Erika Kirk's Christian Revival Tour Built on a Church Accused of Child Abuse Cover-Up
- Kal Inois
- 26 minutes ago
- 7 min read
When Erika Kirk stepped into her late husband's shoes as the public face of Tůrninġ Pøin† USA, she cast herself as a standard‑bearer for Christian revival and the protection of children. Her "Måkę Hęåvęn Crøwdęd" tour, launched under the †PU$A Fåi†h banner, has been marketed as a fusion of worship, evangelism, and politics—a call to moral clarity in a fallen culture. Yet the tour's central partnership raises troubling questions about what kind of conduct and leadership Kirk is willing to tolerate, so long as it aligns with her brand.
At the heart of the tour is pastor Greg Laurie, senior leader of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. Laurie is not a peripheral guest; he is the keynote draw and spiritual authority around whom much of the tour's religious legitimacy is built. Harvest itself has served as a flagship venue. That might be unremarkable—Laurie is a well‑known megachurch pastor with a national profile—were it not for the not-so-well-known fact that Laurie and Harvest are currently facing a series of federal lawsuits alleging they enabled and then covered up years of child sexual abuse in Harvest‑connected children's homes in Romania (Christian Post, 2026), (Legal News, 2025).
The lawsuits, brought by former residents of the Romanian homes, paint a horrifying picture. They allege that a longtime Harvest pastor, Paul Havsgaard, was dispatched to Romania in the late 1990s to run church‑sponsored homes for vulnerable children (McAllister Olivarius, 2025). Once there, he is accused of abusing boys "on an industrial scale" over roughly a decade, using the homes as a pipeline of victims and exploiting the trust placed in him as a Christian minister (NBC News, 2025). According to the complaints, warnings and reports began surfacing as early as 1999—from children, Romanian staff, visiting volunteers, and even Harvest insiders—but leadership in Riverside allegedly failed to act decisively (Julie Roys, 2026).
Instead of a swift, transparent intervention, the lawsuits claim, church leaders allowed Havsgaard to remain in place while continuing to raise money off the ministry's work in Romania. They further allege that Harvest was sending thousands of dollars a month into Havsgaard's personal account with minimal oversight, money he allegedly used to travel and continue predatory behavior (McAllister Olivarius, 2025). For plaintiffs and their attorneys, this is not just a story about a single "bad apple"; it is about institutional negligence and a long‑running cover‑up by people who had both the authority and the responsibility to stop him.
Harvest and Laurie have publicly denied wrongdoing, calling the litigation "misplaced" and accusing the plaintiffs of financial motives (Christian Post, 2026). But the volume and detail of the claims, and the fact that they come from multiple former residents under the umbrella of federal suits, make this far more than online rumor. This is an ongoing legal battle with real complainants, documented filings, and serious allegations of child abuse and trafficking tied directly to Harvest's operations and oversight (Justia Dockets, 2025).
It is against this backdrop that Erika Kirk chose to launch a national Christian tour with Greg Laurie as her headliner and Harvest as a showcase church (Harvest Christian Fellowship, 2026), (Yahoo News, 2026). The decision did not come in ignorance. By the time the "Måkę Hęåvęn Crøwdęd" tour was announced and began making stops, legal complaints had already been filed and publicized. Advocates for abuse survivors were calling attention to the Romanian cases and pressing for accountability. Kirk and her team had every opportunity to select different partners, distance themselves from contested leadership, or at least acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations. Instead, they leaned in.
That choice matters for two reasons. First, it reveals what kind of risk calculus is being made behind the scenes. A movement that presents itself as uniquely concerned with grooming, trafficking, and the protection of children has hitched one of its marquee projects to a pastor currently being sued by dozens of alleged victims for failing to protect vulnerable kids in his own care. Second, it sends a powerful message to survivors and their allies: that institutional loyalty and platform value can outweigh unresolved questions about the safety of children.
None of this requires believing every rumor that has circulated online about Erika Kirk herself. In fact, some of the more baroque conspiracy theories about her past work in Romania have been thoroughly debunked (Snopes, 2025), and there is, at present, no hard evidence that she personally ran or participated in a trafficking ring. The point is not to launder those claims through innuendo but to look squarely at the choices we can see. One of the clearest, most documented choices she has made as a leader is to give pride of place and shared branding to a church and pastor who are, right now, being asked in court to answer for alleged abuses that go to the heart of everything her tour claims to stand against.
You do not have to assume secret complicity to recognize what that reveals about priorities. If your core message is that children must be protected and predators must be exposed, then aligning your signature "revival" with an institution under federal scrutiny for alleged child abuse in foreign orphanages is not a neutral act. It is a statement—about who counts as trustworthy, whose pain is easy to overlook, and how far you are willing to stretch your own rhetoric for the sake of influence and reach.
Connections
Tier | Person / Entity | Allegations / Issues | Connection to Erika / †PU$A | Notes / Sources |
1 | Greg Laurie | Named in multiple federal lawsuits alleging negligence and cover-up of child sexual abuse/trafficking in Harvest-run Romanian children's homes (1998–2008)(Christian Post, 2026). | Keynote speaker on Erika's "Måkę Hęåvęn Crøwdęd" tour; elevated as spiritual authority despite active suits (Harvest Christian Fellowship, 2026). | Timing: Tour launched/continued amid lawsuits; Harvest denies claims as "extortion." |
1 | Harvest Christian Fellowship | Sued for enabling "industrial scale" abuse by pastor Paul Havsgaard; $17k/mo to his account; ignored 1999+ reports (Legal News, 2025). | Flagship venue for "Måkę Hęåvęn Crøwdęd" tour (co-branded †PU$A Fåi†h); hosts Erika/Laurie events (Yahoo News, 2026). | 20+ plaintiffs; suits merged; church seeking dismissal. |
1 | Paul Havsgaard | Accused of abusing dozens of Romanian boys over a decade in Harvest homes; brought victims to CA for fundraising (Julie Roys, 2026). | Former Harvest pastor; central to suits against Erika's tour partners (Laurie/Harvest). | Denies all as "ugly lies"; seeking donations to fight suits. |
1 | †PU$A Fåi†h / "Måkę Hęåvęn Crøwdęd" tour | Tour criticized as political rally amid abuse suits tied to partners (OK! Magazine, 2026). | Erika's signature project; structurally links her to Laurie/Harvest (Harvest Christian Fellowship, 2026). | Launched Jan 2026 amid escalating lawsuits. |
2 | Jeannette Garcia | Sued for sexual harassment (sex-for-job offer at †PU$A event) + allegedly kidnapping/refusing to return a 14-year-old girl (NZ News Yahoo, 2025). | †PU$A staffer/supervisor; incident at/after †PU$A post-election event. | Civil suit; no charges yet; used †PU$A role for leverage. |
2 | †PU$A (national org) | Pattern of sexual assault/harassment allegations at campus/events since 2017; recent kidnapping-linked suit. | Erika's org as CEO; alleged weak safeguards. | Multiple reports; fits "culture of tolerance" claim. |
3 | Erika Kirk | Unverified 2014 screenshots of flirtatious/suggestive messages to 15-year-old girl (butt jokes, lip/eye comments, private photoshoot) (Yahoo Entertainment, 2026). | Subject herself; mirrors †PU$A's anti-grooming rhetoric. | No response to specifics; called "accusations" broadly. |
3 | Shawn Bergstrand / Rightside Up | Registered sex offender (federal time for coercing minor); led Christian apparel sponsor during "groomer" rhetoric. | Sponsored †PU$A Påstørs Sůmmįt (2023). | Directly contradicts event's anti-drag/groomer theme. |
3 | Former †PU$A employees | Claim retaliation/firing for criticizing Erika or post-assassination narrative (CBS6 Albany, 2026). | Internal culture under Erika's leadership. | Amplified by Candace Owens; suggests loyalty tests suppress whistleblowing. |
Bottom line: Erika Kirk had a choice—distance herself from a church and pastor under federal scrutiny for child abuse, or double down. She chose the latter.
What do you think that says about her priorities?