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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged

TULSA, Okla. — Jackson Lahmeyer, the 34-year-old founder of Pastors for Trump, didn’t always mix his Christian faith with politics. 

The leader of Sheridan Church, an independent charismatic congregation in Oklahoma’s second-largest city, traces his rise as a partisan firebrand to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the mask mandates and social distancing requirements of 2020, Lahmeyer said, he began offering “drive-in church” and preaching from the rooftop.

“That is what got me involved,” the father of five told me, “because I never would have thought for a moment that the mayor of Tulsa would threaten to arrest me for just having church. … We won that battle.”

G.T. Bynum, a Republican who served in a nonpartisan role as Tulsa’s mayor from 2016 to 2024, disputes Lahmeyer’s account.

“That’s quite the origin story, but it’s a total lie,” Bynum said in a text message. “I’ve never even spoken with the guy, much less threatened him with arrest.”

More context on that controversy in a moment, but first, my reason for writing about Lahmeyer: In true Trump fashion, he’s touting a “HUGE Announcement” next week and hinting strongly that he’ll enter the race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District seat.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.

Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.