Called to stay
Date
07/28/2026
Hosted By
Called to stay
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WORLD Radio - Called to stay
A viral sermon clip put a Christian ministry at odds with Northern Arapaho leaders over religious speech, tribal authority, and its future on the Wind River Reservation. WORLD’s Travis Kircher reports from central Wyoming.
A member of the Wind River Indian Reservation performs a tradition dance. Getty Images / Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher
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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:
A sermon clip goes viral, tribal leaders object, and a Christian ministry is ordered off a reservation in Wyoming.
NICK EICHER, HOST: For more than a decade, Foundations for the Nations has served Native American families around the Wind River Reservation. But after a minister connected with the group criticized tribal religious ceremonies, the Northern Arapaho Business Council ordered the ministry out.
WORLD’s Travis Kircher reports on the conflict now raising questions about religious liberty, tribal authority, and the future of church work there.
MUSIC: “I’m Gonna Sing Your Victory”
TRAVIS KIRCHER: It sounded like a normal Sunday inside the Foundations for Nations church building this week But the service at the small congregation felt different, because of what was happening outside.
SOUND: [Native American music]
Roughly three-dozen demonstrators stood at the entrance, holding signs and waving at church members as they drove in. Most were Native Americans who want the church and Pastor Sarah Lucas off the west-central Wyoming Wind River reservation.
THOMAS: It's too late for apologies. We just want her to go.
That’s activist Alice Thomas, who has a problem with how Lucas has talked about Native American ceremonies..
THOMAS: She made several disrespectful comments to our pipe and to our ancestors and disrespected us as Northern Arapaho people…
Thomas is referring to a clip from a July 5 sermon. Here’s part of what Lucas actually said:
LUCAS: This nation gathered this week and they prayed and they prayed to pipes and they prayed to ancestors believing that this is the way for their freedom, to be free from addiction, for people to be healed … Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only God that we should be praying to. A pipe cannot hear your prayers.
Those words lit a powder keg, prompting the Northern Arapaho Business Council, a group that governs organizations that operate on the land to hold a meeting with Sarah and order Foundations for Nations to leave the reservation.
LUCAS: So it looks uncompassionate. It looks not loving.
Lucas says someone pulled a one-minute clip from a 90-minute sermon and took it out of context. But she stands by what she said. She also says the church has done nothing but love the community. Its programs include a food bank that feeds 2,000 people a month. But she says the church is about more than social services.
LUCAS: We didn't come out here to give good programming. We came out here to see a nation come to know Jesus because we know that's the answer to the problem out here…
And the problems on the res are obvious: a crime rate 5-7 times the national average, according to a study by the New York Times and an average life expectancy of less than 50 years. Lucas says there’s been vandalism at the church. Someone stole the church’s outdoor teepee. And then there’s the threats on social media calling for her assasination.
LUCAS: Saying "Charlie Kirk her." They were posting pictures of our church burning down and them scalping me.
SOUND: [Native American flute]
The demonstrators I talked to behaved peacefully, and said they knew nothing of any death threats. But they add the protests will continue.
THOMAS: We don't have to make it easy for her to stay here. We can sit here every Sunday and make noise and just be a thorn in her side until she has enough and leaves. But that's the ultimate goal: is to get her to leave.
Lucas says that’s not going to happen.
LUCAS: I'm not going to stop. My husband and I are not going to stop. We believe the Lord's called us here. Our staff has given up so much to be here.
She says she owns the reservation land, and has employed lawyers with Liberty Council, a Christian legal nonprofit that focuses on religious liberty issues, to represent her. But she says it’s not just about a legal battle. She believes God is using the controversy to bring about good.
LUCAS: We’re about ready to see a Great Awakening. We're believing we're going to see revival out of this. The gospel is being more preached, whether it's good publicity or bad publicity, still being preached, and so it's exciting. It's exciting.
Lucas says she has another meeting with the Northern Arapaho Business Council Thursday. She adds that while demonstrations have so far been peaceful, she does have concerns about what may happen if more groups show up.
Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher at the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.
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