The “International Faith Summit” at this year’s Conservative Political Action conference turned out to be an hour-long panel discussion that focused as much on promoting Christian nationalism in the U.S. as it did on promoting religious liberty abroad. Panelists, including John Graves of the religious-right voter turnout group Million Voices, focused on the importance of mobilizing conservative Christians in this year’s midterm elections.
CPAC’s Mercedes Schlapp kicked off the panel by declaring, “One thing about CPAC is that the first thing we always focus on is God. CPAC is consecrated to our Lord. All of our work we do for the glory of God…If we do not have God, we will lose our country, and we have to make sure we keep God in the middle of America.”
MAGA pastor Mark Burns, a failed congressional candidate and promoter of stolen-election conspiracy theories in 2020, kicked off the “summit” with a prayer that asserted, “this is a Christian nation.”
“We should be proud to be Christian nationalists,” he said in response to a question from Schlapp, adding that he is “proud to be called a Christian nationalist.”
Following other panelists’ comments about the need to get more conservative Christians to vote in the 2026 midterms, Burns said that “believers” have a “spiritual obligation” to “take this nation back.”
“God has given us a leader in the name of Donald J. Trump, saved his life twice so that he can stand bold and allow us, the believers, to carry out the Great Commission in this time period,” Burns said, adding that if Christian nationalists don’t turn out to vote, “we will lose America,” citing abortion and transgender rights as things that Christians must not accept.
“The enemy that comes from the gates of Hell will do whatever it takes to silence our voices… We the body of Christ, we cannot no longer be the silent majority. We got to rise up like never before and look the enemy in the face and say, ‘For God I live and for God I’ll die…You got to fight.”
Lance Wallnau, a promoter of Seven Mountains Dominionism, also served on the panel. He embraced Christian nationalism and said that “30 million evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians” are “the firewall between the destruction of this country and its survival.” More from Wallnau:
“There’s not enough mobilizing of the Christian community, the 30-35 million of us that are out there to be a muscular catalytic force to reshape this nation. Either we have a Great Awakening or we will not make it into the future. There has to be a fusion of the political and the spiritual and we can no longer be embarrassed or inarticulate in taking that position, ‘cause this is the hope for the future of America.”
Wallnau said people aren’t paying enough attention to President Donald Trump’s May 17 event on the National Mall to “rededicate” America to God. Wallnau’s fellow dominionist Sean Feucht is organizing a gathering of pastors the night before.
“My prayer, my call to action, is that we will see at least 250 Great Awakening preachers that are not ashamed of the gospel and able to defend our political ideology raised up on the 16th that will meet together and on the 17th stand behind the president dedicating this country.”
Also appearing on the panel was New Apostolic Reformation leader Ché Ahn, who was introduced as a candidate for governor in California even though he will not appear on the primary ballot because he failed to file all the necessary paperwork, and Victor Marx, who is running for governor of Colorado with Rep. Lauren Boebert’s endorsement.
This year’s CPAC was widely considered a bust, with Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other top administration officials taking a pass.
