From Wells Hall to Pinecrest: Preacher’s Disciple Brings Anti-LGBT Message Home

Brent VanNamen wants you to know that he loves you, but he believes you might be headed to hell.

The 38-year-old’s home in the Pinecrest neighborhood has become a beacon of ire for some residents and earned quiet support from others after he displayed a sign during Pride Month that warned those passing by that Jesus would not approve of LGBTQ people or those who change their gender, in addition to cursing and stealing.

Some neighbors have responded with signs that offer support for LGBTQ individuals. Meanwhile, VanNamen said his sign has been tampered with.

“I had already made that sign prior to moving in,” he told East Lansing Info in a phone interview. “I had used it while preaching and evangelizing at different events. If I’m parked somewhere, I have signs in my car window. It’s a way to get the word out there.”

He said there is already an abundance of advertising billboards, much of it broadcasting drugs and alcohol, and he wanted to put up signs for Jesus.

Lynn Richardson is president of the Pinecrest Neighborhood Association but spoke to ELi as a private citizen and not on behalf of any group or organization.

She said that the owners of the home have the First Amendment right to express their opinions.

“As is the case with much protected speech,” she said, “it may be offensive to some or many others in the community. Here, in a city that appears to value its racial, age, and gender diversity, the opinions expressed … appear to be contrary to those of many in East Lansing and, sadly, may be hurtful to the targeted group and foster divisions within the neighborhood.”

VanNamen is a member of Soulwinners Fellowship Church in Lansing, which is led by Pastor Michael Venyah. Better known in East Lansing as the “Wells Hall preacher,” Venyah has preached his version of Christianity on the MSU campus for more than 30 years, often including threats of damnation and warnings of sin.

VanNamen purchased his home from Venyah in January 2025, but did not put the sign up until earlier this month. He said none of his neighbors have spoken to him directly about the signs in his yard. One individual drove by and yelled at him, while others have pulled letters from the sign.

“They plucked off the letters that said ‘do not,’ leaving only ‘change gender,’” he said. “Thankfully they left the letters in the yard. I put up another sign saying if people want to talk, they can call me. I even put my phone number on it. I said, ‘Jesus loves you. I love you.’

“I also said [in a second sign], ‘Please don’t touch the sign. You are being watched. Police may be called.’”

The signs stand in stark contrast to the half-dozen or so homes in the neighborhood that fly Pride flags in a community that has historically been inclusive of the LGBTQ community. East Lansing passed some of the nation’s earliest protections in 1972, prohibiting discrimination in city hiring based on sexual orientation.

Neighbor Abbie Tykocki said the sign doesn’t reflect the views of the community.

“I understand that the sign is motivated by sincere religious beliefs, but I don’t believe it reflects the welcoming and inclusive character of this neighborhood,” she said. “In my view, messages and actions that make anyone feel unwelcome are contrary to the sense of community and belonging that so many residents value in East Lansing.”

Nevertheless, VanNamen continues to spread his beliefs, taking signs to Lansing Lugnuts games so children can see messages condemning the LGBTQ community, about honoring parents and loving people. His Pinecrest home is near Robert L. Green Elementary School, and he is aware that there is a lot of traffic during the school year.

“Neighbor children can get the Word of God, too,” VanNamen said. “We live in a society where rebellion can be the norm, rebellion against authorities and parents. God says he wants us to honor our parents. … As we honor parents, it teaches us to honor other authorities like police and others.

“Children are taught they can change their genders, but God’s Word says God made them male and female. God doesn’t make mistakes.”

VanNamen said this was confirmed for him at East Lansing’s Pride Festival earlier this month when he encountered a “young man there dressed as a woman” who agreed to pray with him.

“He came up and talked to me,” VanNamen said. “He had been suicidal and had tried to commit suicide. He said he had tried changing gender because he thought maybe that would help, but he said he was still suicidal. I encouraged him. I told him I had committed homosexual acts when I was younger, so I’m not out there to condemn. But I know only Jesus can give peace, true joy and true happiness.”

VanNamen hails from Caledonia in West Michigan. He said he was experiencing depression and having a hard time when he heard about someone preaching at Grand Valley State University.

It was Venyah, the Wells Hall preacher.

After hearing Venyah speak, VanNamen reached out to him. Venyah’s wife invited him to visit the Blanchette house, and he eventually was invited to live with the Venyah family in 2014.

VanNamen often joined Venyah to preach on the MSU campus, saying that people needed to hear their message.

“If they’re constantly hearing messages from media or friends,” he said, “whether it’s about changing gender, LGBTQ issues, lying, rebellion against police, defunding police or opposition to ICE, the more they hear it, the more they can gravitate toward it. So I try to counteract that with what I know to be the truth: God’s Word.”

VanNamen said he has Muslim neighbors on both sides of his home and that another sign declaring Jesus as the true God and eternal life is aimed at them.

“The more people hear the Word of God, the more chance there is that faith can come and their lives can change,” he said.

VanNamen said that some individuals have not been open to his message, saying “some of the most non-inclusive people I’ve encountered have been from the LGBT community; it’s either you agree with them or they persecute you.”

He recounted a time he said he was about to clock in to work when he noticed a lesbian couple walk by. He asked them whether they had a church. They declined to respond and kept walking as he “shared the Gospel with them before going into work.”

VanNamen said one of them became very angry and came toward him as if to attack. He said he was fired from his job as a result.

“People say they promote love,” he said, “but love is not acceptance. We can love people and want to see them change without accepting all actions. That applies to pedophiles, rapists, thieves, liars, those committing homosexual acts, and those committing heterosexual fornication. It’s all sin according to God’s Word. The only thing that can cleanse sin is Jesus. But Jesus requires us to repent.”

He said that homosexual and transgender individuals cannot be good Christians if they stay as they are.