On the day Tami Barthen received a divine message urging her to purchase a mountain, she felt a profound spiritual awakening taking place in her life. Recently divorced and remarried, Tami attributed this positive change to following the voice of God. She had abandoned traditional church practices and instead embarked on a journey of supernatural ministry, training herself to tune into heavenly signs. During a worship service, a pastor even delivered a prophecy specifically for her, speaking of a double door opening in her life.
However, it was two years later, in June 2017, that Tami truly comprehended the significance of those words. She and her husband were in the process of buying land for a retirement cabin in northwestern Pennsylvania when they discovered that the small parcel they desired was part of a much larger property. This vast expanse encompassed 350 acres of forest, reaching a height of 2,000 feet and sloping all the way to the Allegheny River. Tami found herself complaining about not wanting an entire mountain, and it was at this moment that a thought entered her mind, so alien and grandiose that she believed it to be the voice of God.
“Yes, but I do,” the voice proclaimed.
She interpreted this as the beginning of her divine mission. Tami made the decision to utilize $950,000 from her divorce settlement to purchase the mountain, aiming to advance the Kingdom of God in the most literal sense and await further instructions.
What unfolded next is the remarkable story of one woman’s venture into the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the fastest-growing Christian movement in the United States. This movement not only played a role in Donald Trump’s rise to power but also fueled his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It is gradually becoming a radicalizing force within the conventional Christian right.
The NAR, also known as the New Apostolic Reformation, is a vast network of leaders who identify themselves as apostles and prophets, claiming to receive direct revelations from God. Their congregations can be found in cities and towns nationwide, occupying various spaces such as landscaped campuses, repurposed supermarkets, and former church buildings. The movement boasts global prayer networks, live broadcasts, books, podcasts, apps, influential figures on social media, and revival tours. It even has academies, including one where a prophet in military attire claims to train “warriors” for spiritual warfare against what he and other leaders identify as individuals and groups associated with liberal politics. Notable leaders within the movement include a Korean American apostle who spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally preceding the January 6 insurrection and a Honduran American apostle whose megachurch played a significant role in Trump’s evangelical outreach. In addition to Trump, the NAR has found political allies in school board members, county commissioners, judges, and state legislators like Doug Mastriano. Despite widespread mockery, his outsider campaign for Pennsylvania governor in 2020 secured the GOP nomination and garnered 42 percent of the general-election vote.
The NAR’s primary objective is to acquire political power to establish biblical authority across all aspects of life, including government, schools, and culture. Their aim is not merely a Christian nation, as advocated by the traditional religious right, but an earthly Kingdom of God. Followers of the movement are expected to participate in an ongoing end-times narrative, each playing a part in the grand scheme.
Having explained that I was in Pennsylvania to explore the future direction of the movement, I contacted Tami, whom I found on Facebook. She agreed to meet with me but requested three preliminary tasks.
Firstly, I attended a screening of a film titled Jesus Revolution, which recounted the true story of Pastor Chuck Smith’s church in early-1970s California, where he embraced groups of drug-addled hippies known as “Jesus freaks.” The film depicted their transformation through scenes of cathartic love and sunrise ocean baptisms, as they rejected relativism for the unwavering certainty of God’s truth. Jesus Revolution, a full-fledged Hollywood production featuring Kelsey Grammer and produced by the Kingdom Story Company, has already grossed $52 million.
Secondly, I visited Life Center, a Harrisburg church led by an apostle who had been one of the original California Jesus freaks. Life Center was housed in a glass-and-concrete former office building, and upon entering, I was greeted by screens displaying videos of crashing ocean waves. The books for sale conveyed messages such as “Now Is the Time: Seven Converging Signs of the Emerging Great Awakening” and “It’s Our Turn Now: God’s Plan to Restore America Is Within Our Reach.” While the apostle was away, another pastor led the visitors into the sanctuary—a 1,600-seat auditorium devoid of traditional Christian symbols or history. Instead, six massive screens illuminated the room with images of spinning stars, while a praise band filled the air with emotionally charged songs reminiscent of Coldplay. Individuals stood with raised hands, singing repetitive choruses about surrender before listening to a sermon on submission to God.
Finally, I attended KEY Fellowship, a touring event known as “Kingdom Empowering You.” Held in a small church in State College, Pennsylvania, the event attracted a diverse crowd of approximately 100 attendees, including white, Black, Latino, and Korean-American individuals. As they entered through a door marked by a white flag featuring a green pine tree and the words “An Appeal to Heaven”—a banner wielded by rioters during the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection—the woman organizing the event thanked God for choosing them and explained that the purpose was to release spiritual authority over the region. The ceremony commenced with a band, followed by singing and fervent prayers invoking dominion. Men blew shofars, traditional Jewish ram’s horns symbolizing the warning of demons and the gathering of a modern-day army of God. Maracas, tambourines, and long wooden staffs were introduced, with participants pounding the staffs against the floor. American flags, Israeli flags, and more pine-tree flags were waved. The purpose was to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend upon the prefabricated walls, culminating in a declaration by a local pastor from the Ojibwe-Cree Nation, signaling the restoration of the nation’s covenant with Native American people—a crucial step toward establishing the Kingdom according to the movement’s complex end-times narrative. The ceremony ignited emotions, resulting in tears and concluding with attendees marching in circles around the room, brandishing flags, musical instruments, and staffs, while a final song proclaimed, “Possess the land, we will take it by force, take it, take it.”
Once I had completed these tasks, Tami granted me permission to visit her.
The journey to Tami’s mountain begins in the small town of Franklin, north of Pittsburgh, before ascending through woodlands and narrower private roads. A Mastriano sign stands at the entrance, a remnant from Tami’s previous role as Mastriano’s coordinator in Venango County.
“We usually steer clear of politics,” Tami explained as we rode onto the property with her husband, Kevin. “But then we heard God say, ‘You need to do this.'”
Tami had raised and homeschooled three children while dutifully supporting her wealthy husband, who traded metals. However, since surrendering herself to the voice of God, many new experiences had unfolded in her life.
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