By Bob Allen
A Southern Baptist church planter in New York City said he never intended the firestorm of criticism that started with him writing a blog about losing the congregation’s meeting place after promoting a sermon series about sexuality.
Freddy Wyatt, who moved from Tennessee to plant the Gallery Church in 2006, described what happened after the church managed to get out of a lease on a meeting place that it had outgrown.
“We found what seemed to be a perfect new space in a restaurant just a block and a half away,” he wrote. “I had actually eaten there several times and had always thought it would be a great gathering location. We approached the restaurant and they were glad to host us within our budget. With great anticipation, we forged an agreement, moved in and immediately our attendance jumped by 20 people….
“Then we preached a sermon about same sex attraction.”
“After only meeting in our new space for a couple of months, we were asked to leave,” Wyatt wrote. “The restaurant that was hosting us had received significant backlash from the neighborhood for hosting a Christian church in their space. The backlash came before the sermon was even preached, yet was enough to motivate the restaurant to end their partnership with us.”
“We were renting their space for $25K on the year, paying their sound tech $150 a Sunday, and averaged about 10 people eating every Sunday at their restaurant that opened right after our worship service ended,” he continued. “Yet, disassociating from a Christian church was more valuable to them.”
Wyatt didn’t mention the restaurant’s name, but a Fox News report by one-time Baptist Press writer Todd Starnes identified it as Hill Country Barbecue Market, a popular Manhattan eatery, in a story headlined “NYC restaurant evicts Christian church.”
The story said Wyatt was not surprised the message on sexuality caused such an uproar.
“God’s Word promises us that fiery trials will come upon us,” he said. “And we shouldn’t be surprised when they do. Jesus said we will be hated, for He was hated.”
Wyatt said the episode shows that the exclusivity of the gospel is “incredibly offensive to people, and they hate that message.”
“When we are faithful, there are seasons of challenge,” he said. “There are seasons of persecution that come. We’ve got to be willing to show that our allegiance belongs to Christ.”
After other media picked up the story, including the Washington Times, a public relations firm representing the restaurant’s owner told The Blaze, a conservative libertarian news, information and entertainment channel founded by talk radio personality Glenn Beck, that news of Hill Country’s arrangement with the Gallery Church “has been inaccurately reported.”
“Our intention was to provide the Church with a place to congregate, which we thought we could do without implying a religious affiliation between our two organizations,” Hill Country founder and CEO Marc Glosserman said in a statement released though the public relations firm Baltz & Company. “Over the following weeks, based on unanticipated community response, it became clear to us that this would not be possible.”
Wyatt, who was featured in a 2011 New York Times story about Send North America, a Southern Baptist Convention strategy to mobilize and assist churches and individuals to plant churches in 27 cities throughout the United States and Canada, added a statement about “an unfortunate firestorm of hostility toward Hill Country Barbecue Market, which wasn’t our intention.”
“We enjoy friendships with the individuals who work at Hill Country Barbecue Market and appreciate their willingness to host our church for the season they did,” Wyatt wrote. “We had a month-to-month lease with the restaurant, which they chose to not renew.”
He noted that some of the news reports had used the term “eviction.”
“This was not our term, nor is it the best description of their decision,” he said. “Though Hill Country Barbecue Market’s decision saddened us, we understood and respected it.”
“We’ve also been saddened by the hateful and hostile things that have been written about this restaurant as a response to hearing our story,” Wyatt continued. “Please join us, Gallery Church, in responding with neighborly love and grace toward our friends at Hill Country Barbecue Market.”
“We look forward to continuing our friendships, finding tangible ways to bless our neighbors, and will continue to eat at Hill Country Barbecue Market,” the statement concluded.