BRYAN, Ohio — The criminal trial against a northwest Ohio pastor who operated a 24/7 shelter out of a church is set to begin Tuesday.
Chris Avell, the Pastor at Dad's Place in Bryan, is expected to appear in Bryan Municipal Court Tuesday at 1 p.m. Avell is facing a first-degree misdemeanor fire code violation. Court documents stated the charge stemmed from Avell allowing people to sleep in his church without obtaining proper certification for a congregate living facility.
In a statement, Avell's legal representation expressed dismay at the development:
"We are saddened that it has come to this: the City of Bryan trying a pastor as a criminal for caring for his community 24-hours a day. Everyone should be discouraged that the city believes that it is better for people who have nowhere else to go to freeze on the snowy sidewalks than to allow a church to be a church, help the Bryan community, and remain a welcoming place for those who need it the most.”
WTOL 11 will be in court Tuesday to bring updates from the proceedings.
Dad's Place: Background
Dad's Place began helping the unhoused in March 2023. However, in November, city officials issued an ultimatum to the church to stop operating 24 hours a day or face legal penalties.
Pastor Chris Avell faced nearly two dozen criminal charges for keeping his church open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The charges included zoning violations for running a church that sheltered the unhoused, to which he pleaded not guilty in January.
The previous charges were dropped and the case was settled Feb. 1, with a resolution of the city representing to the court that it "would take no further enforcement actions against the church," according to a statement issued by the legal representation for Dad's Place.
Meanwhile, Avell and his organization have claimed the city's government harassed him. He and his legal representation requested from the federal judge an injunction forbidding the city of Bryan from enforcing its zoning or building codes in what they claimed was a way that burdened the church's religious exercise.
The city of Bryan, however, claimed Dad's Place's allegations of the city harassing it were "baseless," and reiterated its stance on the citations against the church.