March for Jesus

Mike King holds a microphone, addressing the March for Jesus. In the foreground, a listener wears a bright red shirt that reads JESUS SAVES

Page Last Updated: 10/2024

Event Date: August 25, 2024

Organized by: Revive Boston

White Supremacists/Fascists Present:

  • Tom Johnson (Regional Coordinator, Tactical Civics)
  • Michael King (CEO, Massachusetts Family Institute)

Key Takeaways/Facts:

  • Revive Boston organized The March for Jesus. Revive Boston is an evangelical Christian organization run by Demetri “Jaymz” Sideras. Sideras also runs a church plant, 12D, in Somerville, MA. This group teaches explicitly anti-gay, anti-trans, and Islamophobic beliefs. For example, that homosexuality is a “demon,” and that Islam is the beast led by the anti-Christ in the Book of Revelation. 
  • One speaker called for the “fire of redemption to rain down” on Muslims. Many Muslim community members were present on Boston Common for a different event.
  • Tom Johnson, Regional Coordinator of Tactical Civics, was holding an Appeal to Heaven flag. This flag signals support for the rightwing January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. Johnson has spoken at several meetings of Citizens Organized to Restore Rights (CORR).
  • Speakers included:
    • Michael King of the anti-LGBTQ lobby group Massachusetts Family Institute. He spoke against education about racism and sex ed in public schools. He also made transphobic comments about the inclusion of trans girls in sports. 
    • Henry M. Morse, the leader of a Messianic Jewish congregation who spoke in favor of Zionism.
  • Tablers at the event promoted:
    • A Million Women: An Esther Call to the Mall. They are connected to the Her Voice Movement and Don’t Mess With Our Kids, run by Jenny Donnelly. These organizations held transphobic rallies in Boston and Providence in April 2024. 
    • An event featuring Melinda Priest, Pastor of Awaken City Church. Awaken City Church was connected to Public Coffee in Jamaica Plain, which was a front for the anti-LGBTQ Wesleyan Church. (Public Coffee was pushed out by local community members in 2023, but Awaken City Church still exists at its old location.)
    • The Boston Center for Pregnancy Choices, an anti-abortion, disinformation-spreading “crisis pregnancy center”.

Impact:

  • This event demonstrated the ties between a variety of far-right political groups, anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion groups, and evangelical Christian churches in the Boston area.

Media Coverage: