REDDING (CA)
Religion News Service - Missouri School of Journalism [Columbia MO]
September 2, 2026
By Hannah Rott
Young worshippers say they hope the church’s troubles — including failed prophecies and pastoral misconduct — will lead to repentance and revival at a prominent Charismatic Christian church.
“Cast out the spirit of suicide, Lord!”
A congregant’s voice sailed over the loud, ambient keyboard and clear, emotion-laden vocals leading worship at a full Sunday evening service in early August.
Seated near the back, his words could be heard alternating between prayer and speaking in tongues.
Sha-ta-ta-ta-teh.
His hands, along with those of his neighbors, were pressed squarely on the shoulders of a writhing, tearful woman. Her sobs, almost indiscernible from brief outbursts of laughter erupting around the room, grew longer as his voice lost steam.
“Out, out!”
In the aisle, a graying middle-aged man lay face down on the carpeted floor. He was “soaking” — resting in God’s presence. Young men, in comfortable closeness, gripped each other’s necks, whispered words of prophecy and cried, uninhibited by the packed room.
Despite a recent scandal that made national headlines, the spirit still moves at Bethel Church, the flag bearer for cool, young California Pentecostalism. Bethel, a non-denominational megachurch with approximately 10,000 regular attendees, is located in one of the state’s most conservative counties. The church is considered one of the “Big 4” — a group of four charismatic megachurches whose worship songs dominate the market for church music.
The church markets itself as a hotspot for experiencing the manifest Holy Spirit — a place to be miraculously healed or witness gold dust fall supernaturally from the ceiling.
But in recent years, the church has experienced an ongoing series of controversies, including a false prophecy that Donald Trump would win the 2020 election and two weeks of prayer that failed to raise a 2-year-old from the dead, and, more recently, allegations of sexual misconduct by leaders.
Yet worshippers are still drawn to the church.
At a post-Sunday service afterparty on Aug. 9, a handful of Bethel’s young adults gathered in a Raising Cane’s parking lot to commune, eating fried chicken on camping chairs and listening to Christian rap. They’d just left the church, where the service was led by members of Tribe, Bethel’s young adult ministry.
“The Bible is filled with imperfect people. It is not filled with one perfect person besides Jesus,” said Henry Knight, a third-year student at Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry, an unaccredited Christian ministry training program.
“Paul was killing Christians, bro. Straight up killing Christians. And God turned his life around, and then he started doing crazy things.”
These young worshippers, like Knight, have decided to stick with Bethel, despite the church’s recent scandals.
That scandal began in January 2026, when Christian YouTuber Mike Winger published a six-hour video, accusing leaders at the church of covering up misconduct and false prophecies by Shawn Bolz, a frequent guest speaker at Bethel. The video, which has been viewed more than a million times, alleges that Bolz sexually harassed his staff and mined Facebook data to create false prophecies.
A month later, a former Bethel intern claimed she was sexually abused 16 years earlier by Bethel’s overseer of prophetic ministry, Ben Armstrong. At the time, Armstrong described the encounter as an affair, and his public confession was used as an example of repentance and restoration in a fellow Bethel pastor’s book.
Senior leaders like Bill Johnson, the church’s longtime leader, have stepped back from daily operations after being accused of failing to protect their flock. But they still remain part of the church’s elder board. Online, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) alumni have called for these leaders, and anyone involved in their “cover-up culture,” to step down.
Knight grew up in Florida and decided to attend the ministry school after experiencing a “radical encounter with Jesus” while visiting his brother in Redding. Each of his siblings had a similar encounter at Bethel, and now the whole Knight family attends the church.
“It’s not about Bethel. It’s not about BSSM,” Knight said. “It’s purely about people that have cultivated the authentic Christ.”
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He thinks the leaders are truly repenting — something that excited him because it could foster an environment for Bethel’s mission: revival.
Worshippers at churches like Bethel hope to usher in a new era of Christianity through modern-day apostles and prophets. Johnson is one of these modern-day apostles — anointed by God with gifts from the Holy Spirit — and Bethel hosts several prophets, many with their own international ministries.
After the false prophecy allegations arose, Bethel hosted a family meeting for regular attendees to get their questions answered by leadership. “I think it’s worth it,” Johnson said when asked what he would say to those who made major life decisions based on prophetic words from Bolz. “I think becoming a part of what God’s doing here, in spite of the failures, in spite of the blemishes, in spite of the wrong decisions, you know, that’s not who we are; it’s what we impart.”
Historically, Pentecostal movements like Bethel have a high tolerance for scandal, especially when leaders like Johnson are believed to have such a close connection with God.
“In theory, a leader could do all kinds of things that would violate traditional evangelical moral codes,” said Leah Payne, a historian and professor of American Religious History at Portland Seminary. “But if they are exhibiting the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there is a presumption there that that person is God’s person for the job.”
Even now, Bethel has not shied away from dealing in prophecies.
“Tell me: Where are the prophets who are waking up at three in the morning and standing on this street and that street and just screaming because God said so,” said Young Adults Pastor Brad Klynsmith at the Sunday evening Tribe takeover service on Aug. 9.
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Originally from Durban, South Africa, Klynsmith arrived in Redding in 2018 to attend BSSM. Since then, he worked his way up from a Revival Group Pastor for the BSSM online team to the young adult pastor. He spoke about how he felt about the senior leadership’s response in the aftermath of the controversy.
“I’m really proud to be associated with them,” Klynsmith said. “They’re incredible men … Their actual heart is to restore people and not to write people off.
Many Bethel critics disagree. A former youth leader who wished to remain anonymous stopped attending and quit her position soon after discovering the allegations. Regarding the false prophecies, she questioned how leaders like Johnson and Kris Vallotton didn’t catch on sooner.
“If you’re constantly in the word, you should have a really high discernment,” she said. “And the fact that you don’t really makes me question your qualifications for leading a church.”
She believes that leaders like Johnson failed to warn the congregation about the danger of pastoral misconduct. By doing so, she said, they put the church in danger.
“I don’t feel like women in the church are being protected,” she said.
Questions linger about Bethel’s future, including how many congregants they’ve lost and whether Armstrong will remain in a leadership position. But for now, the young people still come, eager to experience the Holy Spirit this close.
On a Thursday evening at Bethel’s satellite campus just down the road, at least 80 young adults gathered for Tribe on Aug. 13. Redding locals, recent BSSM graduates and incoming students convened for a smaller, more intimate service.
A young woman, dressed in trendy all-black clothing, removed her shoes and dropped to her knees at the front of the room, near the large wooden cross. Her face illuminated by the spotlights, she could be seen mouthing the words to Bethel Music’s “Elohim,” while a single tear rolled down her cheek.
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