An activist who helped organize a protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul received more than $1 million in compensation from an “anti-poverty” nonprofit she led, according to tax filings.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, an activist and lawyer who stormed Cities Church last month, served as executive director of the Wayfinder Foundation from 2019 to 2024, according to tax filings.
The organization, which focused on “anti-poverty issues” and community activism, reported $5.2 million in revenue during that period. Armstrong’s total compensation included $936,000 in salary and $201,000 in benefits, Fox News first reported. During Armstrong’s tenure, Wayfinder Foundation disbursed $700,052 in grants, according to Fox News.
The Wayfinder Organization’s archived website says that its goal was to “invest in Black women and Latina activists, organizers, and change agents who are using their social, political, and financial capital to challenge the status quo and to disrupt business-as-usual within systems that perpetuate oppression.”
The foundation’s donors included the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which contributed $20,000 in 2023, and the Walton Family Foundation, which gave $2.3 million between 2018 and 2024, Fox News reported.
Armstrong was a key organizer of the Jan. 19 mob at Cities Church, where about 20 agitators entered the sanctuary during a Sunday service. The action targeted David Easterwood, a pastor alleged to hold a leadership role at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Armstrong defended the disruption on social media, writing, “It’s time for judgment to begin and it will begin in the House of God!”
Chauntyll Allen, a St. Paul school board member and founder of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, co-organized the demonstration and led chants inside the church. Allen, elected to the board in 2020, posted on Facebook accusing church members of following a “false prophet.”
Cities Church issued a statement following the incident, calling it “shameful and unlawful.”
“Invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus — or any other act of worship — is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation,” the church said.
In a Jan. 20 press conference, Armstrong and her compatriots called for Easterwood to resign from his position at Cities Church, saying that the statement the church released was “gaslighting.”
Armstrong previously protested outside Alpha News reporter Liz Collin’s home in 2020.
The same Nekima who lead the threats at our home and who the Minnesota media continues to praise and platform. ⬇️https://t.co/XQlafUhyHJ https://t.co/yM8oyFUd1u pic.twitter.com/xAkmp2MtMT
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) January 19, 2026
“There needs to be further investigation into the other pastors of the church and how many other members of the church are actually ICE agents because birds of a feather flock together,” said Monique Cullars Doty, one of the agitators and a founder of Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis.
William Kelly, another one of the agitators who was at the church, also spoke. “They’re calling me a professional agitator now. Well yes, yes, I am. I am an agitator because people need to be agitated,” said Kelly, who posts on social media as “Da Woke Farmer.”
Armstrong, Kelly, Allen and others have since been arrested and charged for their roles in the church storming.
Benny Johnson, a conservative commentator, set up a GiveSendGo fundraiser to support the church. The proceeds of the fundraiser will go to Cities Church to help them implement stronger security and to help cover their legal fees.
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
