Riverside locals gathered outside of Harvest Christian Fellowship Church on Jan. 21 to protest the first event of a tour titled, ‘Make heaven crowded’ hosted by Erika Kirk and held in Riverside.

Erika Kirk is the widow of the late right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk, a political activist and co-founder of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA who was assassinated in October.

Erika is largely being criticized for her and Christian nationalist views, something that protesters targeted in their chants of, “Listen to your bible!”

Kirk’s tour, ‘Make Heaven Crowded,’ was being marketed as an evangelical outreach, despite the organization’s roots in political commentary, specifically Charlie Kirk’s original, “Prove me wrong,” segment that he did at American universities. 

The protest began around 3 p.m. in front of Harvest Church’s back entrance, with Riverside police largely blocking off the event. The area was heavily protected with officers deployed to rooftops to monitor the protest activity, blocking in protestors on one side of the street while wearing bulletproof vests. By the time the event started at 6:30 p.m., the crowd outside grew to around 130 people.

Participants showed their opinion about Kirk’s stance on immigration policies on signs saying, “Who would Jesus deport?” One protestor, Doug, a Riverside local, said he believes Erika Kirk’s message is one driven by hate and that she doesn’t accurately represent true Christian values.

“I feel like the message they’re spreading is a message of hatred,” Doug said. “You should love your neighbor, treat them with respect.” 

Erika Kirk’s anti-immigration views became a target subject for protestors, specifically Chris Moreno, who felt that her immigration views did not coincide with the Christian religion she claimed to follow.

“They’re using religion as an alibi for white supremacy. I think that’s a mortal sin, especially the churches that are the prosperity gospel; it’s all about money, and these people are so ignorant and gullible and really don’t like to see a multicultural world. They claim it’s about illegal (immigration, but it’s racism.” Moreno said.

Mario, a political activist, brought along a drum to the protest.

“This is our sound, we are Mexican, Latinos, our sound is what makes us known,” said Mario. “We’re here making sound, we need to make noise so that when people drive by they hear us and know we’re here.”

Among the protestors was Abel Chavez, 34, a current runner for the 2026 US House California District 48 congressional election.  

“We’re fighting racism. They’re spending our money and tax dollars on getting more and more ice officers here when in reality we could be using our money for medicare for all,” Chavez said. “They are using our money to terrorize our communities, we need to turn that around immediately. I think that Christ would’ve been on our side, walking with us.”

One of the hecklers, Ausi, is a Palestinian woman who came to support the people of Palestine by protesting the Trump administration that Erika Kirk endorsed. She walked up and down the crosswalks chanting, “Free Our People.”

When asked how she could find her strength she said, “What are they going to do, arrest me? My people are in jail, my people are in Gaza suffering, this is all I can do for them.”

Marcelo Watson, a UC Berkeley student, attended the event to write a paper for his social justice class, when asked about the inside he said, “They hadn’t mentioned anything political, just their struggle. The energy in there is like Alice in Wonderland, completely bizarre.”

Greg Laurie, lead pastor at the church, reported 6,000 people in attendance at the event on his Instagram and called it an unforgettable night. The event featured podcast duo, “Girls Gone Bible” and Christian podcaster, Bryce Crawford, along with Kirk. 

Evelyn Cortes, Riverside local, attendee and member of the church, was emotional about the sight of the protest in front of the entrance. She said she believes the event to be an opportunity for God to move into people’s lives, viewing it as the most important part of the night. 

“(I hope) that people can see that this is what really matters,” Cortes said.

Several of the protestors were aware of the alleged claims against Laurie and the church. One woman held a sign with a QR code linked to an article by The Roys Report about the ongoing lawsuits. The article states that a spokesperson for the church called the lawsuits “a form of financial extortion,” but the controversy surrounding the church remains. 

Jordan Holeman, protestor and Riverside local, said she attended the church as a child and recalls their main priority seeming to be money. She said she wasn’t surprised that the church would host a TPUSA event because of Laurie’s spoken support of Trump, but was proud of the crowd that gathered in protest. 

“I’m so happy to see that my city showed up like this,” Holeman said. 

At around 9 p.m. the event began to clear, with attendees needing to be escorted out by police as hecklers shouted at them for supporting Erika Kirk.

As of the following week, the church and Turning Point Organization, who organized the event, have not publicly commented on the attendance of protestors that day.

However, Erika Kirk did mention the presence of protests in general during her speech at Harvest church that lasted about 30 minutes, saying, “‘Do you think these protests are helping?’ Personally I do not, I think it’s demonic.”