A church in Pueblo, Colorado, that has invited traveling evangelists to park their RVs in its parking lot for more than 30 years will be able to continue its “hospitality ministry” under the terms of a settlement announced Tuesday.

The Christian Growth Center and its pastor, the Rev. Paul Elder, had faced fines of up to $1,000 per day and a year in jail for each day the roaming ministers parked on church property and not in one of the city’s designated for-pay parking lots.

Mr. Elder told The Washington Times last year that the city had issued a permit in 2011 for the Pentecostal congregation to install water, electrical and sewer connections in the parking lot. The city had a change of mind in 2021 and threatened enforcement action, he said.

The Pueblo City Council voted Sept. 25 to approve the settlement of a federal lawsuit alleging the city violated a statute protecting religious organizations from unfair application of zoning laws and the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.

The city will allow the “RV Evangelist Ministry” to continue and will pay the church’s attorneys’ fees and related costs.

The Washington Times has contacted the city of Pueblo for comment.

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act has been used to protect congregational control of parking facilities in other cases: A federal court in April 2021 ordered the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida, to pay more than $250,000 in fees and related costs to the Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church after the city had fined the United Church of Christ congregation for allowing beachgoers to give free-will donations for the use of parking spaces on non-worship service days.

Attorney Andrew Nussbaum, whose Nussbaum Gleason PLLC firm represented Mr. Elder and the congregation, said in a statement that “justice has been served” by the settlement. He praised the Christian Growth Center for having “the courage to stand up against state power.”

• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.