GENEVA – When anti-gay activists approached members of a Geneva church that is welcoming to the gay community, organizers of a rapid response email and text message blast brought out a crowd that intervened.

Geneva resident Colin Campbell said he went to the First Congregational Church of Geneva, 321 Hamilton St., Geneva, about 9:30 a.m. Sunday and saw seven men standing on the sidewalk.

“I was hopeful this group wouldn’t show up again,” Campbell said. “I walked over to see who they were, and they were asking me if I was a follower of Jesus Christ and gave me a flyer that said, ‘Love kills pride.’ I said, ‘Thank you very much’ and walked away and called my wife.”

Campbell said he and a church member had set up emails to go to a list of people who said they wanted to be notified if the church needed help.

The call to his wife was to put the rapid response team into action.

“Within about five minutes, people started showing up,” Campbell said. “Within about 30 minutes, there were probably 50 people there.”

Campbell said people who responded were not only from Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles, but also from Elgin, Aurora, Fox Lake, McHenry, Sycamore and DeKalb.

The anti-gay group targeted the church last month, approaching its parishioners and telling them the church’s welcoming status to the LGBT community is against what the Bible teaches. On Nov. 26, about 300 people stood in front of the First Congregational Church of Geneva to provide support if the anti-gay group were to return.

The anti-gay group did not approach parishioners that Sunday or on Dec. 3.

Church member Carolyn Fabian said she was at another church for a concert that morning when she got a text.

“I never anticipated this level of support,” Fabian said. “[The anti-gay activists] were right at the first step, and I was trying to figure out how to push them back, and these guys just made a wall and were chanting ‘Love wins,’ and they backed off all the way to the grass, and we were able to get people into the church OK. It was fantastic.”

Fabian created the “Got love?” rainbow signs that apparently made the church a target for anti-gay activists.

Aaron Viland, 19, of St. Charles said he created the “Love kills pride” posters that he put up on city utility poles in response to the “Got Love?” signs.

Viland said he and others went to the church to hand out literature.

“Most of them were not really open to having conversations,” Viland said of people they tried to talk to. “A couple were at least open-minded, and we had a few good discussions with people. … Then they would start chanting, ‘Love wins.’ ”

Viland said his group does not have a name or belong to a particular church.

“We are just Christians who are friends with each other and have similar views on things, and we just kind of work together,” Viland said. “We were trying to share the gospel with them, that Jesus died so sinners can be forgiven of their sins.”