A Texas church that has repeatedly called for the execution of homosexuals will not be evicted from its building. Stedfast Baptist Church in Watauga reached an agreement with its landlord ahead of an eviction hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning in Tarrant County.
The church’s attorney, R. David Weaver, said the church and the building’s owner, Dallas-based Cider Property, have resolved the matter “for now.” Weaver declined to provide additional details.
Stedfast has sparked numerous protests and complaints after its leaders promoted anti-gay violence.
The congregation moved to a shopping center in Watauga this year after being evicted from a building in Hurst in February for violating the terms of their lease, which prohibits violence and threats.
So Stedfast refused to back down. In June, Pastor Dillon Awes said that homosexuals should be executed.
“All homosexuals in our country should be charged with a crime, the abomination of homosexuality that they have,” he said. “They should be found guilty in a legal trial, they should be sentenced to death, they should be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head.”
Senior Pastor Jonathan Shelley has defended the church’s position saying it only follows the teachings of the Bible.
The Stedfast Baptist Church, classified as a hate group, has made headlines for its anti-gay rhetoric. In 2016, his former pastor Donnie Romero praised the 2016 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando and condemned the victims.
Three years later, Romero was expelled after admitting to sleeping with prostitutes, gambling and smoking marijuana.
