Mother Jones illustration; Westminster John Knox Press
For the past several years, Matthew Boedy, an English professor at the University of North Georgia, has been working on a book about the Christian nationalist aims of the conservative powerhouse group Turning Point USA and its late founder, right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. In his forthcoming book, The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy, Boedy argues that Kirk modeled Turning Point on the seven-mountain mandate, the idea that Christians are called to take over each of seven spheres of influence—from government to education to media and beyond.
Popularized by Texas business strategist and evangelical leader Lance Wallnau, the idea of the seven-mountain mandate has become especially influential in the New Apostolic Reformation, a loose network of charismatic, Christian nationalist churches that follow prophets and apostles who claim to receive divine messages from God. NAR leaders and ideas have become deeply entwined with American politics, both on the national and local levels. As I wrote last year:
They believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States. In the vanguard of an ascendant Christian nationalist movement, they are seeking an explicitly Christian command of public schools, social policy, and all levels of the government, including the courts. Some scholars claim NAR is the fastest-growing spiritual movement in the United States. Evangelical writer C. Peter Wagner described it as the most significant shake-up in Protestantism since the Reformation. Its laser focus on starting a spiritual war to Christianize America has led the Southern Poverty Law Center to call NAR “the greatest threat to US democracy that you have never heard of.”
Boedy’s publication day was three weeks away when Kirk was assassinated in Utah—and what was initially going to be a book with a somewhat niche readership now has a national audience for its insights into Kirk’s rise to prominence and the people and ideas influencing the movement he built. In seven chapters, one for each of the mountains, Boedy describes an organization that touches almost every aspect of American life. “By each of its arms at the same time,” he writes, “Turning Point is fulfilling the mandate.”
Boedy unpacked some of that backstory for Mother Jones, and discussed what he believes is next for Turning Point USA (which didn’t respond to a request for comment). The conversation has been edited for clarity.
On hearing the news that Kirk had been shot: This was supposed to be a student conference week. A couple of them didn’t show up on Wednesday, so when I got the text from my wife, I went straight online, and sadly, just for a moment, caught the video. Shortly thereafter, got notified that he had died. I’m still sad in many ways, just knowing the horrible way in which he died, and having felt like I knew him really well. I never actually looked him in the eye or shook his hand, but we’ve been in several rooms together, and I certainly did not consider him my enemy or any type of negative thing. I thought about his children, because I have two small children. And as a person who’s been advocating against gun violence, I certainly know the lifelong impacts of having a family member die from that. Obviously, the impact on those children and his wife will not just be this week.
On his introduction to Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA: Back in 2016, when I didn’t know what Turning Point was—I think very few people at all did—they came out with this professor watch list. Early on, Turning Point was kind of limited to Second Amendment support and anti-higher-education messages; these were most of the reasons people got on the initial list. I was put on it for writing an op-ed about a bill—now a law—that allows concealed firearms on college campuses. They created a profile of me on their web page. So I ended up on this list, one of the first people, and it has grown substantially to hundreds of people. I’ve been targeted by them for years for being on that list and also for writing about them. [This resulted in] a few bad emails over the years, but certainly nothing like some female and Black colleagues around the nation.
On deciding to write the book: I was familiar with Christian nationalism before Charlie Kirk and Turning Point turned into that lane, so when they did, I recognized it pretty quickly. They now have an arm of Turning Point for each of the seven “mountains,” the seven cultural institutions that they want to take over and take back for Jesus. Obviously, the mountain of government is electing people to office. There’s not a specific mountain of family, but they run Young Women’s leadership summits, and they have men’s summits, and they do a lot of gender ideology work. They have their own news organization called Frontlines, and they have a White House correspondent, so that’s the mountain of media. It is a wide-ranging operation—the people who think Turning Point is a mere college-student organization—they’re missing the big picture.
“It is a wide-ranging operation—the people who think Turning Point is a mere college-student organization—they’re missing the big picture.”
On how Charlie Kirk first learned about the seven mountains from California pastor Rob McCoy: [McCoy] was a retired pastor of a mega church in California called Godspeak Calvary Chapel. It’s in Thousand Oaks, and he was a pastor there for decades. He ran for state assembly in California and lost. He also ran and won as a city council member in Thousand Oaks, and resigned when Covid hit. But really, what is most interesting about Rob McCoy is that he is a disciple of a guy named David Lane. David Lane has spent his entire career trying to get pastors to run for office. He is a Christian dominionist, which is another way of saying seven mountains. [Lane] has traveled around the United States training pastors to run for office at the state and local level, and Rob McCoy was one of his biggest disciples. Rob McCoy then went and found a person to take on the mantle of seven mountains who was in the demographic of millennials—he found Charlie Kirk.
On Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA’s connections to the Christian nationalist New Apostolic Reformation movement: The NAR is a sprawling network of different people, some more prominent than others. [Texas business strategist and NAR leader] Lance Wallnau [described] Charlie Kirk as the new face of Christian nationalism. Many of the people connected to the NAR have spoken at Turning Point events. Ché Ahn, the global megachurch leader from California, has spoken at a Turning Point pastor summit. He is a key figure in the NAR. He spoke at a January 5 prayer rally. Sean Feucht, the singer and the musical voice of the NAR, has done Turning Point events. You don’t really get inducted to the NAR with a badge and a plaque, but many of the churches that Charlie spoke at have connections to the seven mountains mandate. He kind of slyly introduced these NAR people at his pastors’ summits to a larger, broader audience who have no idea about this person. That’s how Charlie was really successful at taking the NAR language and translating it into a more mainstream audience. He specifically did not mention the seven mountains mandate because he understood the baggage that would have come with that. He’s used similar language, but he did it in a way that made it more palatable to the audience that he was talking to.
On where Turning Point USA is headed: I don’t want to come across as negative at all toward [Charlie Kirk’s widow] Erica’s statement, but it was clear that she believes that Charlie Kirk’s agenda is the emotional center of everything now—doubling down on taking back the culture, doubling down on releasing an army of people to do that. They’re selling T-shirts that say, “I am Charlie Kirk.” That is referring to all the people who are going to replace Charlie Kirk. There isn’t going to be one person. They may name a CEO or whatever, but there are thousands or millions of Charlie Kirks now.
Turning Point now is built to last. It has these seven arms and all of these areas, and now it has followers in all these areas that have influenced those areas. So it will become even more of an indispensable organization, not just for the seven-mountain mandate and not just for Christian nationalism, but for the larger conservative movement. It was really overtaking the Republican Party to begin with, in terms of political organizing and campaigning, and now it has a much broader focus, and all these people who want to start chapters. Remember, these chapters are not just in high school and college. They have chapters in churches because of Turning Point Faith. You could have chapters in Christian businesses if you want, or you could have any type of things that would fit the other mountains.
On the “martyrdom” of Charlie Kirk: The “martyrdom” rhetoric, obviously, is energizing. It is really setting up a way in which we could be headed down a darker road. You add the president’s response—I do think [Trump] wants to seek retribution for this loss of his personal friend. So, it just gives divine approval to all the things that they want to do, and they won’t stop. They’re going to have to find specific ways in which to channel this energy, or we could see a lot of misplaced anger at different people or different groups of people, and we have seen that in the past. I don’t know where Turning Point goes from here specifically, but it is built to last, and it now has a martyr to honor.
