‘Worship warfare’ event in Seattle was planned to be violent

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 27, 2025.

“TODAY WAS WILD!!! A RIOT BROKE OUT IN SEATTLE!!”

Those were the exuberant words of revivalist Ross Johnston celebrating on Instagram in all caps as chaos erupted during a worship protest Saturday in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park.

“NO MORE CUTE WEAK CHRISTIANS, WE SERVE THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!”

Soon after, videos began surfacing online of worshipers jumping, singing and yelling with smiles and scowls on their faces as Seattle police flung women by their shirts, kneed people in the back, and shoved their faces into the dirt.

Russell Johnson, pastor of Pursuit NW and one of the speakers for the intentionally provocative event, wrote on X they were simply “holding a peaceful worship event” and were “violently assaulted for the high crime of expressing their deeply held religious beliefs in the form of a permitted worship event on city property.”

Article from Seattle Times

The event was part of the MAY DAY USA 2025 tour of Her Voice MVMT that organizes “worship warfare” events across the nation in an attempt to convert LGBTQ people to become heterosexual, conservative evangelical Republicans.

“Our nation is in a crisis,” the website claims. “Families are being ripped apart at the seams by an agenda determined to sexualize our kids. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Mama bears across the nation are rising up to join the #dontmesswithourkids movement and pray, fast and stand for their families.”

One of the group’s promo videos calls those who affirm transgender kids “butchers.”

A Seattle police officer detains a protester at the rally.

The video promoting the MAY DAY tour shows clips of rioters being arrested, of Donald Trump getting shot, of worshipers in battle through singing, and of new converts being baptized.

They act like they’re innocent victims who are surprised by what happened on Saturday. But the violence this weekend in Seattle looks exactly like what they feature in their promo videos leading up to the events. That’s why they’re so excited it happened. The event delivered what they advertised.

This specific tour includes stops in New York City, Miami, Houston, Seattle and Los Angeles.

Just as “Let Us Worship” founder Sean Feucht did in the lead-up to the 2024 election, Her Voice MVMT targets every state capitol as well. But Feucht wasn’t in attendance at the Battle of Seattle because he was performing one of his own events on the beaches of Florida by waging worship warfare and conducting mass baptisms with Russell Brand, the actor who was charged last month with two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.

While Brand likes to baptize people in his tighty-whities, thankfully he wore swim trunks this time. But in their battle on the beach, Brand laid out the same vision that was being carried out in Seattle. He declared, “It’s a war that we’re in. And it’s no longer a defensive one, but an aggressive one. We are in the armory of the Lord.”

The worship warfare these self-proclaimed Christian supremacists are waging on our nation is going to spread throughout the country during Trump’s second presidency. They’re already catching the eye of United States Attorney General Pam Bondi after Saturday’s events. So it’s important for us not only to analyze what happened on Saturday, but to understand how it fits into their larger campaign.

The crowd gyrates and bounces to the music at the worship rally.

‘As it is in heaven’

Ross Johnston’s Instagram video of the Battle of Seattle immediately began drawing strong reaction. At the time of this writing, it’s nearing 40,000 likes with seemingly endless support in the comments.

“Set free the captives!” celebrates one user. “Go into the land of Canaan and destroy the giants! The milk and honey is for the children of the True King.” This is in reference to the Canaanite conquests in the Hebrew Bible, during which the Israelites committed genocide against their neighbors.