Dad’s Place

Criminalizing Compassion

In March 2023, Pastor Chris Avell of “Dad’s Place” in Bryan, Ohio began operating his ministry 24 hours a day to serve the most vulnerable in his local community.  For months, Dad’s place did so without incident.

But in late 2023, the City sent a cease and desist letter to the Church, ordering it to stop allowing overnight guests within 10 days or face criminal prosecution, with each day of operation constituting a new criminal offense. After the Church refused to comply, the City filed 18 separate criminal charges. Mayor Carrie Schlade also refused to meet with Pastor Chris to even discuss the charges, which her office was helping to oversee.

Then, on the Sunday morning of New Year’s Eve, the police abruptly showed up at the church to issue the criminal charges for keeping his church open and daring to care for the homeless in the frigid winter.

Dad’s Place originally decided to keep its doors open 24/7 to anyone in the community wishing to use its facilities in part because with the homeless shelter across the street was often full, leaving many vulnerable people in jeopardy and at risk of having nowhere to go in Bryan.

Pastor Avell said, “The ministry of the church is not confined to Sunday morning at 11am.  We welcome anyone to experience the love and truth of Jesus, regardless of the time of day.”

Although the City is dealing with housing shortages (and even the local homeless shelter is often full), the City is still filing criminal charges against the pastor for trying to fulfill a need within his community.

The City set a date for Pastor Chris’ arraignment in January 2024, and the prosecutor opposed delaying the arraignment so that Pastor Chris could have legal counsel present for the hearing. The pastor was facing criminal charges, yet the prosecutor seemed to not want the defendant to have legal representation! First Liberty stepped in and was able to represent Pastor Chris as he pleaded “not guilty” to the criminal charges.

Defending Dad’s Place

On January 22, 2024, First Liberty Institute and the law firms Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP and Spengler Nathanson PLL filed a federal lawsuit and motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Bryan, Ohio and city officials seeking to shut down the religious activities of Dad’s Place and Pastor Chris Avell.  Avell faced nearly two dozen criminal charges for keeping his church open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The next day, a district court judge granted a temporary restraining order against city officials.

In February, First Liberty and city officials in Bryan announced that the city agreed to drop all criminal charges against Pastor Chris. Dad’s Place in turn agreed to cease residential operations and to seek proper building certifications, and zoning permits for the operations it plans to pursue together with the installation of any necessary safety measures associated with those permits.

Continued Persecution

But in April 2024, city officials arrived at Dad’s Place at 5:30 am for an unannounced inspection. They filed more criminal charges against Pastor Avell on April 26.

In July 2024, attorneys appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit a decision by a federal district court judge denying a preliminary injunction to protect the religious activities of Dad’s Place and Pastor Chris Avell.  Dad’s Place also filed an emergency motion for preliminary injunction pending appeal.

On December 3, 2024, Pastor Avell’s criminal trial took place regarding the fire code violation charged against him.

In the meantime, on December 5, 2024 attorneys filed a motion to stay a ruling by Judge J.T. Stelzer that prevented Dad’s Place from allowing people to seek temporary shelter overnight.

A Glimmer of Hope

Standing up for Dad’s Place, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Dad’s Place, after being moved by the story of Dad’s Place and meeting the people there. His brief suggests a stay is necessary “to both prevent imminent harm to Ohio citizens who are relying tonight on the warmth of the first floor of Dad’s Place to escape the cold, and to appropriately litigate the Ohio constitutional rights potentially implicated by the City of Bryan’s enforcement of its regulations.”

In late December 2024, a panel of judges on the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth Appellate District, granted the motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal, finding that the motion “asserted a reasonable question of law” on a matter of constitutional law.  The decision allows Dad’s Place to continue its temporary shelter ministry while the case continues on appeal.

Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute said, “We are grateful to the court for recognizing the weighty issues of Constitutional law and temporarily pausing the city’s aggressive campaign against Dad’s Place. Without this decision by the Court of Appeals, as the judges explained, the city would ‘prohibit Dad’s Place from practicing what it maintains is an important part of its religious beliefs for several months.’  America is better with people like Pastor Chris Avell and Dad’s Place, who compassionately open their doors to people who have nowhere else to go, keeping them from freezing on the snowy sidewalks.”

Criminally Convicted

But then, in January 2025, Pastor Avell was found guilty of a criminal charge regarding a fire code violation filed against him by city officials. Pastor Avell was fined $200 and given a 60-day suspended jail sentence.  The judge stayed his decision for 30-days to allow the Avell’s attorneys to appeal.  A state appeals court then granted a motion to stay the imposition of the criminal sentence until appeals are exhausted.

“No pastor in America, including Pastor Chris Avell, should be pronounced guilty for providing temporary shelter to those in desperate need,” said Ryan Gardner, Counsel for First Liberty. “Only government officials could say with a straight face that people are safer in the sub-zero temperatures on the street than inside the warmth of a church.”

Fighting for Justice

In May of 2025, attorneys for Dad’s Place argued at the Sixth District Court of Appeals of Ohio, asking the court to reverse a previous decision that would allow the City of Bryan to stop Dad’s Place’s efforts to serve people with desperate needs.

“Like churches throughout history, Dad’s Place is a place of safety for those in desperate need,” said Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “We are hopeful that the Sixth District will recognize that churches caring for those in need should be encouraged and affirmed, not punished or prosecuted.”