This morning in chapel, Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, was interviewed by Samuel Green, President and General Counsel for Reason for Life.

Phillips began by sharing how he accepted Christ and started his bakery. He chose the name because the word “Masterpiece” has the word “Master” in it. This reminds him that Jesus is his Master.

One busy Thursday afternoon at his shop in 2012, two men walked into the store looking for a cake for their wedding. Phillips knew he couldn’t make this cake because God designed marriage to be for one man and one woman. When he told the men he couldn’t make cakes for same-sex weddings, they got up and left in anger.

Over the next few weeks, Phillips began to receive hateful phone calls, emails, and even death threats. A month later, he received a notice charging him with a violation of the law. The government asked him to express messages that went against his religious beliefs as well as reeducate the staff and let them know these religious beliefs do not belong in the workplace.

Phillips decided to stand strong in his faith. While he welcomed everyone into his shop and treated them with love, he refused to celebrate sin. The Alliance Defending Freedom came alongside him to defend his case.

The case was taken to local court, but Phillips lost on the lower levels. The Colorado Supreme Court would not even take the case. The last place to go in the legal world was the United States Supreme Court. As Phillips was hit with the importance of this case, he realized it was not just about him, his shop, and his ability; it was about the rights of everyone to express their faith and their beliefs. He prayed about it and asked the Supreme Court to hear the case. And in the summer of 2017, he was amazed to discover that they had actually granted him a hearing.

In December, his case was heard at the Supreme Court of the United States. The battle was hard fought, but a turning point came when Justice Kennedy explained how tolerance is essential in a free society and how the state had not been tolerant or respectful of Phillips’s religious beliefs. In June of 2018, Phillips was overjoyed to see that his case had won, 7–2.

Soon after, he was sued again when he refused to make a pink and blue cake to celebrate a person’s gender transition. Again, he lost at the lower court levels, but at the Colorado Supreme Court, he won.

Phillips shared that no matter what we do for a living, we can do it with a Gospel mindset. “I didn’t want to tell these guys, ‘Get out of my shop,’” he said. “I wanted to serve them.” Phillips has shared the Gospel many times in his shop. “That’s the point,” he said. “That’s why God sent us. He left us here so we can share the good news.”