Beckwith distances from controversial church after staffer shares post from pastor

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith is distancing himself from a pastor who’s called for the execution of gay and lesbian people, after sharing a post from him on social media. 

Friday afternoon, Sure Foundation Senior Evangelist Justin Zhong shared a video on X featuring multiple excerpts of Beckwith interviews. 

The nearly 15-minute video included Beckwith’s appearance on the Evansville PBS affiliate WNIN defending his own controversial comments about the LGBTQ+ community, where he warned of the “rainbow beast” during Pride Month. 

“(Micah Beckwith) is welcome at one of our church services,” Zhong wrote in the caption. 

The official X account for the Office of the Indiana Lt. Governor, @LGMicahBeckwith, reposted Zhong. Within 90 minutes, though not clear how quickly, Beckwith’s account unshared the post. 

Sure Foundation Baptist Church drew protests following News 8’s reporting on its “Men’s Preaching Night”, where members called for gay and lesbian Hoosiers to kill themselves during slur-filled sermons, claiming scripture justifies the execution of the queer community. 

Zhong himself has called for the government to execute gay and lesbian people in sermons, telling his congregation: “If you love your neighbor and don’t believe that the government should be putting the ‘homos’ to death, you don’t really love your neighbor.”

Religious leaders have condemned the “dangerous” messages from the Indianapolis church, which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

“That repost, which was related to the Lt. Governor’s recent appearance on WNIN, was made by the Lt. Governor’s communications team,” Beckwith’s Communications Director Jim Kehoe told News 8 in a statement. “Once it was realized this individual was connected to the Sure Foundation Baptist Church the repost was immediately undone.”

“The Lt. Governor unequivocally denounces all calls for violence directed at the LGBTQ+ community.”

The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, which has criticized Beckwith in the past for the Lt. Governor’s defense of the three-fifths compromise, wants to see accountability. 

“When public officials, even unintentionally, signal alignment with extremism, they help create an atmosphere of fear and harm,” Rev. David W. Greene, Sr. said. “We call on Lt. Governor Beckwith and all elected officials to clearly and unequivocally denounce hate, no matter who speaks it or shares it.”

More than 1 in 5 hate crimes in the U.S. are motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias, according to The Human Rights Campaign. A total FBI data has seen rise in recent years.

Mental health resources

• Be Well Indiana
• Indiana Suicide Prevention
• Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
• National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
• More resources

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