With election day just three months away, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk pulled no punches in his keynote address to pastors gathered for a July 31-Aug. 2 political training conference in a Dallas suburb.

His message: Pastors need to vote for Donald Trump, become activists and mobilize their congregations to do likewise. “Self-righteous” complaining about Trump’s tone is no excuse.

“There is only one way to save this country,” Kirk said. “Awake the beast that is the American church.”

While the “Igniting the Remnant Pastors” conference was ostensibly nonpartisan — having been organized by the nonprofit Citizens Defending Freedom, which claims to “endorse the constitution and individual liberty” rather than candidates or parties — the event provided a receptive audience for Kirk’s overt endorsement of Trump.

Attendees had come to see a roster of high-profile conservative personalities, including retired General Michael Flynn, journalist Lara Logan and Priests for Life director Frank Pavone. These speakers were brought together to energize Christians — especially evangelical Protestants — for political engagement.

At nearly a quarter of the U.S. adult population, self-identified evangelical Protestants remain a coveted voting bloc. According to an analysis of the Cooperative Election Study, Trump won 78% of the White evangelical vote (and 32% of the non-White evangelical vote) in 2016 and 80% of White evangelical votes (34% non-White) in 2020. This year, Kirk hopes to boost those numbers higher by making sure low propensity conservatives cast their ballots.

The left also wants those votes and is struggling to close the gap.

In 2019, liberal evangelical pastor and author Doug Pagitt led a training session for congressional Democrats on how to speak to evangelicals. Now a group called Evangelicals for Harris is promoting Vice President Kamala Harris as the candidate “who better reflects Christian values.” Meanwhile, the more overtly left wing “Christians for Kamala” raised over $150,000 for her campaign during a single three-hour event.

Among Black churches, where congregations tend to lean heavily Democrat, activists have begun rallying support for Harris. Religion News Service reported that more than 16,000 people attended a fundraiser for Black Church PAC, which promotes political activism among Black church leaders. The event, called “Win With the Black Church National Organizing Call,” netted $500,000 in donations. At another event, 750 black women, mostly pastor’s wives, gathered to plan how to mobilize their congregations in support of Harris’ campaign.

Kirk, however, is convinced that Trump is the only biblical option.

While TPUSA is a secular nonprofit that surged to prominence during Trump’s 2016 campaign, Kirk identifies as a “Bible-believing Christian” who gave his life to the Lord in fifth grade. His big, well-funded events that attract thousands of young people have helped garner a loyal following among conservative Christian groups, and he speaks with a religious fervor that has led critics to label him a Christian nationalist.

In a manner more reminiscent of Trump’s campaign speeches than a Sunday sermon, Kirk talked tough and hurled insults. “The American church is a joke in this country,” he said. “It is a church filled with cowards and people that call themselves pastors but are really motivational speakers wearing skinny jeans with new sneakers; that run Ted Talks with rock concerts with organized parking and good coffee.”

“Which worldview is closer to the Word of God?” he asked the pastors who had paid $199 to attend the Dallas event (along with their wives for an additional $49). “The worldview of no limits on abortion, of mutilating children because of the transgender agenda, of no borders and war in every hemisphere and lying and corruption and the most demonic activity that we have seen in the history of this country,” or the worldview of Donald Trump, who “did everything he said he was going to do.”

How can pastors help? Kirk explained that TPUSA wants to recruit them and their congregations to conduct ballot harvesting — a practice more often associated with Democrats but increasingly embraced by the right. The organization will pay a stipend for volunteers to spend two weeks flooding the swing states of Arizona and Wisconsin to collect and submit absentee or mail-in ballots for conservatives who might not otherwise vote.

Federal law allows churches and other nonprofits to express opinions on political issues so long as a “substantial part” of their activities is not directed at influencing legislation. A church may, for example, hold a pro-life demonstration. Another limitation is that, since 1954, the Johnson Amendment in the U.S. tax code has prohibited churches from directly endorsing or campaigning on behalf of specific political candidates.

However, lines are blurred when a pastor steps away from the pulpit and voices an endorsement as a private individual. But even where blatant violations have occurred, such as when churches allow candidates to campaign directly from their pulpits, the IRS has rarely enforced the law, leaving churches to feel emboldened to do as they please.

While in office, President Trump, who has called the Johnson Amendment “very, very unfair,” signed an executive order that further weakened the rule by dissuading the IRS from frequent enforcement.

 This piece is republished from MinistryWatch.

Tony Mator is a Pittsburgh journalist, copywriter, blogger and musician who has done work for World magazine, The Imaginative Conservative and the Hendersonville Times-News, among others. Follow his work and observations at x.com/wise_watcher.