ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Donald Trump drew headlines and criticism for an unusual promise he made to a crowd of Christian supporters last month.
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DONALD TRUMP: Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore, four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you.
SHAPIRO: That speech was just one recent example of how Trump speaks to certain Christian audiences. Some in these communities have been primed for a kind of religious revival centered on the former president. NPR's Lisa Hagen reports on a key Trump ally who's helped prepare the way.
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TRUMP: We're going to be talking a little bit about a wonderful thing called religion tonight. Is that OK?
LISA HAGEN, BYLINE: That was Trump's opening at The Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Fla. It was billed as a call to unity and Biblical truth. And the three-day summit was part-rally, part-worship concert...
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: God's not done yet. He's still working. He's still moving.
HAGEN: ...Peppered with prayers and sermons from prominent Christian figures and pastors like Eric Mataxas and John Amanchukwu.
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ERIC METAXAS: And understand that we're dealing with Marxist, globalist, Satanic wickedness.
JOHN AMANCHUKWU: I believe that we are living in what is called the last days.
HAGEN: This gathering in late July was the third separate event Trump has headlined this year for a network of nonprofits known as Turning Point.
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TRUMP: I just want to say hello to everybody and to Turning Point for the fantastic job that Turning Point does. Thank you very much, Turning Point.
HAGEN: The group's original focus was conservative outreach to college students. Its founder, Charlie Kirk, started Turning Point as a teenager. But as Kirk approached his 30s, he found a new calling.
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CHARLIE KIRK: Our mission is very simple. We exist to kick wokeism out of the American Church.
HAGEN: That mission has made Kirk into a useful link between the Trump family and Americans who believe the former president is anointed by God. Since 2020, Kirk has made influential new friends in the world of prosperity gospel televangelists and self-declared prophets like Hank Kunneman.
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HANK KUNNEMAN: You watch what God does as Trump begins to be positioned back in a place of power. A gold standard and a golden era shall arise.
HAGEN: Deepening Christian support for Trump is a big pivot for Turning Point. For years, Kirk had a different philosophy on mixing politics and religion. In 2018, he touted Turning Point's secular approach.
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KIRK: Because that is the vast majority of people, and that's actually the government system that we have all decided to create. We do have a separation of church and state.
HAGEN: But by the next year, a California pastor and politician named Rob McCoy helped change his mind. Here's McCoy speaking in 2020.
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ROB MCCOY: The last 50 years in America, you have all been inculcated, indoctrinated that there's a separation of church and state.
HAGEN: Within months of meeting McCoy, Kirk's target audience had shifted. Here's Kirk in 2020 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, describing then-President Donald Trump.
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KIRK: Finally, we have a president that understands the Seven Mountains of cultural influence.
HAGEN: That's a very specific reference to a conservative Christian concept known as the Seven Mountains Mandate.
MATT BODI: Which is a plan to take over seven areas of cultural influence, government being one of them.
HAGEN: Matt Bodi is a professor of religious rhetoric at the University of North Georgia who's paid close attention to Kirk. Besides government, other mountains include education, business and media. And Bodi says the Seven Mountains idea has fueled school board takeovers, book bans in libraries and political campaigns up and down the ballot for years.
BODI: So it is not just promoting their own thing and hoping to persuade people to go along with them, which is the core of democratic civil action. It is, once we have the power we need, we're going to set up a system where it is perpetually doing the things that we want.
HAGEN: Turning Point didn't respond to a request for comment. With Pastor McCoy's help, Kirk has found a deep new well of Christian money, media and influence, according to Bodi. Turning Point's revenues have doubled twice since Kirk shifted his focus, and his nonprofits now bring in more than $90 million a year. Turning Point Faith offers sermon templates, training and high-profile platforms to pastors willing to be more outspoken politically. Here's how Kirk's pitch goes at his pastor summits.
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KIRK: The pastors that I know that have taken the boldest stands over the last two years have actually seen their attendance grow. They need bigger buildings, and their tithes and offerings have increased.
HAGEN: NPR has not independently confirmed this. Turning Point Faith claims affiliations with 2,500 congregations. But just because something's growing doesn't mean it's healthy, according to Caleb Campbell. He's a pastor in Phoenix, Ariz., where Turning Point USA is headquartered. Campbell leans conservative, but he's one of a number of evangelical leaders worried about the influence of Christian nationalism. He remembers back in 2021, when his own congregants started handing him flyers for a rally at a nearby megachurch.
CALEB CAMPBELL: And they said, Pastor Caleb, you've got to come. There's a revival happening. And revival, in my religious tradition, is usually talking about a spiritual renewal movement, worship, things like that.
HAGEN: It turned out to be a monthly event hosted by Kirk. When Campbell got a chance to go check it out, he says, it did feel like church - prayers, worship music, an offering bucket.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Everyone, come stand together and moors to the Lord this evening.
CAMPBELL: Charlie came out and then proceeded to do basically a sermon for about 50 minutes, quoting scripture and then directly tying it to some of his preferred political positions.
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KIRK: This idea of borders is actually a biblical idea. This idea of a nation is actually a biblical idea.
HAGEN: Some of Campbell's own congregants were there, waving their hands, saying amen and hallelujah. He said it was painful to see because he works hard to lead a nonpartisan church. Campbell says Kirk's messages resonate for some Christians by focusing on taking power as the solution to anxiety about changes in culture.
CAMPBELL: They're coming to get us. The big, scary enemy is going to make it so that you can't practice your faith in public. They want to destroy the churches.
HAGEN: It's an accusation Trump echoed on stage at Kirk's Believers Summit, describing the Biden administration.
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TRUMP: No longer will their DOJ and FBI be allowed to target, persecute or round up Christians or pro-life activists and throw them in jail for living out their religious beliefs. And that's what they've been doing. They've been doing that at levels that no - that this country has never seen before.
HAGEN: Pastor Campbell says he's spent time with Christians who face persecution around the world.
CAMPBELL: When I hear Americans using that language, I think it's dishonoring and dishonest. I mean, I wear a cross around my neck in public. And most of the time, people are like, hey, cool cross.
HAGEN: There have always been politically outspoken churches, Campbell says. But in the last few years, he's watched many pastors turn up the volume on demonizing Democrats and the left. He thinks it was good timing for Kirk to get into cultivating that enthusiasm. Whether or not it helps deliver Trump a victory, for Turning Point, Kirk's shift to religion has already borne fruit. Lisa Hagen, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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