Couples and families were among the hundreds who joined Sean Feucht for a night of worship on July 12 at the Ryman Auditorium, an event that commemorated Feucht’s controversial gathering in Nashville six years ago.
But not all those couples were aware of that history.
“It’s the first time I have ever heard of Sean,” Murfreesboro resident Jesse Robertson said. “It’s exciting to get together with other believers from all over, and of course it’s not just one church.”
Robertson and his wife, Natalie Granell, heard about Feucht’s performance at the Ryman through Facebook. Likewise, Rhonda Jones said she didn’t know about Feucht until seeing an ad for the concert on Facebook.
When Feucht came onto the stage, he reminded the crowd of his 2020 event in Nashville that helped spark a movement that nowadays signifies much more than resistance to pandemic-era health guidance. Feucht has become a well-known proponent of President Donald Trump and other Republicans, which has been part of his appeal for some fans.
The hype video that played before the concert featured Feucht talking about how Christianity is the “only religion embedded into the DNA” of the country. In honor of the country’s 250th anniversary, the name of the concert was “Roots of Revival.” A banner on a truck outside the Ryman depicted an American flag, a bald eagle, the U.S. Capitol and a lion, and read “Join America’s revival! Text ‘Pray’ to 20221.”
The "Roots of Revival" concert series is part of a collaboration with Freedom 250, a program created by the White House to fund Trump's vision for the country's milestone birthday. Freedom 250 has drawn accusations of pushing a right-wing, Christian view of America. "We’re going to be championing other things they’re doing," Feucht said in a February 2026 video announcing the "Roots of Revival" tour. There are 13 more dates on the tour throughout different states, according to his website.
Feucht posted on social media in April that he visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and performed at the president's beach resort. "Feels surreal that my whole family was with Trump at his property yesterday right before he flew to DC," Feucht said in the post. "Please pray for the President, his team and our nations today. The devil wants to take him out, but God is not yet finished."
“I personally would love to keep following as much as the Lord enables us physically to be where whatever he (Feucht) is doing,” Jess Eckberg said at the July 12 concert. “I want to be part of the movement.”
Eckberg and her husband, Lars, have long followed Feucht, and they planned a whole overnight trip to see the worship leader’s performance at the Ryman. They drove from Knoxville.
Feucht is “fighting for truth and not to be shut down or shut up because of a different perspective,” Lars Eckberg said. “We’re going to understand what’s going on around us and be sensitive to it all. By the same token, we’re not going to take a step back.”
‘Anniversary of superspreaders’
Stomping and clapping filled the Ryman as lights flashed and fog rose while Feucht performed.
A band of 10 instrumentalists and vocalists and a choir of 38 teenagers from local high schools accompanied Feucht onstage. Admission for the event was free.
“I believe this is the anniversary of the superspreaders,” Feucht said in his opening remarks. In October 2020, Feucht drew thousands to a “worship protest” on the Nashville courthouse lawn. The event’s defiance of a mask mandate triggered a Metro Public Health Department investigation, which ultimately concluded with no charges.
At the July 12 concert, Feucht mentioned a Rolling Stone article in 2020 that called him “Jesus Christ Superspreader.” Feucht said at first he was offended by the label.
“But then the Lord was like, ‘They’re prophesying,’” Feucht said at the Ryman. “(This is) a generation that’s going to rise up with a virus of hope, a virus of joy, a virus of salvation.”
The crowd cheered and chanted “Jesus” in response. Feucht and local pastors planned to baptize people outside the Ryman at the end of the concert.
On July 9 ahead of his performance, a counter-programming event encouraged dialogue on how to oppose Christian nationalism, explained organizer Heather Cronk. Cronk, who plans gatherings around the country for exvangelicals, or people who left evangelical Christianity, and other critics of Feucht accused the worship leader of promoting Christian nationalism — a movement that believes the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation. Feucht does not call himself a Christian nationalist.
“The reason why we’re not protesting outside Sean Feucht’s performance on Sunday is because Christian nationalists are very, very good at using protest to fuel victim narratives,” Cronk said in an interview. “So we’re thinking about more creative ways to counter those stories. What we’ll be doing on Thursday is creating messages via arts and crafts, creating messages we can post around town.”
Prior to the event at TailGate Brewery on Charlotte Pike, Cronk said 50 people had RSVP’d.
“We want to open that conversation up and to do that in a way that’s fun and light-hearted,” Cronk said. “To open a conversation to say, ‘What does Christian nationalism look like in Nashville?’”
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect