Doug Wilson, the senior pastor of Christ Church, recently held a town hall in Moscow, Idaho. His leadership of Christ Church has received more attention as Pete Hagseth, the U.S. Defense Secretary, has been tied to Wilson's movement.
NWPB's senior correspondent, Anna King, sat down with Tracy Simmons, of FāVS News, to discuss the pastor's newest push to increase his church's membership.
Anna King: Tracy, it's such a pleasure to have you here. You live just 8 miles from Doug Wilson and Pullman, Washington. What is it like to cover someone who's essentially your neighbor?
Tracy Simmons: Yeah, like you said, Pullman and Moscow are very close to each other. And so I run into Pastor Wilson quite a bit.
Not too long ago, I was out to dinner with my spouse and he was at the table with his spouse right next to us. He's very recognizable because he has this big beard. You know, a bigger guy with a little belly.
He is very humble in that he doesn't drive a flashy car, he doesn't have a flashy house. I think he really kind of wants to blend in as much as possible to the community. Kind of a likable guy until you really get into his theology.
King: That's so interesting. And Doug Wilson is the senior pastor at Christ Church in Moscow. What can you tell us about that church?
Simmons: Christ Church is part of the CREC, which is the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. And they actually have a congregation in every single state in the US and as well as some abroad.
The church holds to traditional conservative values, and they have had ties to Christian nationalism. There's a few different congregations in Moscow, but the main one recently just built a new sanctuary and they've already outgrown it.
King: You were recently at a town hall organized by Christ Church at the University of Idaho. What's the atmosphere like and what did you hear?
Simmons: I covered one of these in 2024 as well, and it was very different.
The one in ‘24 was really just Christ Church wanted to answer honest questions from the community about their organization. And at that one, there were protestors, there were people kind of shouting from the audience, people wearing pride shirts. And there was standing room only.
This time, it was very different. I would say it was about a third full. There were a lot of security, but I have a guess that a lot of people there were members of the church.
So when you walk in, you're given a flyer with a QR code and a phone number, so you can use either of those to text in questions. And those questions then go to a moderator, and then they answer questions from there. There has been some criticism that maybe members of the church are throwing out softball questions during those town halls.
But this one in particular, they were talking about what a Christian nationalist church and country looks like.
Doug Wilson and other pastors from his church will say that Christian nationalism is the idea that the government should be controlled by Christians. So only Christians should hold office — but not any Christian. Not mainline Christians or progressive Christians, but Christians tied to his congregation.
At the town hall, he and other pastors from the church said that they were kind of slapped with this label. It wasn't one they gave themselves, but they're owning it and they're running with it. So they are self-identifying as Christian nationalists.
King: So, Tracy, CNN and other national outlets have recently been paying more attention to Doug Wilson. Why is he having a moment right now?
Simmons: I think that's largely because of his ties to Pete Hegseth, who belongs to a Christ Church congregation over in [Washington] D.C. He is having an influence politically in the country, maybe not in Moscow so much, but definitely in D.C.
King: Tracy, what do you want people in the Spokane-Moscow corridor to understand about this story that they might not be getting from national coverage?
Simmons: One of the things I've been trying to do in my coverage is interview locals. So I don't want Doug Wilson and his church to dominate the narrative.
I really want to hear from people in town about what they have to say. And it's been interesting because over the years, I would say Moscow residents have become a little more bold and a little more willing to go on the record with me.
So I think the story that's being missed is kind of what I said earlier. Christ Church isn't having a lot of success politically at the local level, although they are certainly having success in Boise, and of course nationally.
The other thing that I think is kind of interesting — you see this a lot in the mainstream media — talking about how Doug Wilson is Pete Hegseth's pastor. That's actually not true. Pete Hegseth goes to one of his churches, but when I interviewed Pastor Wilson just a couple of months ago, he admitted he had only met Pete twice.
King: Thank you so much for your coverage and for this discussion, Tracy. It's been a real pleasure to speak with you.
Simmons: Always good to talk with you, Anna.
Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity.
