A Sneak Peek at GCC's 'WE' Marriage Conference
And Taking Time Off with My Wee Ones and William Tell partner
Last weekend Grace City Church welcomed “360 couples” to their compound in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Wenatchee, Wa. for an “epic” marriage conference (according to them) that included William Tell reenactments onstage.
In a recent edition of GCC’s “House News” email newsletter Pastor Josh McPherson provided some details about the marriage conference – including who paid for it.
“Your ongoing generosity is what makes things like this possible. The people of Grace City underwrote a large majority of the expenses of this weekend, to serve these marriages. We had couples from Grace City, as well as from other churches in the valley. We were able to provide free registration to pastors in the valley and their wives. We also had many folks attend who don't have a church home but were introduced to the family of God this weekend,” McPherson wrote. “Sharon and I love doing life and being on mission with you, Grace City. What an incredible life we get to live, together on mission, loving and serving our town together.”
The tagline of the conference was “The Art of Making Love Sweet” and the marketing materials included an invitation to join Josh McPherson and his wife for “24 hours of fun as they talk about friendship, sex, kids, finances, and the most powerful principle in marriage.”
Is that principle mutual respect? Reciprocity? Christ-like selflessness?
You had to attend to find out…
While McPherson was coy about “the most powerful principle in marriage,” in other marketing materials he included detailed instructions about lodging, what type to book, and what couples were supposed to get up to after the conference.
“To enhance the weekend experience, we highly encourage you to book somewhere special this Friday & Saturday night. Turn it into an epic romantic weekend. Good teaching, helpful tools, then scoot off somewhere romantic and…ya know…talk about what you’ve learned.”
The tongue-in-cheek reference was not lost on me. I’d rather not dwell on it though.
Why?
Because I’m on vacation! So this weekend’s post is going to be a little shorter than usual.
Looking forward though, I recently received hundreds of documents from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office regarding the death of Reefer the drug-sniffing dog while under the care of his handler Deputy Carlos Rodriguez with the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
Back in 2016 Reefer, a drug dog that cost taxpayers between $7,000 to $15,000 according to a former K-9 handler, died under mysterious circumstances while under Rodriguez’ supervision. The Sheriff’s Office was not forthright with information regarding Reefer’s death and made it seem as if he had been run over by a citizen rather than his own handler – a detail that was later uncovered.
That’s enough for me to take a harder look at that incident. But the kicker is that Carlos Rodriguez is a member of “The God Squad,” as some in law enforcement have taken to calling it. It’s a reference to GCC members in local law enforcement.
Like I said months ago, anyone drawing a salary from taxpayer money who is affiliated with Grace City Church is of great interest to me.
So more on that story, and others, when I’m back in the saddle.
Were attendees charged a fee to attend the conference? There is a great deal of money & freebies going into GCC from tithing, donations, Vector Academy tuition, etc., so I'm curious how many of the these conferences, Stronger Man or other events are at an additional cost to attend?