Individual flyers for 30 school districts are paid for by the Truth & Liberty Coalition, the Woodland Park-based nonprofit, which has called for Christians to reclaim the “Seven Mountains” of societal influence — one of them being education. Its website states: “We seek to restore biblical truth and Godly morality into our country’s failing educational system.”
— Read on www.cpr.org/2023/10/18/as-colorado-school-boards-become-more-politicized-here-are-the-district-elections-to-watch-this-fall/
Tag Archives: Truth and Liberty Coalition
Andrew Wommack, a Woodland Park Preacher, Wants His Followers to Rule the World
Andrew Wommack wasn’t kidding back in 2021 when he called his followers to “take over” Woodland Park, the mountain town of 8,000 west of Colorado Springs
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/09/andrew-wommack-a-woodland-park-preacher-wants-his-followers-to-rule-the-world/56091/
Follow the Money – canvassing
In their latest campaign expense filings, both David Illingworth and Mick Bates list a $250 expense to Crimson Central Services in Colorado Springs, for “Canvassing Services” (you can find all this info on TRACER). Let’s dig deeper. Here’s a list of all election campaigns that had similar expenses with that company for last month:
Six expenses of the same amount for various school board campaigns in different cities…it seems likely these are for the same purpose. We at first thought this was for door knocking, as that’s the traditional definition. However, those two Canon City BOE candidates list a different purpose for their $250 expenses…one lists ‘software expense’, the other lists ‘voter data’. If you look at the past history of this particular company, they have a very large number of expenses of $1,250 for consulting and data. It seems most likely that Bates and Illingworth are paying Crimson Central Services for voter data, which is a normal thing for a candidate to seek out anyway.
Who is Crimson Central Services?
Crimson Central Services is an LLC filed in Wyoming – a state which allows LLC owners to mask the identity of their owners. But the records on Tracer list business addresses, and 6140 South Gun Club Road, Unit K6-354 in Aurora, a UPS store where I presume the 354 is a mailbox number. So, bit of a dead end there. These days though, their address is listed as 100 East Saint Vrain Stree, unit #105, in Colorado Springs. Who else is at that address? Victor’s Canvassing.
Now, Victor’s Canvassing is not a company I’d expect you to have heard of. However, they identified themselves when handing out this flyer to teachers’ homes:
The return address on that flyer (some were mailed, some delivered in person by Victor’s Canvassing) lists the Freedom Foundation in Washington…a right-wing group known for attacking unions and public education (link1, link2, link3, link4, link5…you get the idea). So, no surprise to see them involved here, and not surprising to see Bates and Illingworth using a similar canvassing company as the Freedom Foundation.
But we’re not quite done digging! Who is behind Victor’s Canvassing? The Chief Operating Officer is Daniel Fenlason:
Who is Daniel? The Truth and Liberty Coalition (the 501c(4) group established by Andrew Wommack) proudly lists him as one of their ‘Influencers‘:
So, in summary – Bates and Illingworth appear to be using the services of a canvassing company that’s closely linked to the Truth and Liberty Coalition and Andrew Wommack, as well as the Freedom Foundation.
Charis and Truth and Liberty Coalition continues efforts to take over school boards statewide
It’s no secret that Charis Bible “college” is working to take over school boards (as well as local government like city councils) statewide. They have a class devoted to exactly this (here’s the video from the 2022 Citizens Academy as well if you’re curious). A school board candidate training academy was held there this past spring (and a similar event in 2021). And of course, Wommack urged his followers to ‘take over Woodland Park‘. Charis has a separate business identity, Truth and Liberty Coalition, which as a 501c(4) non-profit is able to engage in political activity (the line between that organization and Charis is vague at best).
Don’t forget, too, that current board director Sue Patterson is a Charis grad herself:
Most recently, Truth and Liberty Coalition Executive Director Richard Harris (whose LinkedIn bio lists him as the “Coordinator, Practical Government School at Charis Bible College Colorado”) sent this mass email, encouraging their followers to run for school board statewide:
Voters in Woodland Park have the opportunity to push back against this, by voting out the three incumbents this fall. Sue Patterson is not up for re-election so would remain on the board, but at least her influence would be reduced.
Truth and Liberty Coalition – School Board Candidate Academy
Interested in running for school board? A friend in a neighboring community tipped me off to this…Andrew Wommack’s Truth and Liberty Coalition is hosting a Candidate Academy at Charis from 9:00-4:30 on Saturday, April 15th. It’s not open to just anyone though…you do need to fill out an application, which asks for things such as what church you attend, your pastor’s name and phone number, and an additional character reference. The training is being presented by the “National School Board Coalition”…an important-sounding group but one that, when you dig, isn’t really a coalition, it’s one guy, Ted Mische, a graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR) (Mische previously led the ‘Colorado School Board Coalition’).
Some excerpts from the invitation, which you can read in its entirety below, are:
At Truth and Liberty, we want every school district in this state to teach only edifying and morally upright curriculum with an accurate and patriotic view of American history.
…
We are facing a crisis in our times as our nation seems to be abandoning biblical teaching, morality, and even common sense at a pace and depth that is alarming. Can you imagine the positive long-term impact that biblically minded Christians could have as members of 178 school boards in this state?
Our Interim Superintendent Ken Witt (also an LPR grad) hired Mische to do some consulting work for ERBOCES in early January (Witt works two jobs, if you recall, his interim superintendent position in Woodland Park and his executive director position at ERBOCES). This candidate academy appears unrelated to that work but there appear to be close ties between Wommack and the LPR grads (such as Bob Schafer, Curt Grina, Tim Farmer, Bryce Carlson, Ken Witt, Mick Bates, Dan Williams, Trevor Miller, Brad Miller, Ted Mische).
The religious influence in school board elections
This fall, the Woodland Park RE-2 school district will vote on three new board directors, potentially shifting the balance of power of the current five-strong board. As we enter this season, it’s important to remember the influence religion had last time. Check out this article from Religion Dispatches. Andrew Wommack, with his Truth and Liberty Coalition and bible school Charis were at the center of this then…and we can expect even more this year. Pay attention, it’s going to get messy.
What had been, until recently, sleepy school board races across the state and the country, this year became political hot potatoes. The Colorado media generally cast these contests as battles between conservative groups and teachers unions, and that the results were mixed. But lost in this framing was the quiet electoral pilot project of the Truth and Liberty Coalition, the other arms of Wommack’s political and educational empire—and their out-of-state partner, the Texas-based Wallbuilders organization.