BY : Ian M. Giatti, Christian Post Reporter
A scheduled Turning Point USA Faith (TPUSA) tour stop at a Baptist church in Florida featuring the widow of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk has apparently been canceled.
The Make Heaven Crowded Tour, a nationwide Gospel-focused revival series headlined by TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk, was scheduled to bring a night of worship, preaching and ministry to First Baptist Orlando on Feb. 25.
Chip Moore, director of Pastoral Relations for TPUSA Faith, shared the event in a Jan. 30 Facebook post, calling it “unforgettable” and “epic” as he urged local supporters to register via the event’s official website. Inviting his followers to help “pack the house,” Moore’s announcement used hashtags indicating it was an official TPUSA announcement.
Moore wrote: “I’m SO excited to share this!! The Make Heaven Crowded Tour is coming to Orlando! Join us February 25th at 6:30PM at First Baptist Orlando for an unforgettable night of worship!! Believe me… this one is going to be EPIC.”
While the post was still live on Moore’s personal Facebook page as of Wednesday, the event is no longer listed on the Make Heaven Crowded Tour website.
A link on the First Baptist Orlando website to a Make Heaven Crowded Tour event listing was also broken as of Wednesday.
The Christian Post reached out to both the church and TPUSA Faith for comment Tuesday.
In response, Pastor Lucas Miles, senior director of TPUSA Faith, offered the following statement: “After further evaluation, TPUSA Faith determined that this particular stop was not the best strategic fit for either organization. We remain grateful for the conversations with First Baptist Orlando and we hope to partner with them in the future. The Make Heaven Crowded Tour has been a massive success, and we can’t wait to bring the tour to dozens of cities nationwide.”
In a sermon posted Feb. 15, First Baptist Orlando Senior Pastor David Uth said the church received a request from the tour’s organizers a “couple of months ago” about potentially holding an event at the church.
“We asked them what we ask every group. We had a concern, and we got a request,” said Uth. “The concern is if this is about something other than Jesus, you know, that’s, we don’t really like having events and doing events here that are about other things. But if it’s about Jesus and not about politics and not about a party, but about the one true way to make Heaven crowded, then yes, you are welcome here.”
Uth said not only did TPUSA assure him the event was solely focused on Jesus, they also invited him and his staff to review their proposed speaker list and join their schedule of speakers as well.
After confirming that Pastor Trey Hildebrandt and others would speak at the event, Uth said he made another request. “I asked them specifically, ‘Hey, is there any chance since this is about following Jesus, is there any chance we could give opportunity to be baptized at the end? And they said that would be incredible, but we leave that up to the local church,” Uth recounted. “I said, ‘Well, that would be us, and yes, we will have an opportunity to be baptized that night.’”
The pastor then encouraged his congregation to invite their friends to attend the tour event. “We want the nations to know and we want everyone to know that Jesus saves,” he said.
It’s not clear when or why First Baptist Orlando decided it would not host the Make Heaven Crowded Tour event.
First Baptist Orlando made headlines in 2023 when questions arose about whether the church had started affirming same-sex relationships.
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