Which pastors and denominations have publicly partnered with or rejected TPUSA Faith initiatives?
Executive summary
Turning Point USA’s religious arm, TPUSA Faith, has publicly enlisted a mix of evangelical leaders and congregations to its pastors’ summits and events—most prominently TPUSA Faith director Lucas Miles, founder Charlie Kirk, and speakers such as Greg Laurie, Samuel Rodriguez and Matt Walsh—while available reporting contains few formal, public rejections from major denominations and instead highlights concern and contestation in journalistic coverage [1] [2] [3]. The record assembled in these sources shows active partnerships and promotion by individual pastors and sympathetic local churches, and a reporting gap on institutional, denominational-level repudiation or endorsement beyond commentary and skepticism [4] [5].
1. Who TPUSA Faith lists and recruits: summit speakers and in-house leadership
TPUSA Faith’s leadership and promotional materials identify Lucas Miles as the senior director of TPUSA Faith and a lead pastor involved in recruiting pastors to attend its events, and Charlie Kirk as the founder and public face whose messaging anchors the initiative’s goals to mobilize pastors in civic engagement [1] [4]. TPUSA’s own summit pages present the Pastors Summit as a national effort “to encourage, inspire, and equip pastors to stand boldly for biblical truth” and to activate church leaders toward public engagement, language that frames the organization as seeking broad ecumenical outreach across denominational lines [3] [6].
2. Pastors and speakers who have publicly partnered or appeared
Reporting and event listings show named evangelical figures aligning publicly with TPUSA Faith events: Greg Laurie, Lucas Miles, Charlie Kirk and Samuel Rodriguez were announced as speakers at a Faith Forward Pastors Summit, and Matt Walsh and Charlie Kirk appeared on panels at a TPUSA Faith Pastors Summit as reported in coverage of the gatherings [1] [2]. Word&Way’s on-the-ground reporting of the Gainesville summit documents those appearances and quotes from speakers calling for political and cultural action via pastors and youth ministry, indicating active participation by specific pastors and conservative commentators [2].
3. Congregations and local ministries that promote or host TPUSA Faith content
TPUSA Faith’s materials and affiliated local churches present TPUSA Faith programming as a resource for pastors and congregations; for example, Freedom House Church hosts a TPUSA Faith page that frames the initiative as empowering pastors and equipping congregations for civic engagement, which demonstrates organizational partnerships at the local church level rather than denominational headquarters [5] [7]. Promotional language on TPUSA Faith sites emphasizes unity around “primary doctrine” and positions the summit as non-denominational in purpose while financially subsidizing attendance, a tactic aimed at drawing a cross-section of church leaders [1] [6].
4. Rejections, reservations, and the limits of available evidence
Among the provided sources there are few explicit, institutional-denominational rejections of TPUSA Faith; Word&Way’s reporting is critical in tone and highlights controversial rhetoric at TPUSA Faith events, but it documents criticism rather than cataloguing formal denominational disavowals [2]. The evidence does not include statements from major denominational bodies formally rejecting partnership with TPUSA Faith, and other religion coverage in the sources—such as Catholic hierarchs’ public critiques about U.S. policy—cannot be read as specific rejections of TPUSA Faith without further reporting [8]. Therefore, the available record supports identification of individual pastors and local churches who have publicly partnered with TPUSA Faith, but it does not establish a documented list of denominations that have issued formal endorsements or repudiations; that gap is notable and limits definitive claims about institutional stances [4] [2].
5. What the pattern suggests and where reporting is thin
Taken together, TPUSA Faith’s own materials and independent reporting show a concerted effort to recruit and showcase evangelical pastors and conservative Catholic participation at events, with named speakers and local partner churches publicly involved [3] [1] [2]. At the same time, there is a clear absence in these sources of formal statements from major denominations either embracing or rejecting TPUSA Faith at the institutional level, leaving questions about denominational leadership responses unanswered by the present reporting and signaling an open research area for those seeking a comprehensive map of endorsements and repudiations [4] [2].