By Joshua Arnold

For those who think politics is separate from religion, the latest outbreak of leftist misbehavior provides an opportunity to think again. Left-wing demonstrators disrupted a Christian worship service in St. Paul, Minn. on Sunday morning because one of the church’s lay elders happens to work for the federal government — specifically, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Cities Church is a Southern Baptist congregation that has been nestled between St. Paul and Minneapolis (the Twin Cities) for the past 75 years. It is currently engaged in an expositional sermon series through the Gospel of John, which shepherds the flock from prayers of confession through to their weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. It was at this sacred juncture that irreverent intruders brought the worship service to a screeching halt.

“From the gospel of John, chapter 13,” announced the preacher, in words captured on the livestream of ex-CNN host Don Lemon (Lemon flew to Minneapolis to cover the anti-ICE protest in person, although he claims he did not know their target was a church).

“[I’ll] begin reading—” the preacher likely meant to say, “in verse 31,” the point where last week’s sermon on Judas had left off, although he may have intended to start reading earlier for context. Members of the church had likely prepared their hearts ahead of time for instruction on Jesus’s famous words, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).

But the gathered assembly never got to hear this exhortation. Before the preacher had an opportunity to read from God’s word, several dozen left-wing demonstrators stood up and interrupted the service. “Excuse me, pastor!” shouted a woman Lemon later identified as “Nekima.”

Nekima Levy Armstrong (formerly Levy-Pounds) is a Minneapolis-area activist who leads the “Racial Justice Network” and was previously charged in connection with a BLM demonstration at the Mall of America in 2015 (years before the BLM riots in 2020).

Levy Armstrong calls herself a reverend, most likely receiving ordination in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), a small evangelical denomination that broke away from the Lutheran Church of Sweden in 1885 (the state of Minnesota has an unusually pronounced Scandinavian influence). In the mid-2010s, Levy Armstrong preached “every other month” at First Covenant Church of Minneapolis (FCCM). In June 2019, the ECC expelled FCCM from its roster by a two-thirds supermajority because it “found FCCM to be out of harmony” with the ECC’s “standard of marriage by permitting same-sex marriage.”

The audio for Levy Armstrong’s opening line is unfortunately garbled, but her next sentence explained the demonstration’s purpose clearly: “I understand that David Easterwood is a pastor here, the director of ICE, in St. Paul!” In a pinned post on her Facebook page, Levy Armstrong now boldly advertises her involvement in the demonstration, declaring, “It’s time for judgment to begin and it will begin in the House of God!!! [1 Peter 4:17]”

Levy Armstrong linked to another post from activist/reporter Georgia Fort, who was also present. “Their demands were clear, justice for Renee Good … and for the pastor to use his authority to get ICE out of Minnesota,” Fort claimed. “Protesters said the objective of disrupting service was to inform the congregation of what they described as their pastor’s double-mindedness when it comes to the word of God and not loving thy neighbor with his work as a field director for ICE.”

How striking that the demonstrators disrupted a sermon about Jesus’s command to love one another to claim that one Christian was not “loving” the way they wished. How ironic that leftists — who usually demand that conservative evangelicals keep their noses out of politics — here demanded that this local congregation usurp the authority of the court system in getting “justice” for Renee Good (how?) and of Congress by dictating where ICE can operate.

The demonstrators apparently did not understand that the church is distinct from government, with a different mission, membership, and method, and yet church members can also serve in government.

Easterwood is indeed one of eight “pastors/elders” listed on the church’s website. The church evidently maintains a plural eldership in line with biblical teaching and even recognizes lay elders — that is, men who meet the elder qualifications described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 but are not in full-time ministry.

Working for the federal government, in law enforcement, or even ICE does not disqualify a mature Christian from eldership according to the terms of 1 Timothy 3:1-7. In fact, it is not even surprising that a man demonstrating the upright character and competent leadership expected of an elder would also rise to a position of leadership in whatever workplace occupied his weekdays.

Easterwood also appears to work for ICE, appearing in a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on October 24, 2025 with the title, “Acting Field Office Director, St. Paul.” It is unclear whether Easterwood still holds that “acting” title, nearly three months later.

The scene soon descended into chaos. When asked to leave, demonstrators refused. Instead, they gathered in the center of the worship hall to chant slogans as if they were outside a police precinct, such as “hands up, don’t shoot” and “justice for Renee Good.” One man with an unkempt beard and a “F*** Trump” beanie shouted angry provocations at churchgoers and harassed those trying to leave peacefully.

Indeed, within two minutes of the first interruption, Lemon’s cameraman, who was still standing outside, captured the first attendees quickly exiting the building. And who can blame them? In an age of church shootings and violent activism, how could the average attendee know what would take place inside this church gathering? Thankfully, by God’s grace, the Sunday demonstrators did refrain from physical violence, making their provocation merely outrageous, not tragic.

It’s impossible to fully capture the full impact of a noisy political demonstration crashing down boisterously upon a quiet congregation. Children cried. Many members relocated to a different area of the building. One knot of attendees, Lemon noted, bowed their heads together in prayer.

“Our church had gathered here for worship, which we do every Sunday, when we were interrupted by this group of protestors. We asked them to leave, and they obviously have not left,” Senior Pastor Jonathan Parnell lamented to Lemon. “This is unacceptable. It’s shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.

We’re here to worship Jesus because that’s the hope of these cities. That’s the hope of the world. It’s Jesus Christ.”

God’s word identifies the church as the temple of God, in which the Spirit of Jesus dwells (1 Corinthians 3:16). The protestors who invaded its worship service on the Lord’s Day clearly had a different assessment. “This ain’t God’s house. It’s the house of the devil,” claimed one protestor, whose remark was picked up by Lemon’s microphone. When Jesus’s opponents slandered his Spirit-filled ministry as the work of demons, Jesus delivered this stern warning, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:31-32).

However closely he was identified with the protest, Lemon’s commentary was certainly sympathetic with it. “This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable,” he told viewers. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest. That’s the whole point of it, is to disrupt, is to make uncomfortable. And that’s what they’re doing.”

Perhaps Mr. Lemon needs to refresh his memory of what the First Amendment actually says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Nowhere does the word “protest” appear, and even the concept is only present if one combines the rights to assemble and petition. But the right to assemble implies a right not to assemble; for instance, a church assembling for worship has the right not to assemble with those who have no interest in worshipping. And the right to petition is a right to “petition the Government,” not a right to harass citizens acting in their private capacity on their private property.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon countered Lemon’s comments on exactly this point, insisting, “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service,” she wrote.

Dhillon also announced that the DOJ was “investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act.” The FACE was passed to give abortion centers a buffer zone against pro-life protestors, but it was amended before its passage to also protect churches and other houses of worship. During the Biden administration, the FACE Act was largely used to target peaceful pro-lifers, while most acts of violence against churches were left unprosecuted.

Dhillon added that DOJ prosecutors were “hard at work” Sunday night pursuing the case (one wonders if Cities Church was gratified or mortified by such an un-Sabbatarian admission), and multiple administration officials publicly commented on the incident. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted at 9:28 p.m. that “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” A little over an hour later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she “just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”

The speedy response suggests that elections really do have consequences. If this incident had taken place in 2024, it’s hard to imagine any Biden official jumping out to respond on Sunday night — or perhaps not before the next Thursday, when public pressure would have finally shamed them into taking up the matter. On the other hand, if a troop of neo-Nazis had barged into a historic black church in Atlanta to protest Fani Willis’s investigation of Trump, the response would have been instant and ferocious.

It would be better if true churches of any stripe enjoyed equal freedom and protection from governments of any administration. Let Christians pray that government enforcement, here and in other incidents, will be based on what the law says, and not what the politics of the moment demand.

“Let’s understand that an evangelical church, a Southern Baptist church gathered for worship on the Lord’s Day, was invaded by leftist agitators, let’s say aided and abetted by a media figure such as Don Lemon, videoing it all. They entered into the church. They brought Christian worship to an end,” summarized Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler. “They made the accusation that one of the pastors, one of the elders is, ‘a wolf and sheep’s clothing masquerading as a pastor.’ And the accusation is simply based on the fact that he is the acting director of the field office of a law enforcement branch of the United States government.”

“It’s a scandal that something like this could happen in the United States of America,” Mohler added. “It is a scandal that so many in American politics and in popular culture, entertainment, all the rest, are on the side of the protestors who just broke into an evangelical church gathered for Christian worship on the Lord’s Day.”

It’s a scandal that Christians churches, through no fault of their own, now encounter such disrespect from certain ideologues, but it’s not unexpected. In the context of his warning that judgment would begin with the household of God, Peter warned, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

As Pastor Parnell said, Jesus is the only hope for the world. But, when he returns, “what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

Christians can pray that Sunday’s incident will prompt deep conversations between the members of Cities Church and their neighbors, that its witness would grow brightly, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ would not be maligned. Most importantly, they can pray that the members of Cities Church would stand united on the gospel, even as they gather next Sunday for a regularly scheduled members meeting. I’m sure they have a lot to discuss.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.