The owner of a Christian coffee shop in Colorado says his business has been under intense heat from LGBTQ and communist protestors purportedly aiming to shut down the establishment.
Jamie Sanchez, the founder of Recycle God’s Love, launched the Drip Cafe this year to further his mission of helping the homeless.
“We are starting up [an effort] called Project Revive, and essentially it’s to take someone who’s struggling with homelessness and break all the chains that are holding them down,” he said. “As far as mental health, spiritual coaching, financial advice … getting a job, getting housing — everything you can think of.”
Watch Sanchez explain the chaos unfolding outside his cafe:
The Drip Cafe is an effort to offer employment and real jobs to those in the program to help their recovery and growth. Sanchez said the goal is to work alongside the homeless so they can be mentored.
But so far, the Drip Cafe has been under persistent protest, with people gathering outside, shouting, and taking aim at the fruits of the ministry’s labor. A statement affirming biblical sexuality on the Recycle God’s Love website was reportedly a catalyst for the protests that began in June and haven’t ceased.
The original statement read:
Homosexuality: This organization is opposed to homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. Additionally, this organization holds that a homosexual lifestyle is contrary to God’s Word and purpose for humanity (I Timothy 1:10). The Bible instructs that it is a sin that leads to death. Moreover, this organization is instructed to love those living such lifestyles, while abhorring their sin. 1 Cor. 6:9 says the following: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders.” Members of the church are forbidden to practice such sin. Any member found to be in such sin and unrepentant shall be subject to dismissal.
Sanchez said he changed the language not long after the cafe opened to make the ministry’s intent about love and truth more straightforward. You can read the new verbiage here.
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Sanchez said people assembling outside and taking to the internet have accused the organization of “hating gay people” and “spreading homophobia” — charges he denies. The coffee shop has also been defaced and had windows shattered during the ordeal.
It’s the persistent shouts and protests outside, though, that have created more profound problems for the newfound business.
“Their goal is to scare away any customers that might want to walk in the door by spreading misinformation about who we are, essentially,” Sanchez said. “They show up every Saturday morning and then they also show up in a larger number on the first Fridays of each month, which is supposed to be our biggest day of sales.”
He said he initially tried to engage with the protestors but, over time, realized it only made matters worse. The situation elevated to a place recently where one protestor allegedly spat on someone — and a physical altercation broke out in a separate incident.
All of this has led to fear and dismay among people working at the cafe and customers and prospective customers. He said a bullhorn is sometimes used to berate anyone who goes inside Drip Cafe, with boos ringing out as customers are called homophobes.
“It’s made a large impact,” Sanchez said. “The sales are significantly lower, and so that’s really their goal. They said they want … our doors shut. They don’t want us in their city. They don’t want us. They told me they don’t want me on the planet.”
He said the main group behind the protests is a cohort called the Denver Communists, a group he knew nothing of before demonstrations began in early June.
“It’s to the point where it’s like, where does their free speech start to impede my civil rights as a Christian and to believe what I want to believe?” Sanchez rhetorically asked. “And now it’s like my rights are under attack while we’re trying to protect the communists’ rights, which is super bizarre.”
The Denver Communists rejected calls for a truce last month and said they’d stop protesting once Drip Café closed down and stops spreading “vile anti-LGBTQ+ ideas.”
“Pretty simple,” the post read. “No truce! Begone, bigots!”
Despite the chaos, Sanchez said his organization isn’t giving up and plans to continue its mission of serving the poor and those in need.
“We’re not gonna give up,” he said. “God has made it very clear where we’re supposed to be.”
Sanchez asked fellow Christians to pray for his organization as the ordeal persists, and a GiveSendGo has been assembled to bring in money for the cafe as it deals with the onslaught of chaos.
Find out more about Drip Cafe here.
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