Court Orders FL Church to Halt Worship Services: ‘Forced to Choose Between Worship and Contempt’

A Florida church is appealing a court order that prevents it from continuing to gather together to worship God on its property.

Pastor Roderick Palmer of Coastal Family Church in Flagler Beach, FL, has filed an appeal to the Fifth District Court of Appeal with the help of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit legal group. 

According to Liberty Counsel, Palmer is requesting an “immediate stay and reversal of a temporary injunction” that prevents the church from holding in-person worship services at its Flagler Beach location.

Last August, a lawsuit was filed against Coastal Family Church after the property association, Flagler Square – JAX, Inc., sought to enforce a restrictive covenant prohibiting “public assembly” at the properties in the Flagler Square strip mall.

The church claimed that the covenant is ambiguous, selectively enforced, and unlawful under both state and federal law. The association argued the church’s services, which are held at a building in a strip mall, “would overwhelm available parking at all times.” Liberty Counsel points out that, to date, there has never been an issue with parking. In fact, during Sunday services, more than 160 parking spots are available.

Additionally, a condominium declaration also prohibits the strip mall from being used as discount stores, banquet halls, bingo parlors, or other places of public assembly. However, it is currently being used as a consignment store and a Fraternal Order of Police lodge that regularly hosts bingo nights and rents its facility to the public for public assembly. 

“Despite no evidence of parking problems, and after the city formally approved the church’s zoning special exception, the trial court still issued an order preventing religious gatherings on the property,” Liberty Counsel explained in a press statement.

As a result of the injunction, the church was forced to close its doors this past Sunday.

“No pastor, church, or parishioner in America should be forced to choose between worship and contempt,” wrote Liberty Counsel.  “Yet the order imposes an extraordinary burden – shutting the doors of Coastal Family Church and forcing the pastor to bar his congregants from accessing their own church to worship, receive communion, and fellowship together during the pendency of this civil action.”

In its appeal, Liberty Counsel argues that the court order “constitutes ‘a prior restraint’ on speech, assembly, and religious exercise, which is ‘the most serious and least tolerable form of infringement on First Amendment rights.'” 

“Courts have consistently held that closing a house of worship triggers a loss of First Amendment freedoms, which even briefly, causes irreparable harm,” the legal group points out. “The order has already prevented the church from meeting for one Sunday worship, and each additional week the injunction remains in place would inflict compounding constitutional injury that cannot be undone, such as a potential drop in attendance, as well as a decline in donations required to maintain operations, pay staff, and serve its community.”

Pastor Palmer is seeking emergency relief and specifically requesting that the Fifth District Court of Appeal rule on the administrative stay by January 28, 2026, to prevent them from missing another Sunday service. 

“This injunction unconstitutionally shutters a house of worship with no compelling government interest to do so. Every Sunday that the doors of Coastal Family Church remain closed inflicts irreparable spiritual and constitutional injury on its congregation,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver.

“The U.S. Constitution and Florida laws are clear that Pastor Roderick Palmer and Coastal Family Church have the right to hold church services on church property and that restrictive covenants cannot ban religious assembly. This injunction must be stayed and reversed,” he added.