“There is a lot of pain in our cities, and we need healing. We’re asking for God to send healing,” Parnell said. “We believe that healing comes ultimately in Jesus Christ. What I preach, what we preach, is that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
“Turn from your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, and be saved. He is our only hope,” the pastor said, directing his remarks to the agitators, the governor, the state attorney general, and city mayors.
Legal Counsel Says Cities Church Is ‘Prayerfully Considering’ Next Steps
Joining Parnell was Renee Carlson, general counsel for True North Legal, who is representing Cities Church.
Carlson called the disruption unconstitutional and said the protesters had no right to invade the church.
“There is absolutely no constitutional right, no First Amendment right to invade a church,” she said. “At the end of this service or end of this protest and ambush on the church, we have these agitators saying, ‘Who shut this down? We shut this down.’ That is absolutely unlawful.”
Carlson also addressed Lemon directly, saying, “To Mr. Lemon, there is no press pass to invade a church. This is a violation of the FACE Act. The state attorney general in Minnesota could bring an action if he wanted to hold these agitators accountable. So far we haven’t seen any of that.”
“The church is prayerfully considering what their next steps are so that Cities Church and the members of Cities Church remain protected, as well as every church across the state in Minnesota,” Carlson added, “to make sure this does not happen again to anyone in a holy sanctuary and house of worship.”
“Cities Church is very concerned about this happening again to anyone across the states,” she said.
Last week, federal agents arrested three people involved in the Cities Church protest: Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly.
