This was just a battle,” Woodland Park-based evangelist Andrew Wommack wrote last week, triumphant in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory. “The war is yet to be won. The left is not going away, because they’re inspired by the devil – and the devil has never quit!”
Last week, a sentence was handed down in a case that has taken more than three years to conclude. Rebecca Lavrenz – perhaps the most prominent of the 17 Coloradans arrested for participating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol – will not face jail time. Lavrenz, who has been dubbed the “J6 Praying Grandma” in right-wing social media circles, was convicted in April on four misdemeanor counts stemming from her participation in the Capitol attack. Instead of incarceration, the 72-year-old was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of house arrest, and a $103,000 fine. The judge also barred Lavrenz from using the internet during her six months of house arrest.
Controversial Christian evangelist Andrew Wommack announced that he will transition out of leadership over his Woodland Park-based Charis Bible College next month.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to halt the thrice-delayed trial of Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who became a national celebrity of the election denial movement, claimed God was on her side and rallied the enthusiastic support of churches and conservative Christian groups.
When I started investigating the drama surrounding the Woodland Park school board in late spring of last year, the elephant in the small mountain town’s room was difficult to ignore: the Bible college and international ministry organization which had relocated its world headquarters to a massive compound just outside of the scenic hamlet’s downtown. The same Bible college and ministry whose leader, Andrew Wommack, told his followers in 2021 that they “ought to take over” the town – and which had then taken steps to do so. It did not take long for me to realize that Wommack’s organizations were heavily involved in the local feuding over school politics, or that their influence on the town stretched far beyond the classroom.
Transform Colorado, the Truth and Liberty entity dedicated to political spending and voter guides, has organized a series of private, closed-to-the-press events at churches throughout Colorado. Last month, Colorado Times Recorder reporter Logan Davis was asked to leave a Transform Colorado event in Commerce City, but CTR recently obtained an audio recording of Transform Colorado’s July 16 event in Del Norte, where speakers Richard Harris and William Federer encouraged the audience to support their conservative political agenda while indulging in wild conspiracies.
Content note: this story contains references to domestic violence, abuse, and murder.
John Leong had a decision to make. The finances were a mess: the ministry was underwater after its latest land acquisition, and no one else in leadership seemed to take that fact into account. In an organization seized by the need to expand at all costs, the $18 million debt on the balance sheet was treated as an abstract problem. As Chief Operating Officer for Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWMI), John saw it in more concrete terms. Instead of dialing back their projected spending or slowing Charis Bible College’s desired rate of expansion, though, a new board member had proposed a riskier idea: selling investment opportunities to Wommack’s loyal followers.
Content note: This story contains references to sexual assault and abuse.
Last Thursday, Donald J. Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts levied against him by a jury of his peers in a New York courtroom, marking the first time in our 248-year history that a former President of the United States has been held accountable to the law. The exact consequences of that conviction, legally, culturally, and electorally are still unknown – our frayed social contract and crumbling institutions being what they are – but there is always righteousness in holding the mighty to the same standards as the meager.
