Lawsuit says Michigan town discriminated by denying Christian group building

Leland Township denied a Christian group a special use permit for a worship center in a commercially zoned business district
The Christian group called it religious discrimination
The township says the group’s plans for the building didn’t meet the township’s zoning criteria for that area

A conflict that has divided tiny Leland in northern Michigan for nearly a year has spilled into federal court.

Last month, Youth for Christ — an international organization with more than 100 chapters throughout the United States and 10 in Michigan — sued Leland Township as part of the local chapter’s bid to hold a youth ministry in a business district overlooking Leland’s iconic Fishtown harbor.

In April, the township’s Planning Commission rejected a special use permit application from Apollos Properties, owner of the building in question, on the grounds that the youth ministry didn’t fit the township’s definition of a club allowed in the business district.

“I absolutely respect the right to gather and worship,” Leland resident Anna Hogan said during public comment at a Planning Commission meeting in November. “This central, high-visibility storefront is zoned and utilized to support tourism and commerce. The retail and visitor experience is the engine of our economy. … Does a religious youth assembly, which is focused on worship and ministry, truly fit the intent of this definition of a club?”

“This case is much more than a zoning dispute,” Jim VanSteenhouse, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and uncle to Youth for Christ missionaries, said in a press release. “Leland Township’s denial of the constitutional rights and First Amendment freedoms guaranteed by our National and State Constitutions cannot stand.

“We don’t want a lawsuit. All we desire is the opportunity for Leelanau County youth to meet for prayer, Bible study, Christian fellowship and mentoring on private property.”

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With the lawsuit active, VanSteenhouse and his attorney declined to comment for this story.

Lee Cory, chair of the Leland Planning Commission, said the rejection of the special use permit had nothing to do with constitutional freedom.

“Apollos’ lawsuit is an exercise in legal gymnastics to mischaracterize a simple zoning issue as a complicated constitutional issue,” she said. “The only issue before the Planning Commission was whether the YFC club, as Apollos described it, complied with … the zoning ordinance, which excludes all clubs except those that serve food and beverages in a seated environment, like a supper club. Based on Apollos’ own description, the clear answer was no.”

Apollos is owned by VanSteenhouse, a wealthy retired banker who bought property and built a luxury home in Leland in 2018. He also spent $1.2 million in February 2025 to acquire the building where Youth for Christ wants to hold a ministry.

Known as the “Bear Man” for surviving a grizzly attack in the Canadian wilderness 10 years ago — which he credited to divine intervention — VanSteenhouse is the uncle of Micah and Kya Cramer, Youth for Christ missionaries who came to Leland two years ago and volunteered inside Leland Public School to allegedly recruit students to join their youth ministry, Leelanau Lighthouse.

Through word of mouth and an Instagram marketing strategy, they attracted a couple dozen high school students to Sunday evening worships, Friday morning coffee dates and summer beach hangouts at VanSteenhouse’s luxury home overlooking Lake Michigan. Last September, parents raised concerns that Leelanau Lighthouse was, in their eyes, using lunch hour at the school to “pursue” minors. Seventy-eight households in Leland and elsewhere in Leelanau County sent “no consent” letters to the Cramers. The school’s administration asked them to stop volunteering there.

Apollos Properties applied to the township last November for the special use permit to open the youth ministry. Local residents packed successive Planning Commission meetings through the fall and winter, which were moved up the road to the Northport High School auditorium to accommodate large, impassioned crowds — most in opposition to the youth ministry.

VanSteenhouse escalated the already heated debate in March when his Traverse City attorney sent letters questioning Fishtown’s tax-exempt status.

The Planning Commission rejected Apollos’ bid in April by a four-to-one vote after consulting multiple attorneys. Apollos almost immediately appealed to the township’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

Understaffed and dogged by controversies over who the township supervisor could appoint to the board who hadn’t already offered public statements in favor of or against Youth for Christ, the board has yet to hear the appeal.

VanSteenhouse and Youth for Christ didn’t wait for the zoning case to play out. Instead, they filed a federal suit on Aug. 10.

Lawsuit alleges anti-Christian bias

The five plaintiffs in the 169-page lawsuit are James and his wife Elizabeth VanSteenhouse, his company Apollos Properties and Leelanau Lighthouse missionaries Micah and Kya Cramer. Judge Paul Maloney has been assigned to the case, for which the plaintiffs have requested a jury trial.

Thor Hearne, the lead attorney behind the federal suit, comes from a family with Leland ties, too. A founding partner of the St. Louis-based True North Law Group, Hearne has long represented and litigated conservative causes. His press release announcing the federal suit states that he served on George W. Bush’s national election counsel. He also represented Donald Trump in several federal cases, including an effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Michigan, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

The suit alleges that the nation is “experiencing a season of religious intolerance, bigotry and disharmony.” Hearne references the Department of Justice’s “Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty” and Trump’s executive orders during both his terms in office that allege a rise in anti-Christian bigotry.

“The Justice Department is vigilantly pursuing President Trump’s commitment to eradicate anti-Christian and antisemitic bias and protect the right of individuals and faith-based organizations such as Youth for Christ to assemble, speak, and worship,” Hearne said in the news release.

Hearne also telegraphed his threats to Leland last year with a letter he sent in late November 2025 to Leland High School and the Planning Commission on behalf of Youth for Christ USA. That letter also mentioned Trump.

“Your opposition to the ministry Micah, Kya and Youth for Christ are engaging in Leelanau County is a disturbing demonstration of anti-Christian bias,” wrote Hearne. “President Trump signed two Executive Orders establishing a task force to eliminate anti-Christian bias … Trump’s declaration stated his administration, including the Department of Justice, would ‘uphold religious liberty and the right to engage in religious speech.’ This extends to ‘faith-based organizations’ such as Youth for Christ.”

Hearne ended that letter nine months ago with a shot across the bow.

“You are embarking upon an extremely risky endeavor. The effort to prevent Youth for Christ from exercising its constitutional right to free speech, to assemble and to worship violates the US Constitution, numerous federal statutes, and Michigan law. Youth for Christ does not seek controversy. But Youth for Christ will stand firm in defense of its right to assemble, worship and declare the Gospel.”

Hearne, whose late mother, Donna Hearne, was a prominent conservative political figure and worked with the US Department of Education during the Reagan era, also sent a letter to the federal Department of Justice on behalf of the Youth for Christ’s push for a ministry in downtown Leland — before filing the lawsuit last month.

The Traverse City firm Parker and Harvey are co-counsel in the federal case; Robert Parker has represented VanSteenhouse’s company Apollos Properties in the zoning matters before Leland Township.

Planning Commission chair Cory denied that the rejection of the special use permit was about religion.

“The Planning Commission never discussed whether YFC was a church or any other type of religious institution. Nor did it discuss religion or the exercise of religion,” she said.

Cory wondered why Youth for Christ couldn’t just move the youth ministry outside of the downtown business district, where Apollos owns other properties and the organization would meet zoning criteria.

Jacob Wheeler publishes the Glen Arbor Sun in Leelanau County and teaches journalism at Northwestern Michigan College.

This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.

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