Audience members lined up to share personal stories and ask questions about combating Christian nationalism while maintaining community relationships. Moscow City Councilor Julia Parker was first to the mike, asking how to “be a good, welcoming, kind community” while fighting “this Christian nationalist church.”

More than 250 people packed the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center in Moscow, Idaho, on Friday evening for a live recording of “Sons of Patriarchy,” a podcast dedicated to exposing what its producers describe as abuse within Christ Church Moscow and Pastor Doug Wilson’s broader religious movement.

The podcast producers deliberately scheduled their first Moscow visit to coincide with Grace Agenda, Christ Church’s weekend conference themed around C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series.

“We’re all here because of a guy you know in this town. I won’t even say his name,” said producer Peter Bell to loud applause as he took the stage. “If you’re human, you want him gone.”

Jeff Moss, a Palouse resident and former Christ Church member who appeared twice on the podcast, noted the significance of hosting the event in Moscow during Grace Agenda. Moss left the church 10 years ago after serving as a pastor in the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), the denomination Wilson helped found.

“‘Sons of Patriarchy’ gives voice to people who have been abused in a number of ways by churches, by CREC, by churches influenced by Doug Wilson’s ideas,” Moss said.

Moscow represents “ground zero” for the movement, he explained, because Christ Church is based there and many church families send their children to New Saint Andrews College, Wilson’s affiliated institution, even though the church’s influence extends nationally and internationally.

The church’s rapid growth has transformed Moscow’s landscape. Since 2019, Christ Church has doubled in size, driven by families with four to six children on average and what Wilson calls emigration from blue states. The church recently completed a new 1,200-seat church hall on Dominion Avenue, though Wilson says they’ve already outgrown it. Construction continues on a new campus for the affiliated Logos School, which serves 750 students, while church members operate multiple businesses throughout downtown Moscow.

Bell, who launched the podcast nine months ago, described their purpose in visiting Moscow.

“We’re the bully of the bullies. We make sure we keep you safe,” he said noting Wilson’s brash approach by critics.

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