Our Story

Christians Against Trumpism & Political Extremism was founded by friends and partners John Kingston and Joel Searby. It is at root a spiritual endeavor, because John and Joel believe in the potential for renewal in our church and the nation.

As they surveyed the landscape, they noticed something both shocking and yet at the same time unsurprising.  Five years into the rise of Trumpism and the acquiescence of the evangelical/historically orthodox Church in the spiritual darkness of the day, no one in such circles had organized to stand against the darkness of Trumpism and other political extremism.

John and Joel stepped into this space, gathering those already standing against that darkness, but with no place to call home. They aim to build a large community speaking into the darkness, united to launch into the next phase of re-imagining and re-grounding the church’s engagement in civic life.

Because without question — the evangelical church’s long-standing failure to teach people how to engage as citizens of the kingdom of heaven in our republic is at least partially at fault.   From within our own tribe, we must launch a reform.

John Kingston is a lawyer by training and Fortune 500 senior executive by experience, whose faith has inspired him to invest his fortune in awakening America to values that made her a nation unrivaled in human history. Kingston’s book, “American Awakening: Eight Principles to Restore the Soul of America,” was recently released by Zondervan, as part of the American Awakening movement (a “campaign for the soul of America”) he founded in 2019.

Joel Searby, a long-time Republican political operative, resigned in 2016 as the CEO of a large consulting firm, left the Republican Party to help recruit an independent candidate for president, and eventually ran Evan McMullin’s campaign. He has since worked to advance independent candidates and spark spiritual awakening through various initiatives around the country.

This campaign is an initiative of Stand Up Republic, a 501(c) 4 organization founded by McMullin and Mindy Finn, with a mission to mobilize a national cross-partisan constituency to defend and strengthen American democracy.

Leadership Committee