YouTube show Divine Disbelief hosted a Pride Month protest outside the anti-LGBT Stedfast Baptist Church last Saturday, June 22, and will be hosting a second protest this coming Sunday, June 30.

A YouTube program called Divine Disbelief, hosted by Susan Turpin and her partner Nathaniel Walters, is hosting a second Pride Month protest at NIFB (New Independent Fundamental Baptist) Stedfast Baptist Church, 5840 Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth, on Sunday, June 30, from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Divine Disbelief, Turpin explained, is “a show focused on news and happenings from a secular perspective.” She said they hosted a protest at the church last Saturday, June 22, and are hosting the second protest this coming Sunday to “use our platform to express our vehement (yet peaceful) disagreement with the church’s anti-LGBTQ+ message that calls for the death of anyone who strays from their idea of cisnormativity and heteronormativity.” Check them out on Facebook and Twitter, too.

She added, “Even though we are a show hosted by two atheists, we are firm believers in intersectionality and supporting movements whose interests align with ours. We use the pumpkins (as seen on the Facebook event) as a reference to NIFB pastor Tommy McMurtry calling someone within our movement ‘a giant fruit, like a pumpkin,’ and we wanted to use this weekend’s anniversary of Stonewall as a reminder that we are unwavering in our support of the LGBTQ+ movement.”

Turpin said that organizers will have some signs available at the protest, “but make sure you try to bring your own.” She continued, “This will be a Pride-centric event that celebrates the fact that we are patriots who align ourselves with the LGBTQ+ movement,” and she urged those participating to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and to ‘NOT ENGAGE WITH ANY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.”

In the days after the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016, Donnie Romero, then pastor of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Sansom Park, on the northwest edge of Fort Worth, sparked outrage with a video on YouTube in which he defended hate speech by a Sacramento, Calif., preacher and then took it a step further. He called the victims of the Pulse massacre “sodomites [and] perverts and pedophiles.” He said, “They’re the scum of the earth and the earth is a better place now and I’ll take it a step further. … I’ll pray to God like I did this morning, and I will again tonight, that God will finish the job that that [the Pulse shooter] started.”

A group of activists from around Dallas/Fort Worth staged a peaceful protest outside Stedfast Baptist the following Sunday, on the opposite side of the Jacksboro Highway from the church building, as church members filed in for services. Comments Romero made after plans for the protest were public indicating that he and other church members were armed prompted Sansom Park police to have a strong presence at the protest,

Back in January of this year, Romero admitted to having frequented prostitutes, gambling and using marijuana. He then resigned as pastor at Stedfast, after a tearful apology to church members in which he acknowledged that he had been “a terrible husband and father” and that he hadn’t been “ruling my house well.”

According to the church’s website, Stedfast Baptist Church, “an independent fundamental King James only baptist church,” is now pastored by Jonathan Shelley. Shelley has been married since 2009, and he has his wife, Keri, have three children.

According to his bio on the church’s website, “Jonathan was raised in a Christian home and saved at age five and baptized at age 14. He grew up in large non-denominational churches and had a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. Before his first son was born, Jonathan began to diligently study the Bible and realized he needed to make some changes. He soon became King James only and eventually started to attend an independent fundamental baptist (KJV Only) church in his area.

“Jonathan was rebaptized in 2015 at Arden Road Baptist Church. In 2016, Jonathan moved to Faithful Word Baptist Church to train to be a pastor. During this transition Jonathan has been blessed to have had the opportunity to preach over 150 sermons, lead soulwinning marathons, go on mission trips to Jamaica and Mexico, and memorize dozens of chapters of the Bible.

“Jonathan’s vision for Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX is to reach the entire Dallas / Fort Worth area with the gospel, train soulwinners, develop and send out evangelists and pastors, and reach foreign countries with the gospel.”

— Tammye Nash