A pastor for the Stedfast Baptist Church in Hurst has announced the church was forced to close its doors after receiving a court order on February 25 to vacate the building.
Tarrant County Judge Don Pierson ruled that Stedfast Baptist had breached its lease agreement, which prohibits making threats or creating a dangerous nuisance.
The church is also responsible for paying $42,000 in attorney fees. However, it can appeal the judge’s order.
Several videos created by Stedfast pastor Jonathan Shelley feature him condemning those in the LGBTQ community, telling women they need to obey men, and saying rebellious children should be punished.
The eviction was specifically prompted by Shelley’s June 2021 video in which he wished death upon people who identify as homosexual.
The pastor praised a truck driver who plowed through a Pride parade in Florida in June 2021.
“It’s great when trucks accidentally go through those, you know, parades,” said Shelley in the sermon. “I think only one person died, so hopefully, we can hope for more in the future.”
Later in the footage, he says, “I hope they all die,” in reference to both the man hospitalized in the incident and the greater LGBTQ community.
Shelley is adamant that he is not encouraging violent behavior towards those in the LGBTQ community but claims he is following the Bible’s teachings.
Shelley’s were not the first controversial comments about the community made by a Stedfast pastor.
In June 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire in Orlando nightclub Pulse, fatally shooting forty-nine people and wounding fifty-three more before being killed by police.
Following the massacre, the former Stedfast Baptist pastor, Donnie Romero, gave his thoughts on the shooting in a video.
He called the individuals at the club perverts and pedophiles and said he prayed “that God [would] finish the job that [the] man started.”
After Romero’s comments, LGBTQ activists and supporters in North Texas gathered at Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth for a peaceful protest in opposition to the pastor’s words.
One of the activists, Karen McCrocklin, formed a group called “I Am Done” after the Orlando incident.
“After what’s happened in Orlando, we are done not responding and not providing some kind of peaceful and loving response to hate,” she said to The Dallas Morning News.
McCrocklin’s main goal was to peacefully make Romero aware that the LGBTQ community was fed up with his hateful comments.
Romero eventually resigned in 2019 after admitting to abusing drugs, gambling, and engaging in adultery.
The Dallas Express reached out to the LGBTQ Foundation for comment on Jonathan Shelley and the Stedfast Baptist Church but did not immediately receive a response.