhorted his followers in 2021 to “take over Woodland Park,” and they have been trying to do so ever since. In late 2021, the ministry’s political arm, the Truth & Liberty Coalition, supported a slate of school board candidates who won a majority on the local school board and proceeded to make radical changes, fire teachers, and implement a controversial far-right social studies curriculum which experts have warned “would have damaging and lasting effects on the civic knowledge of students and their capacity to engage in civic reasoning and deliberation.”

Earlier this year, the attempted takeover escalated when a slate of Charis students and employees ran for city council in an attempt to win a Charis-aligned majority on that body. Having a compliant and friendly local government is essential to the ministry’s goal of constant growth, which requires zoning and other permissions from the city council. When the dust settled on those council races, though, all four of the Charis-affiliated candidates had lost, throwing the ministry’s and Bible college’s planned expansion into uncertain territory.

Even as his attempt to conquer the town by legitimate political means has begun to falter, Wommack’s rhetoric has grown ever more extreme. In February, Wommack commented that another American civil war would be “worth it” to bring Donald Trump back into power. In March, he claimed on a livestream that his ministry has “more weapons than the local police department,” describing his followers as “armed to the hilt.”

I have spent two years covering Wommack’s political activity, but had never successfully penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding his organizations until January of this year, when I finally made contact with the first of almost two dozen former Charis students and employees who became sources for the investigation I published last month. Over the course of eight months, I worked with sources to learn and tell the kind of story I had never been able to tell about Mr. Wommack or his organizations: what life is like inside. 

What I learned about life inside the Bible college and ministry shocked me: chronic emotional manipulation, endemic spiritual abuse, and a widespread problem of domestic violence which sources tell me stems directly from the ministry’s teachings. 

Last night, I had the opportunity to discuss those findings with a crowd at the Ute Pass Cultural Center in Woodland Park, where I was joined by Jonathan Sawyer of the National Education Policy Center, who is an expert in the New Apostolic Reformation movement and the pentecostal and charismatic strains of Christianity, and investigative journalist Nicole McNulty, who in addition to being my dear friend has also been an invaluable partner in investigating Charis. 

Though focused on Charis and Woodland Park, our conversation also ventured into territory outside of the town, into the other small towns and cities where ideologically aligned actors are working to push the same agenda Andrew Wommack has brought to Woodland Park – and why it’s something we all need to be aware of. If you are concerned about the rise of Christian nationalism, or the increasingly aggressive rhetoric coming from certain parts of the Christian right, you might find some value in our discussion, which is included in full below.

Timestamps

  • 22:50 – The Narrowgate cult and its connection to Charis
  • 30:13 – Jon Sawyer on similarities he has experienced in other communities
  • 34:40 – On getting sources to open up about their experiences at Charis
  • 46:00 – Spiritual abuse
  • 54:50 – Domestic violence at Charis Bible College
  • 1:06:35 – It’s “not okay to not be okay” at Charis
  • 1:17:00 – The role of politics in Andrew Wommack’s theology
  • 1:30:00 – How other towns can resist being taken over
  • 1:52:14 – Q&A

Featured photo credit: Ryan Macoubrie