The Florida Department of Agriculture gave an ultimatum to the Christian Service Center (CSC) of Lake City, Florida: Either strip the place of Jesus portraits, Bibles, and prayer, or we'll strip you of any U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food to give to the poor. The CSC food pantry chose to keep Jesus and give the USDA the boot.
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
Indiana Food Pantry Told Voluntary Praying Against the Law
Jesus' Name Unconstitutional in Public: Supreme Court
Pentagon: Jesus' Command is Court Martial Offense
Jesus Talk & Prayer Banned at Government Senior Housing
Jesus Talk Outlawed in New Orleans, Arrests Made
Preachers Arrested for Quoting Bible in Public
-- From "Florida official tells Christian charity to choose between Jesus and cheese" by Todd Starnes, FoxNews.com 9/9/13
For the past 31 years, the Christian ministry has been providing food to the hungry in Lake City, Fla. without any problems. But all that changed when they said a state government worker showed up to negotiate a new contract.
“This program is a USDA-funded program and the requirements were outlined by the USDA,” [Florida government] spokesperson Amanda Bevis said. “This agency administers the program on the state level. Our staff did provide a briefing to CSC following turnover in leadership at CSC and did review the USDA requirements.”
“We decided to eliminate the USDA food and we’re going to trust God to provide,” [CSC Executive Director Kay Daly] told me. “If God can multiply fish and loaves for 10,000 people, he can certainly bring in food for our food pantry so we can continue to feed the hungry.”
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From "Christian Food Pantry Refuses to Give Up Jesus, Loses Government Food Contributions" by Morgan Lee, Christian Post Contributor 9/10/13
The CSC has served food to low-income Lake City residents for the past 31 years. As part of its service, CSC prays with its clients and asks them if they would like to learn more about Christ.
"When we meet with them to get an understanding of the crisis or need, we ask them if they know Jesus Christ and if we may share with them. If they decline, we don't. If they do want to, we share the Gospel with them," Daly told The Christian Post. "Sometimes we lead them to the Lord and sometimes we don't."
CSC has refused to comply with the new regulations, even though the loss of the USDA food will severely cut into the food it has available, as the government currently contributes 30 to 40 percent of its total supply.
It hopes to make up for the anticipated food shortage through the support of its many relationships with area churches and individual donations and prayers.
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