The owner of a Christian coffee shop in Colorado said his business and ministry have continued to be under a barrage of attacks from communist and LGBTQ protesters who have reportedly incessantly sought the establishment’s closure.
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Jamie Sanchez, founder of Recycle God’s Love, joined CBN News last summer to discuss the chaos surrounding the Drip Cafe, a coffee shop he launched to further his mission — through affiliated ministry Project Revive — of helping the homeless through employment and connections to much-needed resources.
“The Drip Cafe is basically an idea from our project where we’re helping homeless people get out of homelessness, to break the chains that are holding them down with homelessness,” he said in a recent follow-up interview. “One of those important areas is to have a real job, to build a resume, to get work experience, to get used to socializing in a normal setting.”
In addition to working toward the goal of employing those without homes, Sanchez said the Drip Cafe has been able to come alongside community members in prayer and encouragement.
Months later, he said protests against Drip Cafe persist:
As previously reported, people began gathering last June outside the shop, 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.
Posts on the Denver Communists Facebook page continue to call for protests against the cafe. The goal, Sanchez said, has been to shut down the cafe — but, thus far, to no avail. While the protests were once weekly, they’ve now moved to monthly events.
“It’s a spiritual warfare going on,” he said. “By now, they should realize they’re not affecting us the way that they thought they would. Their goal is very clear; it’s on their site; it’s on their posters. They want to shut us down.”
He said these protestors show up claiming the cafe hates gay people and seeks to exploit the homeless, with Sanchez accusing them of “making up all kinds of lies.”
“They stand outside with a blow horn and they’re screaming,” he said. “If a customer tries to walk in the door that just is a regular person trying to come in, they will scream in the blow horn and say, ‘Don’t go in there! Don’t go in there! Literally scare them from even wanting to come into the cafe.”
Sanchez, who is a widower with young kids, said he has been the subject of personal attacks, including some surrounding his late wife.
“They’ve even actually gone as far as attacking me personally and saying that I’m using my late wife’s death as a tool to get people to feel sorry for me,” he said, noting such attacks “hurt” but help confirm he’s following God’s call on his life. “It’s also a confirmation of how powerful my testimony is that Christ has given me through my life — that the enemy would try to pull that out and use it as a tool against me.”
Rather than give up on the Drip Cafe, Sanchez said he has persisted, trusting in the Lord throughout the journey and keeping focus on the broader mission.
“For me, the cafe is not mine. I don’t really see it as my cafe,” he said. I don’t see it as Recycle God’s Love’s cafe. I see it as God’s cafe. He gave it to us; if He wants it to go away, then He’ll make it go away.”
Sanchez said he will keep doors open until God says otherwise. In fact, despite challenges, he said the cafe is preparing to hire its first homeless staff member — something he’s elated about.
“We’re going to be able to take someone who essentially is … hopeless — they feel like no one cares about them, no one loves them,” he said. “We’re gonna be able to just pull them out of that, show them that Christ loves them.”
Sanchez said he’s hoping to give people struggling a “fresh start.” He encouraged people who want to learn more about the Drip Cafe to head over to Recycle God’s Love.
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