God Bless Those Who are Willing to Sacrifice for Others Above Themselves

Chris Avell, the pastor of Dad's Place in Bryan, Ohio, has been charged with violating the city's zoning laws for allegedly keeping the church's doors open for the homeless 24/7. City officials said the charges stem from investigations that allegedly uncovered safety risks inside the church, but the church says they made necessary repairs and that the city continues shifting the goalposts amid the dispute.

Avell plead not guilty to violating zoning rules at his January 11 arraignment. Dad's Place is next to a homeless shelter, so he opted to open the church's doors to anyone the shelter was unable to help, according to WTVG in Toledo. The Bryan City Zoning Commission in November warned him that the church may not be used as a shelter, as it does not have bedrooms, and doing so would violate zoning laws.

The Bryan Mayor's Office said the church is in an area of the city in which buildings are not permitted for residential use on the first floor and Avell never requested permission to use the church as a homeless shelter.

In response, the church stated "It's these shifting goalposts with ticky-tack requirements being added all over the place that doesn't demonstrate in our mind that they're truly interested in safety but trying to create reasons to force people out of that church and to where? I guess into the cold unknown."

"Last year we made the decision to keep our church doors open 24/7, when we had extreme heat and extreme cold before to allow people in. It's kind of this idea that we believe that anyone who is weary and burdened, that they can come in and find rest. And we believe it's true rest, like rest for our souls."

Conclusion

It was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."  

When a government prioritizes their own laws and regulations above the citizens they represent, they no longer are beholden to the Will of the people, but the desire to control the people.  

In a 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson states "the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."  Thank God for those who stand against unjust laws for the betterment of the people they sacrifice to serve, instead of control.

May God Bless You, Your Business, Israel, and the United States of America, 

Tom Winslow