A billion-dollar company is remaking a Washington town in Christianity's image

Wealthy believers linked to extremist Doug Wilson are transforming Battle Ground, Washington through business, politics, and real estate

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The small town of Battle Ground, Washington—just north of Portland, Oregon—is rapidly becoming a place run by Christians, for Christians, and the speed of its transformation is downright frightening.

And if you’re thinking that sounds a lot like Moscow, Idaho, where Christian Nationalist theocrat Doug Wilson has built himself a mini-empire centered around his Christ Church, that’s because he’s directly linked to the people now doing the same thing in Battle Ground.

Back in March, Camden Spiller, the owner of the electrical equipment company Maddox Industrial Transformer, explained in a local newspaper the three main reasons why he and his brother were investing so heavily in the town:

The first is that this is our home. And we hope to help make Battle Ground an even better place to live, work and raise a family.

…

Secondly, investing in our hometown helps us retain great employees and leaders here at home, because strong local businesses and amenities make it easier for people to build their lives and careers in Battle Ground.

The third, and most personal, reason we choose to invest in Battle Ground is rooted in our faith. One of the most influential Bible verses in my life comes from the book of Jeremiah: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you.”

Whether or not you share our faith, our community is strengthened when we each, in our own ways, seek the peace and prosperity of the place we share.

For us, that place is Battle Ground.

That was… ominous. Maddox is expected to make about $1 billion in revenue by 2027. That sort of money in a town of about 20,000 people could give Spiller and his family unfathomable power to impose Christianity upon everyone there. Even if they can’t legally force it, they can make clear that only Christians like them are welcome in the community.

And that’s what’s been happening.

In April, reporter Erik Neumann of Oregon Public Broadcasting wrote a lengthy article connecting many of these dots. He noted that Maddox (the company) had invested in “at least 30 properties” in the community. While some see that as a step forward—it’s revitalizing parts of the town!—it’s also a way to make sure the company has control over the town’s success. That also means, however, that other company owners are now unable to truly push back if anything Maddox does is bad for the town:

OPB contacted a dozen residents, public officials and business owners in buildings owned by Spiller or near Spiller acquisitions. Some, like the city manager, felt positive about the changes. Others were mixed.

Several declined to discuss the recent purchases. Two said they needed to remain neutral on the subject. Three said they didn’t want to speak publicly about the changes that were connected to Spiller and Maddox.

“I don’t want any part of it,” one business owner said when asked for an interview about Maddox’s recent property acquisitions. “They’re a $1 billion company. They push on me and I disappear.”

Just to give you an example of what that looks like in practice, the company opened up Al & Ernie’s Bakery, a place that’s “founded on Christian values” and which quietly pushes faith on you from the moment you place an order:

Customers waiting for orders there receive buzzers that cite a Bible passage: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

It’s also closed on Sundays, naturally. So is the local taphouse.

That may seem innocuous, but that’s what they’re doing with a bakery. Now imagine what could happen if Spiller and his allies were to take over local government. Would the officials be able to say no to projects Spiller wanted to develop even if they were bad for the community? Would they use their power to pass religious proclamations?

Guess what? These concerns are already playing out:

In January, Eric Overholser, a production operations manager at Maddox, was elected mayor after serving as a city councilor since 2023. Deputy Mayor Aimee Vaile is married to a Maddox employee. Another Maddox employee was recently elected to the local school board.

One of the buildings that Spiller is creating will soon be home to a pastor named C.R. Wiley, a leader in the ultra-conservative Presbyterian Church in America, who has religious and professional ties to… you guessed it. Doug Wilson.

The church pastor for whom Spiller is building a new chapel has spoken about the importance of “governing unbelievers.” That pastor, C.R. Wiley, has ties to a prominent self-described Christian nationalist in Moscow, Idaho, who wants his faith to shape how that town is run and who has endorsed turning the Ten Commandments into civic law.

In 2023, OPB notes, Wiley co-hosted a podcast called The Battle Ground Project in which he and his colleague talked about what they hoped the town would become, and they weren’t subtle about their intentions.

[Co-host and Maddox development manager Max] Booth and Wiley described the show as “an experiment in Christian localism,” a term that refers to promoting Christian values in a person’s local sphere of influence, whether that’s politics, work or recreation. They discussed business and politics in Battle Ground on the show and posted episodes online.

Shortly after OPB began investigating this story, the episodes were removed from podcast feeds.

That can’t be good news…

The podcast wasn’t the only place Wiley discussed the future of Battle Ground. That same year, he delivered a lecture called “Building culture in hostile territory” at a religious conference. He said the church (arguably with the help of Spiller) was creating all the spaces you’d want to go and hang out with friends outside of your home and work. So a local bakery would “double as a Bible study location after hours.” Same with a local cigar shop.

“We want owned space,” Wiley said. “We want to be the people who have a very strong say, significant say, in how things are done and how the business is conducted.”

…

“What we, as Presbyterians and people who belong to the reformed tradition, bring to the larger church, are the resources of a public theology that helps us to govern unbelievers,” Wiley said during the talk.

There used to be a bar in the area—Main Street Bar—but when the owner wanted to sell, Maddox took it over and made sure it wasn’t a bar anymore:

A Main Street Bar Facebook post stated that the building — originally a movie theater before it became a bar of many names — “has a bright future but no longer a bar.”

“We’re going to keep the barbershop as it is, and then reconcept the bar,” Booth said. “It likely won’t be a bar again, but it will be something public-facing, serving the community.”

They’re not hiding their intentions even if they’re trying to hide the podcast.

This is now spilling over into the city council, where recent draft proclamations have condemned “Antifa-associated” violence and supported ICE. They’ve also promoted invocation prayers (which would inevitably be Christian-dominated)… while the council has rejected proclamations honoring Pride month and the Transgender Day of Visibility.

They’re being shady about it too:

Earlier this month [in May], the mayor approved another proclamation marking May 7 as a national day of prayer, and the council is considering adding a religious invocation to the start of its bimonthly meetings.

During Monday night’s meeting, one dissenting councilor warned that the seven-member body could be wading into murky legal territory as it considers instituting a prayer invocation at the start of city meetings.

“Just for the record, four of you do not want to let the public know our legal implications of adding prayer to this meeting,” said Councilor Troy McCoy after members voted not to publicly share past legal advice from city attorneys after the issue came up last year.

For what it’s worth, a local resident told me she submitted a Day of Reason proclamation for the city council to pass and they approved it. They’ll make the announcement in mid-July. But that doesn’t negate all the pro-Christian things this same council is pushing.

One concern is that residents will be oblivious to what’s happening until it’s too late, while the people who are tapped in to local politics—and able to make decisions—are already part of the Christian base. That’s why local activists have been raising to sound the alarms so that more people speak out against this Christian takeover fueled by religious extremism and a bottomless pit of money.

In case it’s not clear why this is all so concerning, just remember what Doug Wilson stands for and then realize his people are the ones taking over this town.

Wilson has openly admitted his theocratic fantasies about Moscow, Idaho: “I’d like to see the town be a Christian town. I’d like to see the state be a Christian state. I’d like to see the nation be a Christian nation. I’d like to see the world be a Christian world.”

He described women as nothing more than “the kind of people that people come out of.” He said they should be submissive to their husbands and—importantly—in his ideal world, women wouldn’t be allowed to vote. One of Wilson’s fellow pastors said on camera that he supported repealing the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Wilson believes abortion and homosexuality should be criminalized. He has said sodomy is “worse than slavery,” that abortion is “as great an evil as slavery,” and that slavery was a net positive because it “produced in the South a genuine affection between the races.”

Wilson protects abusers over the abused.

Wilson doesn’t believe Muslims, Hindus, or even “liberal” Christians should be allowed to hold office. (It’s safe to say that extends to atheists, too.)

That’s the mindset now creeping into Battle Ground. And it’s easy to miss because it’s not like they’re waving a Christian flag as they do it. They’re advancing Christian Nationalism through real estate purchases, business investments, school board races, city council seats, and community institutions. The strategy is to become so deeply embedded in everyday life that opposition feels futile.

People defending the Spillers will inevitably point to the new businesses, renovated buildings, and economic growth in support of what they’re doing. But prosperity by itself doesn’t undo the breakdown of pluralism. A town can have thriving businesses while becoming hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit a preferred religious mold. What’s the point of economic development if it doesn’t serve the entire community?

That’s why residents can’t afford to shrug this off. The people driving these changes are openly discussing the need to “govern unbelievers.” They are following a model pioneered by Wilson, a man whose vision for society includes subordinating women, criminalizing LGBTQ people, excluding religious minorities from public life, and blurring the line between church and state until it effectively disappears.

If residents believe their community should belong equally to Christians, non-Christians, and everyone in between, then they should speak up now, run for office soon, and push back aggressively while there’s still a town left to protect.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

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