The postponement comes amidst reports that Orlando’s First Baptist Church pastor, Chris Ogden, is allegedly being put on administrative leave after a disagreement with three head pastors’ decision to host the tour.
Joseph Wiedeman
Turning Point USA’s Orlando stop of its “Make Heaven More Crowded” tour, which was set to host Erika Kirk at a local church, was scheduled for Wednesday before being unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute amid reports of ongoing issues in the church’s leadership.
The postponement came just one week before the organization and its CEO, Erika Kirk, were set to appear at Orlando’s First Baptist Church. The event was scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and had a goal to “pack the house.”
The tour’s website calls it a “gospel-centered gathering calling people to repentance, faith, and bold obedience to Jesus,” and is being held in honor of Erika Kirk’s late husband and the organization’s founder, Charlie Kirk. The postponement of the Orlando stop leaves the tour with 17 stops.
The tour started in Los Angeles on Jan. 21 and is set to end in Phoenix on Dec. 19 for this year’s America Fest.
With the addition of Orlando, the tour page also lists an additional 18 stops to be determined.
“The tour is a good message. As a Christian, we are called to bring people to heaven, to have a relationship with Christ,” said David Brandt, sophomore business major and president of UCF’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom.
The Orlando stop’s postponement comes amid reports from Baptist News that the pastor of First Baptist’s Horizon West campus, Chris Ogden, was allegedly put on administrative leave following an internal disagreement regarding the tour’s booking at the church’s main campus.
Turning Point USA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” tour was set to make an appearance at Orlando’s First Baptist Church on Feb. 25.
Joseph Wiedeman
According to Baptist News, an apology video was posted to the First Orlando YouTube page by Chris Ogden on Feb. 14, but has since been deleted.
First Orlando is led by three pastors, David Uth, Danny de Armas and Trey Hildebrant, and was set to be the fourth host of the tour. First Orlando’s website states it is home to a congregation of 14,000 that believes “accepting the Bible to be the very word of God” and that as people we must come to “understanding the importance of knowing and obeying its truths.”
“The definition of the church leaders’ job is to bring people to Christ,” Brandt said. “That’s pretty disappointing that they tried to have the tour cancelled and not held there, but it’s unconfirmed reports and I think it’s bad to make theories off unconfirmed reports.”
The Charge reached out to Pastor Ogden, along with the First Orlando Ministry, with multiple inquiries both prior to and after the tour’s cancellation, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The original scheduled path of Turning Point USA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” tour. The event was set to appear in Orlando on Feb. 25, but was postponed due to disagreement within Orlando’s First Baptist Church leadership.
Joseph Wiedeman
The tour has already faced some controversy for having Pastor Greg Laurie as a speaker and hosting its inaugural event within his ministry at Harvest Church.
The conflict comes from a recent slew of lawsuits filed against The Harvest Christian Fellowship, saying that for years the church failed to stop ongoing abuse by some of its senior members, according to the Associated Press.
“I used to be a part of it and a huge supporter of it. Charlie was the person I would watch for everything,” Brandt said. “To see that go downhill, not fast or in a catastrophic way, but just downhill at all, it’s pretty sad.”
The Charge reached out to UCF’s chapter of Turning Point USA on numerous occasions for comment regarding both the tour and the cancellation of the Orlando stop, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Currently, there have been no new updates about a new date or location for a potential Orlando stop.