Josh Howerton Says America’s Spiritual “Tide Is Turning” as Prodigal Nation Returns to God

August 10, 2026

Lakepointe Church Pastor Josh Howerton says he believes a renewed movement of God is taking shape across the United States as what he called a “prodigal nation” begins turning back toward its Heavenly Father.

Christianity Daily reports that Howerton, whose Texas megachurch attracts roughly 30,000 attendees each week, shared his views during an episode of “The Shawn Ryan Show.”

During the interview, the pastor described hostility toward Christianity as evidence of a larger spiritual conflict, telling host Shawn Ryan, “There’s this tacit assumption throughout the entire Bible that Satan is really over all of the world’s systems and that’s why everything in the world aligns against one thing in particular: Christianity, Christ and Christians.”

Howerton pointed to what he described as signs of spiritual change within the United States and said church leaders are seeing unprecedented numbers of people accepting Christ and being baptized.

According to Christianity Daily, Howerton argues that although the devil has gained considerable “momentum on the field” by influencing modern culture, evil ultimately exposes itself through excess.

Howerton said, “The obviousness of darkness has become so smack you in the face” that many people, particularly young men, have “awakened to the reality that there was a non-ignorable dark force in the world. If there’s a darkness, there must be a light. And that light has a name, and his name is Jesus Christ. I honestly think that’s a lot of what’s going on.”

“I feel like we’ve got a bit of a prodigal nation,” Howerton told Ryan, comparing America to the biblical son who eventually realizes, “Everything else didn’t work, but I know I can go home to dad.”

He added, “We tried everything else, and it didn’t work. I wonder if I could go home to my Heavenly Father.”

Photo: top, Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Lakepointe Church