A Look at the Armed 'Sheepdogs' Who Guard Grace City Church

The Mark Driscoll-inspired security team that patrols church services, children's theater productions

The names of the sources quoted in this article have been changed for their safety and privacy.

A man who appears to be Pastor Josh McPherson firing a pistol on the tactical shooting range at the Stronger Men Conference at GCC’s compound in 2021.

Most churches don’t have armed men in tactical vests with radios patrolling their premises during Sunday services, but Grace City Church in Wenatchee, Washington is not most churches.

According to church leaders, GCC has a team of “25 Sheepdogs” to protect the flock during services at their sprawling compound in the affluent Sunnyslope neighborhood of Wenatchee.

But what are these armed men there to protect the followers from? And when did the patrolling start? The answer to the first question elicits a variety of answers from ex-members, but the answer to the second is pretty straightforward. At least it is for Teddy, who was there when the security team first got started.

“So the whole security thing started back when we were at Seventh Day Adventist. That used to not be a thing but it’s right around the time that Mark Driscoll showed up on the scene. And that was something Mark Driscoll did all the time, was he had body guards that followed him around,” he said.

Teddy said from what he recalls, the reason GCC created a security team was because Mark Driscoll had one.

“It wasn’t a thing until Mark Driscoll showed up. Then it was never really explained, at least not to me, why we’re doing this,” he said. “It was just: ‘This is the new thing that is happening.’”

Teddy said he remembers Driscoll coming to speak twice at the SDA church before GCC, which was then still Grace Covenant Church, outgrew the space and moved to the Wenatchee Performing Arts Center.

He said things started small. The team was comprised mostly of members who were law enforcement officers. They would stand in the foyer of the SDA church as their people filed in for GCC services.

But they didn’t stay small for long. According to Grace City Church leaders in a post to members, the security team has 25 members. A paragraph about the security was located in a larger post about different duties members can volunteer for, and what they entail.

“There are multiple ways to serve on the Security Team,” they wrote. “We have a team of 25 Sheepdogs who serve regularly…almost half of them are active duty law enforcement. Their level of professionalism is second-to-none and they take their job very seriously. We have uniformed and plain clothes options with different assignments throughout the building during every service.”

Samantha confirmed that she was used to seeing armed men “guarding” the congregation during her time attending GCC.

This is a short Q&A about that from our interview about her experiences while attending GCC.

Me: “Armed guards on Sunday – did you see those?”

Sam: “Yep.”

Me: “Are they in the church or just the parking lot?”

Sam: “In. They have a very big stance on – they’re very pro gun rights and all that stuff. A lot of them are police officers so a lot of them will have their guns right underneath their shirts.”

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But the armed guards aren’t just present at GCC services. According to multiple sources, at least one man with a pistol on his hip was also present at a children’s theater production of “The Wizard of Oz” in June 2020.

On Saturday, June 26, 2020 Susan and her family went to watch the play at GCC’s compound in the Sunnyslope neighborhood. Susan has a child in Stage Kids and the family wanted to see the show that night. As they entered the performance hall, Susan said she noticed a very tall man wearing a tactical vest with the word “security” emblazoned on the chest. She said he had a radio and was wearing a pistol “right there on his hip.”

“My husband and I kind of looked at each other’” she said. “And we were like: ‘There’s a guy with a gun over there.’ Ok, that’s weird. I thought this was a church. What’s going to happen in this performance?’”

She said that was a big red flag for her family and they are considering pulling their children out of the program if there are more guns present at future Stage Kids WA performances.

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This fixation on firearms and the Second Amendment should not be surprising to anyone who knows or merely follows GCC leader Josh McPherson on Facebook.

In a Facebook video from March 2014, McPherson can be seen cradling his young son as the child fires an assault rifle.

The copy McPherson wrote for the post reads:

“What every young man must master...the three round burst”

The video is still up and set to public on McPherson’s Facebook account. You can watch it here.

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While researching GCC I have spoken with folks in the law enforcement community about GCC leaders and their fixation with guns, as well as their attempts to garner influence among law enforcement professionals in the region.

I have heard McPherson compared to David Koresh, which is troubling even if it’s meant mostly as a derisive joke.

I have heard about panic rooms for McPherson and his family, as well as strategically-placed gun safes full of weapons and ammunition, around the compound. But I need more specifics on that front, and that’s where you come in.

If you know someone who was or is currently on GCC’s security team, I would like to talk to you. I will not publish anything you tell me without your permission first and I am fine speaking off the record.

If you want to talk email me at wenatcheejournalist@gmail.com.