Bryce Crawford says Burning Man festival spiritually darker than Satanic Temple HQ
Gen Z evangelist Bryce Crawford claimed that the spiritual darkness he discerned while sharing the Gospel at the Burning Man festival in Nevada was more oppressive than when he visited the headquarters of The Satanic Temple.
In a clip from an interview on "The Shawn Ryan Show" that first aired in May but recently recirculated on X, Crawford said the annual week-long desert event held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert was "probably the darkest place I've ever been."
Evangelist Bryce Crawford spent a week at Burning Man. Not to party — to preach.
— Jake (@JakeTbird) September 5, 2026
He told Shawn Ryan it was the darkest place he’s ever stood. Worse than the Satanic Temple, which he’d also evangelized in Salem.
Seventy thousand people in the Nevada desert for a week straight.… pic.twitter.com/R1CY0UIpGp
"It was worse than The Satanic Temple," he said, prompting surprise from Ryan, who had earlier introduced Crawford as someone "known for sitting down with satanists, a KKK leader, furries and people at Burning Man to share the Gospel with love, not condemnation."
"Well, they advertise it as an art festival. That's what they advertise it as: it's an art, free-thinking festival. So, Burning Man becomes the second-largest city in Nevada for a week: 70,000 to 80,000 people go there for an entire week. And it's not a free-thinking art festival. It's a big LSD orgy," Crawford said, going on to note that he had to ask God to protect his eyes and heart amid the rampant nudity and orgies.
He noted the festival, which began in 1986 on a beach in San Francisco to mark the summer solstice, features burning a wooden "temple" and a large wooden man in effigy that some people worship.
"It was very fascinating. I couldn't believe it was real. A lot of high-profile people [were] there that wouldn't want you to know that they were there. It's just like people live a double life," he said.
Crawford said the event "was really dark," noting he felt a strange weight on his chest when he was doing his ministry there.
"But we were able to talk to people and have fruitful conversations and reach people. It was, it was amazing," he added. Video of his evangelism at the festival in 2024 has 761,000 views on YouTube.
Earlier, during his interview with Ryan, Crawford said he twice visited TST's headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, to share the Gospel and pray for those there. Describing it as "sincerely one of the darkest places I've ever been in my life," he said both times he prayed that "every person that steps foot in that place would feel the conviction of God and leave."
"You feel this, like, uneasiness in your heart, in your spirit. It feels dark. It feels demonic. It feels heavy. You can feel the weight of the world in there, even," he said, noting his ultimate goal was to encourage other Christians to pray for satanists and others who need the Gospel. A video of his trip there in 2024 has 1 million views on YouTube.
"It's dark and it's heavy in there, but the Bible tells us that Jesus is the light. And if He lives inside of us, we can be the light anywhere at all times to anybody," he added.
