To a nerdy homeschooled teenager in the deeply churched South, conferences were a normal part of life. I remember singing martial psalms in the Blue Ridge Mountains during an all-day family seminar, being introduced by my pastor-grandfather to Tim Keller at a beachside denominational assembly, and the thunder of fireworks at a Jamestown quadricentennial.

But I would have been shocked, as many were online this week, to discover a conservative protestant conference with a vendor hall table hosted by America’s best-known Neonazi publishing house, stacked with materials glorifying Adolf Hitler. This was reality at the ironically named “The War for Normal” conference in Ogden, Utah. The conference was put on by New Christendom Press, a protestant publishing house associated with a local independent Reformed congregation called Refuge Church.

Refuge’s senior pastor is no more normal than his conference. An iTunes chart-topping Christian musician, Brian Sauvé’s influence stretches far beyond his congregation. He’s a successful podcaster, alongside his co-pastors Eric Conn and Ben Garrett, the creators behind the massively popular “Haunted Cosmos” show that explores the paranormal and a universe that is “not just stuff,” as their stylish branding states.

Not every pastor would issue an hour-long response to the outcry that erupted over the self-labeled Nazi vendor at his conference and largely defend the books. Read more»

Eli McGowan | “Inside ‘The War for Normal’: How a Christian conference ended up selling Nazi propaganda” | The Christian Post | June 19, 2026

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