From baptistnews.com
After his long days leading the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson retires to a nearby D.C. townhouse owned by a small activist Christian ministry that works to shape legislation on LGBTQ rights, Israel, the downsizing of the federal government and other hot-button issues.
“The Capitol Hill townhouse is owned by a major Republican donor” and is “the headquarters of a little-known political influence project that has reached a number of powerful Republican politicians,” reported ProPublica Feb. 28.
The townhouse is home to Ambassador Services International, a $1 million organization that says its goals are “educating, encouraging and discipling government leaders, challenging them to live God’s word, will and ways.”
Steve Berger
Ambassador is led by Steve Berger, who has worked with conservative groups including Turning Point USA, Promise Keepers and Michelle Bachmann’s Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast. Berger was the founding pastor of Nashville’s Grace Chapel, where he served for a quarter century before his abrupt departure.
Berger left Grace Chapel in January 2021 after it was revealed he participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Berger’s presence at the rally, and his growing fervor for Christian dominionism, caused controversy at the church, which was attended by Tennessee’s Republican governor, and led to charges that he was an extremist, according to RNS.
Since then, Berger and his wife, Sarah, have focused their energies on Ambassador, which offers midweek worship services in Tennessee, Facebook posts, a YouTube channel, and a blog with posts including, “Are the Woke Primed for a Great Awakening?”
Speaker Johnson apparently began staying at Bergers’ townhouse in January. Berger celebrated with a social media message to his supporters, writing, “I so wish I could tell you all the massive doors that broke open this week,” according to ProPublica.
The news outlet summarized Berger’s political views: “He is vehemently opposed to the World Health Organization, which Trump moved to withdraw the U.S. from last month, and recently predicted that COVID-19 vaccines will result in ‘young people dropping dead all over the place.’ He attacked the World Economic Forum at length in a recent sermon, accusing it of ‘taking advantage of COVID-19 ‘to implement their satanic plot.’”
Steve and Sarah Berger
Sarah Berger says she spends her time “in relationship with and pouring into the lives of congressional wives.”
“Steve and Sarah have cultivated meaningful relationships with Israeli officials, actively extending their encouragement and unwavering support to the Israeli Defense Forces,” says Ambassador.
Steve Berger claims his work has paid off in legislation, but Johnson’s office says the speaker never has discussed any legislation with Berger and pays fair market value for his room at the townhouse. Johnson declined to answer questions about his relationship with Ambassador or Berger.
Lee Beaman
Ambassador’s townhouse is owned by Lee Beaman, who earned a fortune from his auto sales business in Tennessee and has funded Republican candidates — focusing on members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus — and the Heritage Foundation, which created the Project 2025 blueprint for the Trump administration.
Beaman serves on the Belmont University board of trustees, but took a four-year absence from the board after divorce proceedings against his fourth wife publicly revealed shocking accusations of abuse.
Freedom Caucus members saluted Berger on his 60th birthday, including Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who has proposed amending the U.S. Constitution to “Give President Trump a Third term!”
One of the former residents of Ambassador’s D.C. townhouse is Dan Bishop, who represented North Carolina in the U.S. House from 2019 to 2025 and sponsored a controversial “bathroom bill” regarding transgender bathroom access that led some companies to cancel their investments in the state. Trump has nominated Bishop to serve as deputy director of the federal Office of Management and Budget.
Indeed. And what’s worse, Steve Berger and his wife are authors of a VERY popular book among evangelicals called HAVE HEART, which describes how they are in regular contact with their dead son Josiah.
From Lighthouse Trails website:
As Warren Smith documents in “The Titanic and Today’s Church”, chapter one, Steve Berger promotes communicating with the dead (i.e., necromancy). Smith explains:
“In 2010, Steve Berger, head pastor of the Grace Chapel megachurch in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, wrote a book with his wife Sarah titled Have Heart: Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth. The book described how they claim to be in spiritual contact with their deceased son Josiah. . . . the Bergers wrote that their deceased son Josiah has been directly communicating with the two of them, their children, and some of their friends. . . .The Bergers cited [an] incident in detail, telling readers that the visit proves that departed loved ones can communicate and interact with those on Earth. (pp. 31-32)
What 1st cautioned me was the “alphabet rights” legislation, then I when I read “the rally that lead to the attack…” which threw me off because it wasn’t the rally. but the FBI infiltrators and the BLM who did any attacking. But the nail in the coffin was the Dominionism that sealed my conviction that this guy is lost and deceptive, This is why we should be praying for our government leaders DAILY! We can’t just blow it off just because our God is Sovereign. Pray ceasingly!
Trump has no business nominating a queer friendly person (Dan Bishop) for an important govt post who has now a track record for sponsoring queer loving legislation in his home state no less. That is an in ur face bold commitment to evil & admittance u are a tool of the devil. That’s how I see it. Trump should too. So where is Paula White, Trump’s “spiritual advisor” on this?
Indeed. And that’s not the worst of it. Berger is practicing necromancy, talking to the dead:
From Lighthouse Trails website: Warren Smith documents how Steve Berger promotes communicating with the dead (i.e., necromancy). Smith explains:
In 2010, Steve Berger wrote a book with his wife Sarah titled Have Heart: Bridging the Gulf Between Heaven and Earth. The book described how they claim to be in spiritual contact with their deceased son Josiah. . . . the Bergers wrote that their deceased son Josiah has been directly communicating with the two of them, their children, and some of their friends. . . .The Bergers cited [an] incident in detail, telling readers that the visit proves that departed loved ones can communicate and interact with those on Earth. (pp. 31-32)
And I got in a lot of trouble for exposing the Berger’s teaching of necromancy many years ago, but I felt that I had no choice. God forbids this practice…
Totally stand with you Geri. We were watching a sermon from the Jerusalem Assembly where Pastor Meno Kalisher said that right theology leads to right practice and wrong theology leads to wrong practice.
Steve Berger is an apostate. 2 Peter 2:1-9.
After the Lord showed great mercy and rescued me from the Kingdom Now, Faith Prosperity Gospel teaching I would warn people that this teaching is preparing those who have been seduced by it for the Antichrist and his Kingdom.
AMEN, brother Ken!
I learned from Walter Martin this quote “Error begats error.” It’s helped my discernment immensely. So with the Bible & the Holy Spirit’s guidance they are
infallible tools in critiquing the “God’s doing a new thing” babble. Martin also illustrates God’s keeping power that when the devil knocks on your spiritual door (hopping u open it) instead the Holy Spirit answers the door & tells the devil, “get lost”. Don’t ignore that little nudge we all get from time to time…it’s probably the Lord’s warning to depart for our own good.
I really loved watching Walter Martin on the John Ankerberg show!
Makes you wonder if these people even read the Bible. There is no way anyone can misinterpret the scriptures that forbid us from contacting the dead. This is self-deception and they are dragging gullible people down this path to hell with them. That’s the sad part.
Amen!