Before Awaken Church held its first “preview service” at the Hotel del Coronado on Jan. 28, around 50 protesters gathered near the hotel’s entrance, lining Orange and Adela avenues from 4 to 5 p.m.
Michelle Bjorklund, a Coronado resident who helped organize the demonstration, stood outside the Hilton-owned hotel alongside protesters who chanted “no place for hate” to passersby.
“There’s that freedom of religion aspect, they [Awaken Church] have the right to be here. But when they start booking a service at the Hilton – an organization that claims to have a 100% rating by the [Human Rights Campaign] – they really promote that they are an LGBTQ+ welcoming organization and we felt that it really went against its own policy,” said Bjorklund.
The controversy stems from Awaken’s politicized brand of evangelism, which blends Christian nationalism and right-wing political activism with biblical messages.
Protesters held up pride flags and LGBTQ+ affirming signs, while sporting rainbow clothing.
Third-generation Coronado resident Margo Rhodes was among the group, holding a sign in one hand that read “No hate!!” and a mini pride flag in the other.
“Coronado doesn’t tolerate hate, Coronado is better than hate,” said Rhodes. “I disagree with Christian militarism, I disagree with bias against groups of people like LGBTQIA, I disagree with their concept of Christianity. I think it’s completely misguided and I don’t think Jesus would want anything to do with this. Hopefully [Awaken] isn’t coming here, hopefully we have a voice to say people who elicit hate are not welcome here.”
500 attendees at the service
While protesters lined along the sidewalk that leads to Founders Hall’s entrance, around 500 attendees were present at the service inside the Hotel Del’s Founders Ballroom B at 5 p.m. The number of attendees met the ballroom’s seating capacity.
The service opened with worship, followed by campus pastors at Awaken’s Eastlake location, Mike and Katy Yeager, introducing themselves.
“We’ve been out here in Coronado for three years,” Katy Yeager said. “To be honest, this is God’s idea and it is so beautiful to see how much God loves this island … how much he loves you.”
Mike Yeager welcomed Rev. Jurgen Matthesius, founder and senior pastor of Awaken Church, on stage to deliver a sermon, titled “Casting Crowns,” and to preach on a biblical verse, 1 Samuel 9, which is about a prophet being anointed to save a community from the Philistines.
“We are here on Coronado … because God wants us to bring a shift over the atmosphere,” Matthesius said.
In reference to 1 Samuel 9, he added, “The culture, the climate, the spiritual condition over the city was faithless … Wherever faith drops, perversion increases.”
Diane Cook, who has been a resident of Coronado for 12 years, said she has known about Awaken for around a year. Although this was her first Awaken service and she is not a member, Cook said she wanted to attend to support the church.
“A year ago, they [Awaken] tried to go to the [Village] Theatre and they received a lot of backlash,” Cook said. “I felt like [some of] these protestors took his [Matthesius] comments way out of context.”
The backlash prompted Cook to do research about Awaken, which is when she became aware of the church’s desire to expand.
“They feel like God’s put it on their heart to have a campus here, because then they have all parts of the compass rose: north, south, east and west county,” Cook said.
Expansion sparked concern
This expansion has sparked concern among some island residents throughout the past year, and prompted a grassroots movement to attempt blocking Awaken from opening a new church in Coronado.
In response to the backlash, during a 2023 sermon Matthesius said “the demoniacs on Coronado…don’t get to dictate. We’re gonna drive them out and the church is coming to Coronado.”
Among the concerned residents was Brad Willis, an ex-foreign correspondent for NBC News, who first learned about Awaken via social media in 2022, where he saw that Awaken was supporting a group of candidates for that year’s Coronado School Board elections.
“In the more than 30 years I have lived in Coronado full time, I had never seen an outside group seeking to directly impact our local elections like this,” Willis said in an email interview with The Coronado News. “When I started looking into Awaken, I was shocked to find out what it was all about. Its founder streams hate speech on his social media feed, vilifies public education, calls people vile and demonic, and shares homophobic, racist, and antisemitic posts along with calls for torture and public execution, conspiracy theories and Q-Anon disinformation.”
Willis encourages readers to contact the Del
This prompted Willis to start writing blog posts on his online Substack site about Awaken in October 2022.
Following the news of Awaken hosting a service at the Hotel del Coronado, Willis encouraged readers in a Jan. 19 blog post to contact the Hotel del Coronado and The Hilton, which manages the Del, to outline their concerns about Awaken hosting their service on the hotel’s property.
“Let them know you love Coronado and greatly appreciate the hotel,” Willis wrote. “This will be a public relations disaster for them and do damage to our community. I can’t imagine they really want to be associated with a group such as this. Please be firm but kind, considerate and respectful.”
The Coronado News asked the Hotel Del about the planned event. According to a spokesman for Hilton, which manages the landmark venue, “The Hotel del Coronado … serves as a place of public accommodation and does not adopt or endorse the views of any individuals or third-party groups and organizations. Our goal is to provide a high-quality product and service per the contractual agreements in place with our clients.”
The Coronado News reached out to Mike Yeager on Jan. 25 about the “preview service” at the Hotel Del, but he has yet to respond.
There are currently eight Awaken Church campuses, with six in San Diego, one in Boise, Idaho and one in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In a video shown during the service, Awaken leaders Marco and Natalie Contreras explained the church’s plans for expansion, including Coronado.
“Every building that we purchase, every territory we take, represents 1500-2500 more [people] as we transform them through church [that is] fresh, real and powerful,” Marco said.
“Every week, we are excited about new locations launching,” Natalie said. “We are going from eight campuses to soon-to-be ten, with the launch of our Mission Valley location and Coronado.”
