Arapaho Tribe Piles On With More Christian Harassment

Sarah Lucas is a licensed Christian minister and co-pastor of the Foundations for Nations Church located on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Arapahoe, Wyoming. Sarah Lucas founded the ministry nine years ago on land she owns outright, not tribal land.

She constructed a 21,000-square-foot church, an indoor playground, a food bank, a clothing giveaway operation, and free after-school programs for children on a reservation where addiction, unemployment, and poverty are generational.

On July 5, 2026, Lucas delivered a sermon that faced significant backlash after she publicly condemned traditional Indigenous spiritual practices. She specifically referred to the Northern Arapaho Tribe's sacred Sun Dance ceremony and the use of a ceremonial pipe, labeling them as "idol worship."

She called on her congregation to pray for the people leaving the ceremony and told them Jesus is the only God they should pray to.

However, Someone filmed it.

Members of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes perceived the remarks as a direct attack on their culture, identity, and generational healing from religious assimilation. Tribal leaders demanded that Lucas and her church leave the reservation.

After the video went viral, Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Keenan Groesbeck announced on Facebook that Foundations for Nations would have to cease operations.

In July, the tribes enacted ordinances requiring all outside religious groups to obtain tribal approval before operating on the reservation, directly targeting Lucas and her church.

Her youth programs were immediately suspended.

The church is now prohibited from transporting children to and from the reservation.

For nine years, she fed families, clothed children, and repaired homes on that reservation without a single conflict—until she quoted the Bible

Lucas, who owns the private land on which the church building stands, has refused to close or relocate the ministry. Weekly Sunday services have become tense standoffs, with tribal members and supporters staging simultaneous protests outside the church property while services continue inside.

In a memo dated August 31, the Northern Arapaho council acknowledged that "jurisdictional limits" likely restrict their ability to regulate church activities on private land.

The Tribe knew that the church was on private property. They knew they had no legal rights, and yet they filed the lawsuit anyway.

Lucas was smart. When she chose her building site, she made sure to purchase fee land inside the reservation's boundaries rather than lease from the tribe – because she knew exactly what tribal landlords could eventually do.

For nine years, she fed families, clothed children, and repaired homes on that reservation without a single conflict—until she quoted the Bible.

Groesbeck's council now enforces ordinances requiring her to seek permission before preaching the Gospel on her own property.

This is a government body, and tribal councils are governments. They have no legal right to require a pastor to obtain prior approval for religious speech on land that the government does not own.

Courts across the country have consistently struck down prior restraint schemes whenever state and local governments have attempted to implement them.

Liberty Counsel has taken up Lucas’s case. Their argument is clear: private land ownership protects Lucas from tribal banishment, and the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause safeguards her right to preach biblical teachings, regardless of opposition.

After documenting their jurisdictional concession, the council then restricted the ministry by enforcing transportation bans on children.

This is the very definition of overreach, and Liberty Counsel was built to fight exactly this in federal court.

Unlike the radical left, she obeyed all law, set foot on no tribal land, and harmed no one

Groesbeck, in an attempt to drum up sympathy that he doesn’t deserve, rekindled the phrase "kill the Indian, save the man.” A slogan from the boarding school era that has nothing to do with what Lucas was doing on the reservation.

Lucas's sermon stated what the Bible plainly says: Jesus Christ is Lord, and believers should not pray to other gods.

Unlike the radical left, she obeyed all law, set foot on no tribal land, and harmed no one. She preached on her own property to her own congregation.

Looking for liberal outrage, Groesbeck announced his banishment directive on Facebook, and the council enacted ordinances specifically targeting the church.

Their youth programs were suspended, and the death threats that followed were serious enough for the FBI to confirm its awareness of the situation.

Liberty Counsel has won all seven cases it has argued or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years, including the successful effort to force the narcissistic Gavin Newsom to reopen California churches after 324 days of illegal shutdowns.

A tribal council that clearly states its jurisdictional weaknesses is a far weaker opponent than the Governor of California.

Every conservative in this country needs to observe what Liberty Counsel is doing in response to this overreach in the Wyoming federal court.

Muslims stand at podiums on the streets of our country and regularly scream “death to America” and "Allahu Akbar." Their speech is protected, while Lucas is threatened even though she has done a great amount of good.

Liberty Counsel needs to slam dunk this tribe. Christians are expected to tolerate disgusting and outrageous comments and actions against them, while others are allowed to routinely play the victim.

This type of display needs to be put down every time it raises its ugly head.

Godspeed, Liberty Counsel, God Bless.