Overview: Erika Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, kicked off its Make Heaven Crowded 2026 Tour at Harvest Christian Church in Riverside, which honors her late husband, Charlie Kirk, with a call for a Christian Revival. Approximately one hundred protestors gathered outside of Harvest Church in protest of the injustices that have occurred under the Trump administration, of which Charlie Kirk was an influential ally. The protestors held signs denouncing ICE abducting people and separating families, the genocide in Gaza, and the lawsuits against Harvest Christian Fellowship and its lead pastor Greg Laurie for alleged sexual abuse.
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On Wednesday Jan. 22, Erika Kirk kicked off her organization, Turning Point USA’s, Make Heaven Crowded 2026 Tour here in the Inland Empire. While the flier advertised Los Angeles, the first event of the national tour took place at Harvest Christian Church in Riverside. The tour honors Erika Kirk’s late husband, Charlie Kirk, with a call for a Christian Revival.
By the time the event began, at least one hundred protesters were gathered outside of Harvest Church. They stood in protest of the injustices that have occurred under the Trump administration – of which Charlie Kirk was an influential ally. Dozens of protesters in attendance held signs denouncing ICE abducting people and separating families, the genocide in Gaza, and the lawsuits against Harvest Christian Fellowship and its lead pastor, Greg Laurie for alleged sexual abuse.
Protesters kept their spirits high as they chanted various slogans, passed out whistles, which they used to whistle the national anthem. They called out attendees of the events, asking them if they think their ancestors would be proud of them or if Erika Kirk is what Christianity stands for. An Erika Kirk impersonator also attended, singing on a microphone and leading chants such as “Give your money to me, not the poor.”
Other protesters talked amongst themselves about seeing their community members in attendance and being shocked at people of color attending the event.
One protester on a megaphone amplified this sentiment as they chanted, “White people and some slight number of brown people who apparently hate themselves… I see your faces.” Another protester, who declined to give her name, said she couldn’t be in Minneapolis, but she knew she needed to do something for her community here.
One protester, Janice Poss, said she hadn’t planned to be on the sidewalk. With a PhD in women’s studies and religion, and as a progressive Catholic who teaches Bible study, she had reserved a seat inside the event. She said that she dressed like those who she figured would be inside, but when she arrived, the parking lot was full and the sight of demonstrators outside changed her plans.
Poss said she left her usual protest signs at home but when she saw the group gathered, she picked up a sign and joined them instead.
“I’ve been on the street since last year…I was on my corner by myself in Claremont, and I’ve been doing this ever since then… I go all over, all over Southern California,” she said. Poss described her activism as quiet, but persistent, and shaped by faith, scholarship, and a determination to talk to “the other side” without shutting down in anger.
“I thought maybe I could learn something inside that would help me when I converse with the other side, that I won’t get, like, really pissed off and angry and shut down,” Poss said.
