A few days before Christmas, former Bethel Church label musician and worship leader Sean Feucht, who maintains strong ties to Redding’s famous mega-church, spoke at the Turning Point U.S.A. four-day Americafest event in Phoenix at its convention center. The event attracted thousands of attendees. There was not a mask in sight among the predominantly young and white crowd as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. doubled to more than 156,000 per day. A few days after Americafest, Feucht and his family moved from Redding to a lavish home overlooking the ocean in Orange County.
Turning Point U.S.A. is a multi-million-dollar neo-fascist nonprofit organization that claims to support conservative views on high schools and colleges across the country. It is known for hosting events. It’s also renowned for its professor “watch list” which targets educators who do not agree with the organization’s extremist views.
I was added to that professor “watch list” in November as a result of being targeted for articles I have written for A News Café, and my guest appearances last summer on 1460 AM’s Common Ground radio show, among other activities. While the article on me did get some details correct, it also contains some incorrect information.
Speakers at this year’s Americafest, in addition to Feucht, included Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Palin, Lauren Boebert, and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Speakers at Turning Point U.S.A. Americafest.
Feucht posed for pictures with Palin and Boebert. The latter attracted national news coverage, after claiming she would receive the COVID-19 vaccine over her “dead body.”
Sean Feucht poses for a photograph with Sarah Palin and Congresswoman Lauren Boebert at Americafest.
A wealthy, superspreading ‘plaque rat’?
Feucht started hosting “Let Us Worship” revival-style events in cities across the country to protest against COVID-19 mandates in 2020, despite the fact that he accepted Paycheck Protection Program and other loans offered by the federal government to keep businesses alive during the global pandemic.
Bethel members and believers crowd around Sean Feucht, seen in the center of the photo under the Sundial Bridge in Redding for one of Feucht’s first “Let Us Worship” events. A News Cafe photo by Steve DuBois.
COVID-19 numbers surged in the nation’s capital when the Washington D.C. “Let Us Worship” event took place last September at the National Mall to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Feucht recently claimed on social media he is upset some journalists have referred to him as a “plague rat” and have claimed his “Let Us Worship” shows are super-spreader events.
The shoes fit, though, and Feucht is wearing them – probably a $600 pair of Adidas Yeezy’s. Covid-19 numbers surged in the nation’s capital when the Washington D.C. “Let Us Worship” event took place last September at the National Mall to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Feucht continues to brag on social media, such as in his recent “2022 IS THE YEAR we take America back for JESUS!” video that shows him “taking over” cities during the pandemic. A new slate of “Let Us Worship” events, scheduled for 2022, kicked off with a Miami New Year’s Eve show.
A mission for wealth
In November, Feucht and his family went on a missionary trip to Iraq with his organization Light A Candle. The organization allegedly does missionary work around the globe, while charging volunteers wishing to tag along thousands of dollars in fees.
Photographs of Sean Feucht in Iraq. Feucht claimed the rugs with images of him and former president Trump were gifts from two Syrian Arabs and that one was for him and one was for Trump. Photo source: Facebook.
Feucht boasted about giving away guitars to Iraqi youth and posted some videos and pictures on social media, but it is difficult to see, despite the filing of the proper tax documents, where Light A Candle’s revenue goes. In 2020, Light A Candle Project’s IRS tax form showed a revenue of over $530 thousand dollars for the previous year, with much of the money directed toward salary, advertising, travel costs, and office expenses.
In a video shared on YouTube in October, Feucht claimed Light A Candle raised $200,000 for an “Afghanistan Emergency Relief Fund” but he has yet to show where this money went. Likewise, Light A Candle’s website fails to highlight many concrete objectives accomplished by the organization. In November, a journalist writing for MinistryWatch, a nonprofit organization designed to bring transparency to the evangelical ministry marketplace, published a piece on Feucht calling his finances into question.
Feucht’s other business venture, Hold the Line, is a political activist organization created to carry the momentum generated by his run for Congress in 2020 that raised him more than $300,000 in donations.
Feucht claimed Fawn Fire was near his home
When the Fawn Fire swept through the Redding area in September, Feucht took to social media to post a video, asking his followers to pray, and making it sound as if the inferno was burning at the end of his street.
In reality, Feucht was several miles from the Fawn Fire, which was burning in the opposite direction from his home. Despite this, the donations probably came rolling in. The video was shared nearly 1,000 times on Facebook and it attracted thousands of responses.
Feucht and family move to Orange County
A few days before Christmas Feucht and his family moved to Orange County, where he announced on social media that they plan to live for six months. He rented an upscale home along Orange County’s south coast that’s worth approximately $1.5 million. The rent for the Dana Point home, which features an ocean view, is more than $6,000 per month.
Feucht is friends with several alt-right Christian pastors in Orange and Los Angeles County. Some, like Jay Koopman, a pastor at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, have spoken at “Let Us Worship” events.
“It is ok to celebrate when kings give you gifts”
The day after Christmas, Feucht shared a picture on social media of former president Donald Trump autographing a red, white, and blue guitar the day before Trump spoke on video at the “Let Us Worship” show at the National Mall. In signature fashion, Feucht fibbed a little, writing it was his favorite Christmas present in 2021.
Later that day, Feucht shared videos of him and his family at the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, and that evening he shared a picture of the Pacific Ocean, claiming he heard a powerful testimony he could not wait to share with his followers while jogging.
Feucht was very active on social media over Christmas weekend. On the Monday after Christmas, he snapped back at a few individuals on Facebook who criticized him for the picture he shared of Trump signing the guitar, amidst the hundreds of comments praising him. He shared the same picture a second time with a different description.
“Do we really need a scripture reference for my last post? Sad so many people can’t celebrate it – but here is a theological precedent: ‘Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him’ – Daniel 2:48. It is OK to celebrate when ‘kings’ give you gifts and sign your guitars people. JUST CHILL OUT!”
Donald Trump signing Sean Feucht’s guitar the day before his “Let Us Worship” show at the National Mall in Washington D.C. last September.
Feucht deleted the comment and second picture of Trump autographing his guitar shortly after he posted it, but from the lavish rental home, to Legoland, to other activities he shared over Christmas weekend, Feucht was certainly celebrating his high position and gifts.
Hey Sean Feucht, what did you kill?
Feucht assured his followers on social media that the family planned to keep their Redding area home, and that the move to Orange County, at least for now, was temporary. After all, it would be quite a job to pack up his belongs, considering the fact his property includes a two-story man-cave outbuilding filled with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of mounted big and small game animals hunted around the world by Feucht.
Feucht killed a nilgai on a private ranch in Texas as well as a kudu, golden wildebeest, nyala, red hartebeest and white blesbok in Africa, and an Australian buffalo in Australia, among many other animals. He has also killed several bears, and poses with one while wearing a State of Jefferson hat in a photograph on his Instagram account, which chronicles his hunting adventures.
Two Kudu, a golden wildebeest, and a white blesbok killed in Africa by Sean Feucht.
A Blesbok, impala, and Austrian buffalo killed by Feucht in Africa and Australia.
Sean Feucht’s man cave filled with mounted big and small game animals.
Sean Feucht’s man cave filled with mounted big and small game animals.
Part of Sean Feucht’s large collection of mounted animals.
Sean Feucht posing with a black bear he killed while wearing a State of Jefferson movement hat.
Feucht takes the stage at Americafest
Feucht took the stage at Americafest for a 45-minute breakout session talk titled “Fearless.” While he conducted a 30-minute long prayer session on the main stage before his friend Rob McCoy, the senior pastor at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks joined him, his talk took place on a side stage.
McCoy, who also spoke at Feucht’s “Let Us Worship” event at the National Mall, is the former mayor of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and he served on the city council until resigning rather than supporting COVID-19 safeguards.
Before Feucht’s talk, former Arizona House Representative Anthony Kern was witnessed having a fanboy moment with him by one attendee. Kern, who stuck around to listen to Feucht speak, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6 before losing his bid to get reelected to Democratic candidate Judy Schwiebert. He was also part of a group that sued Mike Pence in an attempt to stop electoral votes from electing President-Elect Joe Biden.
Sean Feucht leading a prayer session on the main stage, the poster advertising his talk, and him posing with Anthony Kern.
Every forsaken psycho city in America
Feucht explained to Americafest attendees he has taken the “Let Us Worship” show to every “psycho city in America.” He also described the cities he visited as “crazy liberal cities,” and forsaken places; anti-urban rhetoric popular among the alt-right in the North State.
While Light A Candle is described on Feucht’s social media pages as something that visits the darkest corners of the earth, Feucht clearly views “Let Us Worship” as a movement directed at what he perceives to be the darkest corners of the United States; American cities with Democrat majorities and diverse populations, even though, as he stated, there are “incredible people” in places like Seattle and Portland who love Jesus.
Feucht claimed 7,000 people showed up to his “Let Us Worship” event in Portland Oregon. The event, guarded by an alt-right security team Feucht hired, which in turn, attracted members of the Proud Boys and other extremist groups, attracted a few hundred people, rather than thousands. Feucht’s tales are getting more and more exaggerated.
The “Let Us Worship” show, according to Feucht, drove away rioters in places like Portland and filled the cityscape with “worshippers.” He, of course, left out the fact that members of his security team attacked people on the streets of Portland after the event.
Feucht tells tall tales of bible smuggling and being baptized with piranhas
Feucht told Americafest attendees he was led into missionary work by parents who worked as medical missionaries in the hardest-to-reach nations in the world, and that he worked for 20 years in 70 of the “darkest nations in the world” before 2020, the year of his political baptism.
“As a kid, I was smuggling Bibles into Tibet on the backs of Chinese horses to unreached tribes,” claimed Feucht. Feucht also claimed he was baptized as a child on the Amazon River when he was 11 years old, and that it was filled with piranhas. He joked it was the kind of river you go down into but may not come out.
Feucht claimed he visited Afghanistan in 2002 shortly after the September 11 attacks before heading to Iraq, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia to spend time with persecuted Christians.
“I saw a fearless church, I encountered a fearless people, you know, and I know people write about it and there’s conferences about it, but there’s nothing like actually watching and beholding a people that are unwilling to back down.”
The Americafest attendees listening to Feucht gobbled up his talk of victimhood as one of the key themes at the event was the fight against so-called “cancel culture” and the “liberal woke mob.”
Sean Feucht speaking at Americafest.
Feucht asked God why he lived in California
Feucht also told Americafest attendees he asked God why he lived in California as COVID-19 swept across the country and as Governor Newsom attempted to prevent the spread of the deadly disease with mandates. He followed this by stating it was best for conservatives to not flee California and get into bunkers with their ARs in places like Texas. The crowed laughed.
“It is a horrible strategy for conservatives to say we’re all going to go to Texas and Florida,” claimed Feucht as members of the crowd exclaimed “yeah,” “that’s right,” and “Amen.”
Shasta County alt-right extremist Carlos Zapata, the co-owner of Red, White and Blueprint and a vocal proponent of the recall movement in Shasta County, recently expressed similar sentiments. Zapata went from whining that his family was moving to Texas, to claiming he planned to stay and that the formation of the State of Jefferson was the only answer.
Then he opened a night club named Saddle Horn Saloon on the second floor of his Palomino Room bar and restaurant in Red Bluff that features go-go dancers.
“We have a call to go into dark places. We have a call to bring transformation. We have a call to bring hope where it’s hopeless, to bring light to the darkness. This is who we are!” shouted Feucht. The crowd cheered.
Feucht seeking to overturn “death decree of Roe v. Wade”
Toward the end of his Americafest talk, Feucht claimed he has prayed for the overturning of the “death decree of Roe v. Wade” — since he was a teenager and that the appointing of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020 was a step in the direction of accomplishing this.
“I was in Tampa, Florida, and we had just finished a night of worship out there in Tampa and I got word that Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. And then immediately, I was like, this is the moment and I was like Trump please go for it. And, of course, the next day, he was like It’s happening, and I was like YES THIS IS WHY WE ELECTED YOU!”
After his November trip to Iraq, Feucht visited Washington D.C. for the second time in less then three months to pray for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, at the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert emerged from the building to welcome him and pose for a photograph.
Sean Feucht praying and singing in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. in November.
Feucht’s Bethel Church colleagues agree with his extremist talk about abortion rights. In 2018, Bill Johnson, the leader of the church, publicly apologized for posting content on Instagram that compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. “We kill more black lives in 2 weeks than the KKK lynched in a century,” read the post.
Earlier this month, Kris Vallotton, the senior associate leader of Bethel, deleted an Instagram post comparing women who get abortions to school shooters. Vallotton also posted a lengthy statement on Instagram earlier this month comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazi Germany, brutalities faced by Native Americans, and African American enslavement.
Screenshot from Bethel Church senior associate leader Kris Vallotton’s Instagram page.
Feucht calls on Christians to mobilize, yet again
Feucht also told Americafest attendees that Christians need to mobilize as a political force and that they did not do so for him when he ran as a Doug LaMalfa-endorsed carpetbagger in California’s 3rd Congressional District.
Sean Feucht poses with Congressman Doug LaMalfa in a campaign posters.
At Americafest, he claimed his run for Congress was difficult because the district sits in the crosshairs of Nancy Pelosi, Sacramento, and big tech companies like YouTube. He claimed he thought he could flip the district as the cool long-haired conservative.
Feucht argued that, in spite of the fact that the Christians vote has long played an important role in politics, they have a history of not engaging in politics. He also claimed people did not even know their governor and other political representatives until they witnessed them supporting COVID-19 mandates on television.
Feucht closed out his talk of politics by stating, “If you want to follow God, it is going to be impossible to run from controversy.”
In the question-and-answer portion, Feucht was asked how he does what he does as a father and husband. He claimed it is difficult to do what he does with a family, but that he has guns in his house. This, before ending his talk with a prayer.
Feucht arrived to Miami for the next “Let Us Worship” date a few days before New Year’s Eve. This, after appearing on Fox News to repeat many of the same things he has stated about the traveling show for the last year and a half.
Feucht is on a quest to reach an even larger national audience and push his own brand of Bethel Church-inspired alt-right Christian nationalism and his move to Orange County, and many business ventures, highlights his undeniable search for even more riches.
If Feucht was asked, “What would Jesus do?” His answer might just be to give him a few bucks in donation, buy one of his T-shirts, or perhaps, purchase his latest music album. In other words, to buy what he is selling, so Feucht can pay for that new upscale rental with an ocean view.
