Turning Point USA is an American nonprofit organization founded by Charlie Kirk that advocates for conservative values on high school, college, and university campuses. As part of the Turning Point family, they have TPUSA Faith, which “exists to serve the American church by resourcing Christians across the nation to boldly stand for truth, liberty, and The Kingdom,” and which is putting on next month’s The Believers Summit.
According to the promo material, The Believers Summit is a “call for believers to rise in unity and biblical truth with an unshakeable faith” by “empowering attendees with practical knowledge and strategies to live out their faith boldly and counteract the prevailing ‘woke’ narratives with grace, truth, and conviction” while being “rooted in the Gospel.”
Using the famous line from the prophet Samuel, the central theme of the event is “Here I Am,” which echoes a “biblical principle of readiness and obedience” and “encourages attendees to stand alongside biblical heroes of the Faith, embracing a willingness and readiness to serve.”
The Believers Summit stands as a testament to our commitment to see the body of Christ rise to its calling in this pivotal moment in history. We are dedicated to seeing believers not just defend their faith, but to put it into action, ultimately turning our nation towards the Lord.”
Notable speakers include Kirk himself, Allie Beth Stuckey, Jentezen Franklin, Eric Metaxas, Seth Dillon (of the Babylon Bee), apologist Frank Turek, Pastor Doug Wilson, Megan Basham, David Barton, Samuel Sey, and James Lindsay.
Lindsay is perhaps best known for being “part of the trio of left-wing academics that published several intentionally absurd papers in leading scholarly journals in what has become known as ‘The Grievance Studies Affair’ including a paper that claimed to address rape culture by monitoring dog-humping incidents at parks in Portland, Oregon. He’s also been a fierce critic of woke culture and the adoption of critical race theory in the church and the SBC. He’s been promoted by Tom Ascol Founders Ministries, Michael O’Fallon of Sovereign Nations, and even Albert Mohler of SBTS. (See our further assessment of him here)
Despite being frequently lauded by conservatives, he is an avowed atheist, writing in his books Dot Dot Dot and Everybody is Wrong about God:”
My claim here is that “God” is an abstract notion, not a real one, and whatever real-world utility that idea has, it certainly is not an active agent that causes or does things in the universe. The “God” that we often hear about is a conflation of the abstract with the numinous, the numinous with the real, and then a personification of the ideal on top of that.”
Much like our concerns with the recent Fearless Conference, it’s one thing if an event is marketed as a general conservative conference designed to give people practical strategies to engage in today’s cultural landscape; it’s another thing when an event is framed and advertised with the goal of spreading the Gospel and turning the nation towards God, and then outsourcing the strategies to nonbelievers because they are skilled at torching the libs and make the occasional good point on Twitter.
If this were marketed as a Conservative Conference for Christians,’ that’s one thing. Instead, it’s being framed as a Christian Conference with the goal to “empower Christians to thoughtfully engage with cultural narratives, stand firm in their faith, and effectively communicate the truth of the Gospel in every area of life.”
Why is James Lindsay needed for that?
Is there really no Christian believer who they could substitute for the Christ-hating atheist who thinks our beliefs are ridiculous and that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, all the while routinely taking it upon himself to determine what the Christian positions are or not on various cultural issues?
Apparently not.
Keeping with the Christian conference motiff, music for The Believers Summit is led by Kim Walker Smith, who is best known as the worship leader for the Jesus Culture Band and Jesus Culture events, and as a worship pastor for Bethel Church in Redding.
Other notable speakers include Kirk, a crass and crude pragmatist who routinely partners with NAR and Word of Faith heretics, who has no issue with gay marriage being legal and gay couples adopting children, who recently suggested that Jews are saved and don’t need to be evangelized, and who has no program posing with drag queens so long as they are on his side of the political spectrum.
At this point, Jesus seems to be the hook to get people to attend, rather than the Savior the conference organizers are seeking to please and be faithful to.
