Trinity works’ plan to convert members of the LGBT community to their brand of Christianity has struck a chord both locally and nationally, but the group is pressing on with it’s plans to convince LGBT people to leave “the lifestyle.”

TheColu.mn reported in late-May that a group of evangelicals from Trinity Works had been doing survellance on the LGBT community for five years, and have been training evangelicals at a “messenger boot camp” to try to convert members of the LGBT community at Twin Cities Pride. They have even suggested renting out the Gay 90s as a church (something that the Gay 90s has said will never happen). The group says it will have as many as 300 outreach workers at Twin Cities Pride, who will be sent from First Baptist Church on Hennepin Avenue into the Pride festival at Loring Park and LGBT bars every few hours from Thursday night until Sunday on Pride weekend.

Pastor DeWayne Davis of All God’s Children MCC in South Minneapolis, recently penned an email to church members. When he learned of Trinity Works’ plans to infiltrate Twin Cities Pride with the purpose of convincing LGBT people to become “former homosexuals” he said “it touched a nerve.”

“I became angry and annoyed, beating myself up for ever letting my guard down about these kinds of religious shenanigans.”

He continued:

I actually hope that someone from Trinity Works approaches me. I can’t wait to tell them how much I love them and how much God loves them just the way they are. I want to tell them that even in their attempt to convert others, to assume the position of God to make and mold people in their image, God still loves them and hopes that they can learn to love their neighbors as they love themselves. I want to share with them the amazing journey of faith that led me to All God’s Children MCC and how God is using us to bear witness to God’s inclusive and liberating love. I want to let them know that my husband and I continue to grow in love and faith everyday as God continues to bless our home and family. I want to tell them about the many weddings at which I officiated and witnessed the power of love transforming people and communities for the better. Finally, I want to encourage them to focus their attention on how to use their resources and influence, not to make people believe as they believe, but to make whole the people who live in poverty and suffer social and economic injustice, like Jesus did in the Gospels.

In the meantime, despite my anger and annoyance with the remaining religious acceptance and promotion of ongoing prejudice against LGBT persons, I will celebrate Pride Month with a hopeful imagination and expectation. I will bear witness to the unconditional love and amazing grace that inspires me to live as best I can as an expression of the Divine image of God. My prayer is that all LGBT persons will find their voices and celebrate their lives as the best response to those who wish to erase us. Now that’s Pride.

The David Pakman show, syndicated on 160 television and radio stations, picked up the story about Trinity Works’ plans at Twin Cities Pride:

Shortly after TheColu.mn published its report on Trinity Works’ activities, the group scrubbed its plans from its website, shut down its Facebook and Youtube presence, and had a church scrub a sermon about the groups plans.

Despite the criticism, Steven Uggen is continuing to train his “messengers” on how to reach the LGBT community and convince them to leave “the lifestyle” in favor of his brand of Christianity.

In a “Boot Camp Messenger” training called Spirit Led Evangelism on May 24, Uggen laid out specific plans for Pride weekend.

In the context of the humility outreach…we’ve got what we call a 6 hour outreach cycle so we’ll be starting, I think, the first one is Thursday at 6 o’clock on June 26. Every 6 hours is one outreach cycle. So the first hour is the briefing – we probably won’t do much – it’s the in-gathering and briefing – we probably won’t do teaching when we are in a firebase mode. How many know what a firebase mode, a firebase outreach is? A firebase is the combination of 24 hour worship and prayer and 24 hour mission activity. So for 3 days, we’re doing a three day firebase into the Pride event starting Thursday at 6 o’clock ending Sunday at 3 o’clock. It’s almost three days we’ll be having continuing outreaches, one after the other, I think there are 12 outreaches total starting Thursday night and they just keep going successively.

Okay, so at every hour of the night there will be messengers out on the street sharing the gospel with that community and other parts of city life — the LGBT won’t be the only community out there. So, the first hour will be in-gathering and briefing then we will spend two hours in the prayer room we will have a worship, we will have a 24 worship base at First Baptist Church. That’ll be doing worship and prayer 24 hours a day 3 days straight. We will spend two hours in worship, 2 hours doing outreach and then we will come back and do a debriefing. Okay, and that will be the pattern that we will follow from the beginning to the end of the outreach.

Uggen told his followers that when someone confronts a “messenger” for trying to convert someone at Twin Cities Pride, it’s really a demon entering a person’s body similar to the way the enforcers in the film The Matrix took over people’s bodies.

So tactical prayer cover…demonic distractions…When the kingdom of God is happening — and I guarantee you are going to experience this at the Pride — you’ll be witnessing to someone and seemingly out of nowhere, a random person will come and try and totally derail what the spirit is doing. Why? How many have seen The Matrix? Okay, the enemy will use any available vessel and say ‘Red alert! Someone’s sharing the gospel with that person’ and send a distraction and all the sudden out of nowhere this totally distraction comes to try and pull the person you are witnessing to away, it could be a friend, it could be someone in their group or it can be a total stranger, it doesn’t matter. If you are the secondary messenger, your job in the grace of God is to take that distraction and get rid of it. If all you do is you just go, ‘Hey, can I talk to you for a second?’ and you just engage the person, sometimes it’s so random that thing will just come on you. You just kind of distract them away from where the primary ministry is going and it’s a win. It doesn’t matter if you get anywhere with that person, that’s not the issue, you’ve take than distraction out of interfering with what the holy spirit is trying to do. Are you hearing me here? You are going to get the opportunity to walk in this.

Uggen warned the “messengers” about what they might find at Twin Cities Pride.

We can protect one another by prayer for one another when we are ministering in these situations. You’re going to be at the LGBT — you’re going to be at at the Pride festival. You guys, you are going to encounter some things and every religious spirit in you is going to get offended and leave you, I’m telling you, you are going to be set free, you are going to get set free from any religion spirits you have at the Pride because it’s just raw. We need jesus to show up man, it’s like ‘No religious spirits allowed here, no way, no way,’ and he might show you some things that are in your heart. Break agreement and ask him for your heart for this community.

But the “messengers” shouldn’t fear because God has planted “secret agents” in the LGBT community.

How many know that God wants to use everything the enemy purposes for destruction and evil for his glory so God already has secret agents in the LGBT community. He’s got apostles and prophets and evangelists and teachers and pastors in the LGBT community waiting to get activated and go, ‘Surprise! We are here!’ Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! The principalities and powers just, argh! They gnash their teeth but they can’t do anything about it when God’s people obey and they go rescue these ones and when they get rescued they get set on fire, they get testimonies that just releases an anointing to set other people free. There’s people that are going to get saved at this Pride that are going to go on to bring revival to that community we just need to find the men and woman of peace. Amen. Jesus send them to us. Send them to us. Hallelujah!

Uggen encouraged the “messengers” to pack an “ammo crate” in their cars with tools to reach LGBT people and others.

You are going to run into people who are broken and need more help that you can give them you need to know what resources are out there to be able to connect them to what they need…if you are dealing with someone who has got a heroin addiction or that is trapped deeply in the LGBT stronghold, they’re going to need community around them that understand how to minister to their needs, so we are going to need contact information for those types of resources.

Outpost Ministries, Minnesota’s last remaining ex-gay group has been promoting Trinity Works’ plans heavily.

From the group’s June newsletter:

Outpost Ministries is partnering with local evangelism ministry Trinity Works to do an intensive outreach to the LGBT community this coming June. Outreach plans include a 24/3 firebase outreach—combining 24 hour worship and prayer with 24-hour mission activity June 26-29 into the Gay Pride event.
Consider becoming a personal intercessor for Outpost staff. Email [email protected]. Also consider joining us for a 21-day corporate fast June 1-21.
It’s not to late to schedule a mobilization at your church or be directly involved in either the prayer room or the outreach (for which a four-hour training is required).
Contact us or check out www.humility2014.org for more information.
Pray for the upcoming Humility outreach: for God’s wisdom, discernment and direction for leadership, for the right doors to open for church mobilization, for an operations lead and 300 workers for the event, for hearts to be ready to receive and respond to the gospel.