The Seven Mountains Mandate: A Look at Dominion Theology
A former Grace City Church member highlights an apocalyptic prophecy that has moved from the fringe of American evangelicalism to the mainstream
Part I: The Seven Mountains Mandate
About a year ago, I did a series of interviews with a man who had grown up in the orbit of the McPherson family. He was a witness to the birth of Grace Covenant Church and watched its metamorphosis into Grace City Church.
Part of his story has been told, but there is still plenty more to tell. For privacy and safety reasons, I changed his name and refer to him as Teddy. One of the things Teddy mentioned during our first interview was the Seven Mountains Mandate, or as it’s sometimes known, the Seven Mountains prophecy. He said it was something discussed in GCC circles as he was growing up, although not widely and not in mixed company.
I had never heard of the term before and asked him to explain. He said the idea is that in order to bring about the second coming of Christ, Christians must dominate seven social mountains and proceeded to list a few: government, education, media, business, etc.
He said the idea was pretty fringe. I made a note to look it up and did but almost dismissed it as too out there to take seriously. But about six months later, I was watching a documentary series called “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed.” It’s a fascinating series about an international evangelical Christian megachurch that attracted wealthy and famous members, most notably Justin Bieber.
Near the end, the Seven Mountains Mandate came up, and it made me rethink my inclination not to take the concept seriously. So I started doing more research and found that the idea had caught on in Christian Nationalist circles in recent years.
It’s a form of Dominion Theology, which is “a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation which is governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law,” according to Wikipedia.
As I learned more about it, the more it seemed to help explain some of Grace City Church’s actions in recent years. In a 2013 new members intake workbook, GCC leaders write their goal is to “saturate our region” so thoroughly that it’s “impossible to live in Wenatchee without regularly bumping into a disciple-making disciple of Jesus.”
Here are a few examples:
Government
GCC leaders have and do urge their followers to run for elected office and make concerted efforts to court elected officials and law enforcement officers. Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett is a member and has been vocal about how his religious beliefs impact how he approaches his job.
Pastor Josh McPherson led a lawsuit against Washington State Governor Jay Inslee over public health mandates during the Covid pandemic and penned more than one manifesto in which he claimed religious leaders like him are above the law because his authority comes from God.
GCC also held religious exemption seminars for its members to help folks skirt Covid vaccine requirements from employers. Chelan County Commissioners also awarded the Chelan County Regional Justice Center’s jail chaplaincy contract to Grace City Church, although neither party has provided any explanation of how GCC intends to minister to LGBTQ+ or trans inmates.
Education
Wenatchee School Board members Katherine Thomas and Julie Norton are both GCC members, according to GCC’s membership directory. After a GCC-organized protest resulted in a Wenatchee School Board meeting being shut down, they failed to gain the three-member majority they needed to dominate the school board. The blowback from that is one of the reasons why Matt Van Bogart narrowly lost his bid for María Iñiguez’s seat. Since losing that election, Van Bogart and other members have taken to harassing the district with frivolous public records requests.
Public school students and their teachers even helped build Josh McPherson’s house.
Media
Dave Bernstein, the brand manager of the local Townsquare Media stations, is a GCC member who provides a large local platform to Josh McPherson and other GCC members, like Brian Burnett, to advertise their events and communicate their campaign messages.
GCC has its own multimedia production team and publishing house, churning out videos, digital content, and print products that go out to thousands.
Business
The executive director of the Chelan County PUD, Kirk Hudson, is a GCC elder. GCC members sit on the board of the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce, and large regional businesses like Ballard Ambulance are owned, operated, and largely staffed by GCC members.
According to Teddy and other former members, GCC leaders have made a point of reaching out to and cultivating membership among the wealthy and influential members of Wenatchee Valley society, especially those in agriculture and construction. Teddy said it’s one of the reasons they were able to raise more than $12 million from 863 donors to build their compound in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Wenatchee. $4.5 million of that was raised in just six months.
GCC even has its own construction company called Kingdom Builders Incorporated. It provides service to GCC at wholesale cost, “essentially donating their profit to the church,” wrote Josh McPherson.
So I reached out to Grace City Church to ask if they believe in or teach the Seven Mountains Mandate. They did not respond.
I also reached out to a local pastor named Jerry Beebe, head pastor at the Wenatchee First Assembly of God, who said he had heard of it.
“It's been around a long time. The original idea, I think, was these are the 7 areas of greatest influence in our culture. So as Christians, we need to use them to have a positive effect for Biblical values, etc. But in today's culture, in my humble opinion, it is more of a militant ‘take-over,’ often by force to control and manipulate behavior,” he wrote. “Jesus told Peter, ‘put down the sword.’ His plan was never to force Himself on anyone. Biblical values cannot be legislated. Christ wants to change one heart at a time as people are willing to yield to Him. As individuals are changed, organizations and even governments can be changed. God's Kingdom, at this time, should be an organic movement from bottom to top - not a forceful takeover from top to bottom.”
I’d like to speak to any other former members of Grace City Church or any church in North Central Washington that teaches the Seven Mountain Mandate.