A megachurch pastor said he wants U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to apply her zero-tolerance stand against church protesters to situations when protesters disrupt Black churches.
Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga., said he has yet to receive a response from the Justice Department about a disruption at his church Jan. 4 — two weeks before demonstrators interrupted services at Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in St. Paul, Minn.
“A white evangelical nationalist pastor had the audacity — he and his wife — to get out of his car and for propaganda and disturbance, filmed themselves coming into our church using hate speech,” Bryant said in a recent episode of his “Let’s Be Clear” podcast.
“And since you are against places of worship being disturbed, (where) is the arrest warrant?” he asked of Bondi.
The question stems from the immediate aftermath of the Minnesota church protest that had conservative evangelicals up in arms. Protesters showed up to call attention to the fact one of its pastors, David Easterwood, is an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The incident came at the height of President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration campaign in the Twin Cities area. It happened around the same times that immigration agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, during a press conference at Port Everglades on April 09, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails,” Bondi said Jan. 18, the day of the Cities Church demonstration.
A few days later, Bondi announced on X the first of what would eventually be nine arrests: “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.”
The president referred to the Minnesota protesters as “agitators and insurrectionists” who, along with Gov. Tim Walz, should be jailed and then “thrown out of the country.”
Bryant said he agreed with Bondi’s hardline stance. “I want her to know I salute her; I stand with her, and I’m grateful she said it.”
“Pam Bondi, there should be an old warrant out right now because … there was a disturbance at New Birth, and it went viral, Pam.”
But he also directed comments specifically to the attorney general: “Pam Bondi, there should be an old warrant out right now because two weeks before the disturbance at the church in Minneapolis, there was a disturbance at New Birth, and it went viral, Pam.”
At that moment in the podcast, Bryant cut to a video clip of a white man in a dark suit, holding a large Bible and screaming insults at the congregation.
“The Lord Jesus Christ is going to destroy this church. … It’s time to repent of your wicked ways, grasping, stirring hatred among the children. You let his name become a laughingstock with your harlotry, your wickedness, your filthiness. Your prayers don’t even reach the ceiling. … The God of the Bible is going to destroy you unless you repent.”
The intruder added that the church’s “pedophile co-founder is in hell right now,” a reference to the late Bishop Eddie Long, a stridently anti-gay minister accused of sexual relationships with teenage boys.
Bryant said he didn’t know the man’s name but said it shouldn’t be too difficult for the federal government since the video is easy to find.
“It went viral, Pam,” he said.
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