Coming to Redding: Meet & Greet Set for Saturday, Nov 15 from 1-3 PM

November 6, 2025

REDDING–Harvest Rock Pastor and Author Ché Ahn following God’s call to run for California Governor in 2026 is coming to Redding for a Meet & Greet sponsored by the Shasta County Republican Assembly on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 1-3 p.m. at the Donaldson Fine Art Center, 1232 Center Street.

Pastor, Author Ché Ahn Following God’s Call to Run for California Governor

“I had an encounter with the Lord on April 28, 2025 and I woke up at 2:22 in the morning. I think that number is significant because it represent Isaiah 22:22 for me:

‘The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open’ (NKJV).

“I knew God was calling me to run for California governor and my initial reaction was ‘Please God, not this. Anything but this. I knew it was the voice of the Lord and I threw a crazy fleece out. I need confirmation and if President Trump invites me to the White House, then I know it is really from you.

“I had met President Trump twice in 2024. Once in February at Mar-a-Lago (Florida) and then in Atlanta (Georgia), Charlie Kirk invited me along with other pastors before a big rally and I was one of four pastors asked to pray for President Trump.

“I said to the Lord, I have never been invited to the White House and five hours later, I got an email inviting me to the White House. President Trump asked me to come to the National Day of Prayer and a handful of pastors were invited on the day the president signed the executive order for the Religious Commission set up on May 1st.

“I shared it with my wife and family and they all affirmed it. I still had to get a number of things in order. I am pastor of a church and I lead a network of churches and I had to submit to the board what they thought and everybody gave me the green light and I made the announcement on Aug. 2, 2025 that I was running for governor.”

Why the Reluctance?

“We have a supermajority of Democrats and we have only 25 percent registered in California as Republicans and I’m a Republican and to run as a Republican true to my values, I knew it is going to take a miracle to win and it will take a miracle to turn California around. But God is the God of miracles.”

(Editor’s Note: To see TV host and author Billy Hallowell’s Christian Post 13-minute Nov. 5 interview with Pastor Ché Ahn on God calling him to run for Governor of California.)

Real Issues and Real Solutions

“Just a few years ago, I stood in the pulpit of an empty sanctuary, preaching to a camera while Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration threatened pastors and fined churches simply for gathering in worship. In 2020, the state of California dispatched law enforcement not to quell crime but to shutter churches, silence Christian voices, and stifle the essential ministries that feed the hungry, heal the broken, and bind the wounds of our communities.”

True California Leadership is Lacking

“Today, the same governor refuses to speak with such clarity or conviction as lawless mobs roam the streets of Los Angeles. The selective application of justice has become glaring. When peaceful believers gathered in prayer during a pandemic, we were called threats. When rioters loot business and burn the city, they are met with tolerance or outright encouragement.”

An Immigrant’s Perspective

“As an immigrant born in South Korea to Korean parents. I know what it means to come to this nation in search of freedom and opportunity. My parents did it the right way–legally, patiently, and with a profound respect for the rule of law. That reverence for order is not merely civic, but biblical. Romans 13 is clear: government is instituted by God to uphold justice and restrain evil. When a government inverts that mandate–punishing the religious while protecting the lawless–it abdicates its moral authority.”

Law & Order is Necessary for Society to Function

“God commands us to treat the sojourner with compassion and dignity. But there is a clear difference between a lawful immigrant seeking refuge and an invader who despises our laws and engages in criminal violence. Exodus 12:49 declares, ‘The same law shall apply to the native and to the stranger who resides among you.’ A just society needs order and equal justice before the law to function, and both of these require strong, consistent leadership.”

Equal Justice Must Return

“That leadership is obviously lacking here in California. Order has been replaced with riots. Justice has been displaced by partiality. Christians must model both compassion and conviction. We are to be salt and light–not passive participants in lawlessness, but bold witnesses who speak the truth in love. Law-abiding immigration honors God. Rioting and rebellion do not. And a government that fails to distinguish between the two fails the people it was meant to serve.”

Thankful for U.S. Armed Forces Fighting in Korea

(Editor’s Note: Watch Leslie Sawyer interviewing Ché Ahn from Mountain Top Media.)

“I have been a pastor for 46 years. I grew up here as a legal immigrant and became a citizen in this great country we live in. My father was a pastor born in North Korea. In 1945, my dad was stuck overnight in a concentration camp when he spoke out against communism and was arrested. This is the Marxist ideology to arrest all pastors.

“Because of the U.S. Armed Forces, my father was able to get released. I was born in 1956 after the Korean War. I love the United States. I wouldn’t be here if it was not for the Armed Forces. I want to say a big thank you because 35,000 American soldiers laid down their lives for us, Koreans.”

COVID and a Church Lawsuit and Victory Against Governor Newsom

“COVID was about control. We saw that during COVID in 2020. Gov. Newsom opened up marijuana clinics, casinos, and a strip club in San Diego. He came across as being a nice guy but he locked down mom and pop stores. Some 18,000 businesses were closed under Gov. Newsom.

“So in July, 2020 we sued Gov. Newsom and I got in more trouble. I got a letter from a Pasadena attorney saying, ‘We’re going to arrest you and your jail term will be one year (because Ché Ahn had refused to close the church down) and this is just like what happened to my Dad, ‘if you disobey, we’re going to arrest you’ and they said: ‘We’re fining your church (this is part of the cancel culture; they wanted to bankrupt the church) $4.5 million. We have a good-sized budget, but we’re talking about a year’s budget taken away from us.

“The only thing that kept me from being arrested from that egregious, evil letter, was that I didn’t know that my case would go all the way to the Supreme Court. You don’t pick the Supreme Court. They have to pick you. I sued California with the network of churches that I oversee. I lead a network of churches. We are in 73 nations. We have 150 churches in California and I asked all the pastors if they would become plaintiffs and they all agreed and we submitted this lawsuit and by God’s grace and by Feb. 5, 2021 we won.

We got a $1.3 million settlement which I gave to Liberty Counsel Mat Staver because they were serving us pro bono and they said this was the biggest settlement they had ever received. We’re glad they got blessed. This was a landmark case and it set a precedent for the entire United States and not just churches in California.”

My Battles in California

“If I can use an illustration from the Bible. I relate to David. In fact, 1 Samuel 17 is the passage (the battle between a young David who slew Goliath the Philistine giant) that God gave to me, that I’m to run for governor.

“I’m a shepherd. I’m a pastor. I’m not a professional politician. I definitely am not a soldier that Israel was looking for to take on Goliath–some military man to kill Goliath but it was some shepherd boy who was unknown.

“I’m not going to play the political game in California. I’m coming with the heart of a pastor and I want to be a pastor and governor for all of California–not just for the conservatives. I want to represent everyone, including Democrats.”

Fighting Against Regulations and For Energy

“We have to unite our state for us to overcome some of the evil, the egregious policies here: the greening of California, the net zero emission promise made by Newsom by 2045 is so unbalanced, so unrealistic.

“The regulations, the taxes on gas have caused two refineries and now a third one wanting to leave California. You used to have 20 refineries and now we are down to nearly seven and as a result the gas prices–everything rises with energy. They say that the crude oil index has a correlation with our food prices here in California and the United States as well.

“The crazy irony is that we have enough oil to provide not only for our state but for every state in the United States. It is amazing, just in Kern County alone, we have more petroleum than the state of Texas.

“This is so evil that Newsom closed down the wells and we are importing 80 percent of our petroleum from Saudi Arabia, from Kuwait, from Iraq. Here is the crazy irony: Diesel transportation of these tankers is causing more pollution than we would if we would produce the oil and open up our wells. This is an emergency, a crisis for our economy.”

The Homeless Crisis in California

“We are $20 billion in debt and we’re spending $5 billion a year on the homeless and $24 billion the last five years, and we have nothing to show for it. We have a 40 percent increase in homelessness.”

Qualities For a Governor

“We need a governor who is tough and courageous. It is the grace of God; because I fear the Lord. One thing I have learned over the years is that when you fear God, you do not fear man. I am going to do what is right and just and compassionate.”

Rich State, Yet Poor and Middle Class Hurting

“If California were a nation, we would be the fourth richest; yet some 30 percent of Californians are living in poverty. That is a travesty and I want to end that. The middle class cannot afford to buy a house. I’m going to remove the regulations and the fees that go into opening up a new home.”

Environmental Regulations Stopping Development of New Homes, Impacting Gas and Jet Fuel

“Environmental regulations are stopping the development of new homes, drilling of oil, including new drilling and we need smart energy policies.

“We only have water for 20 million people. The aqueduct system is marvelous–one of the seven great wonders of the world–but it was created for 20 million and we have 39 million now (one million have left California because they are so fed up with the mess we have here).

“I want to handle the infrastructure with things that might be radical for the extreme left but I feel is common sense balance. We use 30 million gallons of gas every day and this is not going away. We’re the number one user of jet fuel in all the states because of all the airports in California. We don’t have the grid for all-electric cars.”

Creation Care; Not an Environmentalist

“I’m into creation care. I’m not an environmentalist. We are to steward everything, including God’s creation. When God created the earth, He said it was good but when He created man–He created them male and female. On my watch, I’m going to declare there are two genders and not 57 options of your identity. I am going to reduce it down to two.

“Some people will be upset but this is based on common sense, thousands of years of tradition. Biologically, it is just science but let’s talk. I want to hear your heart.

Give me the reasons why we should keep policies and I will share with you why it’s hurting the average person.”

A Public Servant

“I’m not going to be a totalitarian dictator. I am a public servant. I work for the people of California and I want to be their best servant ever by making California glorious again. That is my commitment.”

The State of Freedom – A Vision of Restoration for California

Pastor Ché Ahn speaks on restoring sanity, family values, and economic growth to the Golden State on the The State of Freedom podcast #345 with Chris Alexander and Danielle Walker.)

The Pastor Who Took on Governor Newsom and Won, Now Seeks His Seat

“California stands at a crossroads. Will we be a state where biblical values and lawful order are respected–or a state where the rule of law collapses under political expediency? The leaders that we choose in 2026 will embody that choice.”

(Editor’s Note: See Ché Ahn’s campaign website at: https://che4ca.com/.)

Pastor and Christian Author Ché Ahn’s Books

Pastor and Christian Author Ché Ahn has written 14 books with two of them co-authored with Bethel Pastor Bill Johnson: Modern-Day Apostles: Operating in Your Apostolic Office and Anointing (2019) and The Grace of Giving: Unleashing the Power of a Generous Heart (2013) with second edition (2025).

Ché Ahn’s other 12 books include:

• Into The Fire: How You Can Enter Renewal and Catch God’s Holy Fire (1998)
• Fire Evangelism: Reaching The Lost Through Love and Power (2025)
• Blueprints for Transformation: Bringing Revival and Reformation to the Nations (2024)
• Turning Our Nation Back To God: Through Historic Revival (2022)
• God Wants To Bless You!: How to Experience the Unconditional Goodness of God (2015)
• Say Goodbye to Powerless Christianity: Walking in Supernatural Surrender and Significance (2009)
• When Heaven Comes Down: Experiencing God’s Glory in Your Life (2009)
• Spirit-Led Evangelism: Reaching the Lost through Love and Power (2008)
• Close Encounters Of The Divine Kind: Making contact with God, the ultimate extraterrestrial (2007)
• How To Pray for Healing: Understanding and Releasing the Healing Power Available to Every Christian with C. Wagner (2003)
• Hosting the Holy Spirit (2000)
• The Authority of The Believer and Healing (1999)