Posts

Leland Planning Commission rejects Youth for Christ’s application for Lighthouse ministry in Fishtown

,

Following months of deliberation and impassioned public hearings, the Leland Planning Commission tonight rejected Apollos Properties’ special use permit application for a Youth for Christ “Lighthouse” ministry in Fishtown. In so doing, the Commission sided with findings-of-fact from outside attorney Tom Grier that found grounds to deny the special use permit. Conversely, Grier—an attorney with Running Wise & Ford—also prepared a separate document that offered the Commission a path to approve the ministry. The apparently dueling reports seemed to give the Commission defensible legal ground in the event that  Apollos’ owner Jim VanSteenhouse, known as the “Bear Man,” appeals the decision or sues the Township. Much of the debate centered around whether a Youth for Christ ministry could qualify as a “club” allowed in Leland’s C-1 business district. Grier’s analysis that opposed a special use permit concluded that “private clubs, meeting halls, churches and religious institutions are not allowed as permitted or special land uses in the C-1 district.”

Read more
/by

Bear Man’s lawyer questions Fishtown’s tax-exempt status, escalating Youth for Christ battle in Leland

, ,

Business owners, local parents, and the Fishtown Preservation Society oppose Apollos Properties’ and Youth for Christ’s contentious bid for a special land use permit to create a youth ministry in a building they own in the heart of Leland’s business district. Now Youth for Christ is striking back and elevating the legal stakes of this battle playing out in a small Leelanau County town but with potential implications far beyond Northern Michigan. On March 10, Timothy White, an attorney with the Parker Harvey law firm, sent a letter on behalf of their client, Apollos owner Jim VanSteenhouse, to the Leland Township assessor and board of review. That letter questioned the charitable tax-exempt status of the Fishtown Preservation Society in the town’s historic district of fish shanties. The district includes VanSteenhouse’s property at at 110 North Lake St. where Youth for Christ wants a ministry.

Read more
/by

Leland navigates a lighthouse and a rocky shoal

A debate over the role of religion in public schools and in the public square has roiled tiny Leland, Michigan, this fall—the conversation a microcosm of an explosive reckoning on the national stage. Leelanau Lighthouse missionaries Micah and Kya Cramer have used their savvy Instagram marketing—and until recently, their regular presence inside Leland school—to attract dozens of local high school students to Sunday evening worships and other faith events. Concerned parents have raised concerns that the group was using lunch hour at school to “pursue” minors. This local conflict has generated whiplash for some. Five years ago, a community letter that addressed race relations during Black Lives Matter protests prompted neighbors to retreat and reinforce their political and cultural walls.

Read more
/by

Youth for Christ in Leland, Twin Flames raid, Trump’s government cuts, Art’s Tavern sells—Glen Arbor Sun’s most read stories of 2025

A controversial youth missionary group recruits inside Leland school and rattles the community; Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel orders a raid of the Twin Flames Universe cult’s home near Suttons Bay; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore leadership and staff face cuts and uncertainty under Trump and DOGE’s wrecking ball; Barb and Paul Olson acquire Glen Arbor’s iconic Art’s Tavern, and tribal fisherwoman Cindi John survives a mass stabbing at Walmart in Traverse City. Those were the most-read online stories of 2025 in the Glen Arbor Sun. Here’s a list of our top 10, by online views.

Read more
/by