Richard Ackerman (born 2002-2003), known online as Redeemed Zoomer, is an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

and

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

. He founded Operation Reconquista in 2023. He runs the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel ''Redeemed Zoomer'', which has over 562k+ subscribers (as of June 2025).

Biography

Richard Ackerman grew up

irreligious Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, rationa ...

in a family of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

heritage. He converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

at age 14 after attending a

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

music camp when he was entering high school. He lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

until he began attending university in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. After starting university, Ackerman met his future spouse, Anna Marburger, for the first time in July 2020. He then began uploading to the ''Redeemed Zoomer'' Youtube channel in 2022. Ackerman married Marburger in August 2024. Early in May 2025, Ackerman graduated from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

with a B.A. in music and a B.S. in pure mathematics, having originally intended to become a math professor. On May 30 2025, Ackerman announced that he was accepted at a PCUSA seminary.

YouTube channel

Ackerman made videos using three different YouTube channels and an Instagram account before finding viral success with Redeemed Zoomer in 2022. His most successful type are videos using simple drawing software to explain

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

concepts, as in, "All

Christian denominations A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

explained in 12 minutes" and "story of the entire Bible, i guess", the latter of which he took inspiration from Bill Wurtz's widely popular video, "the history of the entire world, i guess". The video on Christian denominations is his most-viewed, with 10 million views as of August 2024. Ackerman is also known for recording himself playing

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

while speaking on topics like

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Operation Reconquista

Ackerman is the founder of and an activist for ''Operation Reconquista'', a

Confessing Movement The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seek ...

inspired organization aimed at preserving

theologically conservative Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ana ...

congregations within

Mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...

Christian denominations, with the eventual goal of becoming the majority within the denominations. He also founded Presbyterians for the Kingdom, a nonprofit seeking to advance theological conservatism in the PCUSA. The organization sent representatives to the 2024 PCUSA General Assembly. Ackerman maintains a

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

server with more than 1,000 members to organize Gen Z members of mainline churches, including the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

, the Episcopal Church, the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of December 31, 2023, it ...

, the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. At least four Episcopal priests who participated in the Operation Reconquista Discord groups, including one who had signed up as a "chaplain-adviser" to the server, faced disciplinary charges on the grounds of safeguarding risks since youth as young as 15 participated in the server. However, The Living Church did an investigation and found no suspicious or secretive behavior on the server.

References

{{reflist 21st-century Presbyterians Presbyterians from New York (state) YouTubers from New York (state)