RIVERTON—A backhoe quietly pulled up to Foundations For Nations Church along Rendezvous Road on the Wind River Reservation and started digging Thursday morning. Multiple police agencies responded to the scene as protesters and onlookers gathered. The construction came as a strong statement. The Northern Arapaho Tribe dismantled the church’s Rendezvous Road driveway access, digging up culvert pipes, then adding fill, giant concrete barriers, and erecting two tall flag poles, tribal flags billowing in the sky. The tribe has essentially cut off the church’s main driveway access, though the property also has an access point along Mission Road. It’s the latest in a standoff between the church, which is on private deed land on the reservation, and tribal members outraged by a July sermon that criticized sacred Northern Arapaho spiritual traditions. The Rendezvous Road driveway has been at the heart of a very physical standoff over those remarks. Protesters have gathered there every Sunday for the last 16 weeks. Police have been called over claims some have trespassed in the driveway or blocked service-goers from entering; church leaders have erected signs banning trespassing. The tribe maintains the church doesn’t have ownership or right-of-way authorization of the access point, and on Thursday, it reclaimed the space as protesters cheered. The move came alongside a flurry of construction work on the church’s property, as Foundations works to finish its large youth center adjacent to the church building. While the tribe has told Foundations For Nations Church it is no longer welcome on the reservation, Foundations Founders and Co-Pastors Jason and Sarah Lucas have insisted they are committed to continuing their work spreading the gospel at the Christian compound.  In addition to their Sunday services, Foundations operates an off-reservation food pantry in Riverton and has traditionally offered a variety of youth programs at the church site. Since the July 5 sermon and persistent protests, Foundations has scaled back those kids’ services, though construction on the youth center continues. “But God!!! Please be praying for our church and our lawyers as we deal with this situation!” Sarah Lucas shared on social media following the construction of the driveway blockade. “We are going to have worship and prayer tonight at church. This is how we fight our battles!” On Friday, just before press time, the Northern Arapaho Business Council offered a statement on what it called the tribe affirming its sovereign authority to “regulate access and rights-of-way on tribal lands.” The Northern Arapaho Business Council reviewed the legal issues and consulted with federal agencies, the council wrote, and “determined certain individual landowners have not obtained the necessary authorization or approved rights-of-way to access and utilize tribal lands.”  The council also “emphasizes that private ownership of adjoining fee lands does not, by itself, authorize individuals to enter, cross, or utilize tribal lands without necessary legal authorization.” Both the church and the Northern Arapaho Business Council have exchanged legal threats since the July 5 sermon, with no indication that a resolution is in sight. Fremont County Sheriff’s Office deputies, pictured, and Bureau of Indian Affairs Wind River Police officers stood by as the Northern Arapaho Tribe dismantled and blocked the main driveway access to Foundations For Nations Church. Right-of-way privileges at the driveway, and jurisdiction over conflicts there, have been in question for months after a July 5 sermon at the church prompted ongoing Sunday protests. (Corbin Allen/WyoToday) The sermon On July 5, the Northern Arapaho people were just coming out of the Sundance ceremony, a deeply spiritual tradition for tribal members. Pastor Sarah Lucas’ message to parishioners that day focused on parts of that spiritual tradition. She called the Northern Arapaho pipe, which is used in the Sundance ceremony, an “idol,” and encouraged tribal members to reject such spiritual practices in favor of exclusively worshipping Jesus. “I pray as the people coming out of Sundance – today is their last day, Father God. They’re going back into the community, Father God,” she said in a video that quickly went viral. “You have generations – generations, centuries – of people doing this offering, going in and being, making, vows to change Father God. And we see no fruit … Where it says ‘tear down the altars, tear down the idols.’ And this nation gathered this week and they prayed, and they prayed to pipes, and prayed to their ancestors believing that this is their way for their freedom, to get free from addiction, for people to be healed from their sickness … Jesus is the chain-breaker. He is the only god that we should be praying to. The pipe cannot hear your prayers. It’s just a piece of material, right? And this is a cycle that they’re caught up in, and this is all they’ve ever known. And the Lord is saying ‘tear down the idols, tear down the altars, the idol worship.'” By July 7, several hundred protesters gathered outside the church. It was the first of many to come. Full-steam friction By that Friday, Foundations For Nations leaders met with the Northern Arapaho Business Council and other tribal officials at the Wind River Casino, when the council told Foundations to leave the reservation. The Lucases said they’d remain steadfast in their mission at the property, telling members they’d hold fast “on the truth of the Word of God concerning idol worship,” describing intense backlash they’d faced in the days since the sermon — including online death threats. They requested donations to help fund an expected legal battle ahead. “We are in contact with legal counsel and are preparing to pursue this matter in federal court as soon as possible in order to uphold our Constitutional rights to preach the Gospel,” they explained, adding, “We are not stopping.” In late July, both the Northern Arapaho Business Council and Eastern Shoshone Business Council announced new policies aimed at governing outside organizations, requiring them to “consult” with the tribes before conducting organized activities on the reservation. The Northern Arapaho Business Council stated Foundations had never received permission to establish the church on the reservation; the Lucases shared emails with The Ranger dating back years showing communication with former council officials, some of whom expressed enthusiasm for the church’s activities at the site – including the construction of the youth center. In August, the Northern Arapaho Business Council and Lucases coordinated another meeting, this time to address the requirements of the new tribal policy and consult with the tribe about the church’s activities on the reservation. The Lucases, citing what they called a hostile initial meeting with the business council, attempted to suggest a more neutral location than the casino or to attend via Zoom, but the council declined and held the meeting without them. Then, the Northern Arapaho Business Council produced a “findings of fact, conclusions of law, and final decision” document, announcing that Foundations For Nations did not have approval to “initiate or expand” its activities on the reservation. The Lucases contend they never asked for it. Meanwhile, the controversy spilled over to the church’s food pantry. Shortly after the July sermon, a complaint was filed with the Food Bank of Wyoming, which had partnered with the church’s food program in supplying bulk food under a contract. The complainant claimed that Sarah Lucas’ sermon amounted to discrimination, and Food Bank of Wyoming pulled the plug on the partnership. Foundations quickly consulted with Florida-based Christian litigation and policy nonprofit Liberty Counsel, and announced it had filed a discrimination complaint of its own; this time, with the USDA. The complaint said the sermon was protected by the First Amendment, and that the food pantry had never denied a person food based on any protected class. In September, Sarah Lucas filed petitions for stalking orders of protection against Darci Quiver and Alice Thomas — two of a handful of prominent protesters who have spent more than a dozen Sundays standing along Rendezvous Road with protest signs demanding Foundations leave the reservation. Those petitions are still awaiting a December court hearing, after questions about jurisdiction arose during a preliminary hearing in circuit court. “I’ve never threatened her,” Thomas explained in an interview. “I’ve never voiced that I was going to cause her bodily harm. I’ve never gone out of my way to seek [the Lucas family] out, other than to protest on the side of the road at the church.”  The Lucases, in an earlier interview, described persistent online threats and the need to take legal action.  “[There are] posts of them scalping me and burning down our church. And so you don’t know if that’s going to be true or not,” Sarah Lucas said.  She said her family had been in contact with the Riverton Police Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, FBI and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re going to start moving forward with the law on harassment charges and things like that,” she said. Dozens of protestors and onlookers watched as the Northern Arapaho Tribe dismantled a driveway access point to Foundations For Nations Church on the Wind River Reservation last Thursday. Concrete barriers were installed, barring churchgoers from entering the former main access to the church property. (Corbin Allen/WyoToday) Many of those agencies stood by as the driveway blockades were erected Thursday. Fremont County Undersheriff Mike Hutchison said deputies were there in an effort to keep the peace as protesters assembled, and church leaders stood in the parking lot, looking on in surprise. “Deputies were told that tribal officials had decided to remove a driveway entrance to the property at 20 Mission Road, which had previously provided access to the property from Rendezvous Road,” he said, adding that there’s still access to the property along Mission Road. “Deputies and [Wind River BIA] police officers stood by while the work was completed without incident.” The post Wyoming tribe reclaims access after asking church to leave Wind River Reservation appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less