Following Money, Connecting Dots: The GCC Saga Continues
More on Grace City Church’s attempts to influence public policy in Washington state.
I’ve been connecting more dots on Grace City Church’s attempts to influence public policy in the Wenatchee Valley. It’s interesting that church leaders signed on to sue the state government yet also accepted a $241,000 (now-forgiven) federal PPP loan in 2020, according to ProPublica.
The picture above is more proof of the organization’s attempts to groom public officials and leverage those relationships to pursue political ends. I added it to my story beats slideshow, which you can see here. This photo was taken in May 2020 at a meeting that shows (some of) the plaintiffs in the failed court case against Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. With help, I identified all but one person in this photo. You can see that in addition to two Grace City Church executive pastors there’s a Douglas county commissioner, Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett, Wenatchee City Council member Ruth Esparza and both Chelan and Grant County Republican party chairmen. The men not at the table are GCC pastor of finances Kyle Strong and another man that I cannot confidently identify at this time.
But back to the $241,000 in PPP loans Grace City Church applied for and accepted from the federal government in 2020.
According to ProPublica, the money went to cover payroll for 18 employees. Grace City leaders admit in their own document titled “9 Critical Lenses To Help See COVID More Clearly” circulated among church members in fall 2020, that they did abide by the state mandate to limit in-person gatherings to 50 people or fewer from March 15 to sometime in the fall. But by September church leadership had lost patience with the state government and decided to reconvene in-person worship services regardless of what the state rules were. The document is 90-pages long, but they give their rationale for ‘civil disobedience’ as they say some will call it in the first few pages. That and other important sentences are highlighted below.
Another telling quote from the first few pages this one highlighted below.
“We are not afraid of the virus, the culture, or the government,” written by Josh McPherson (lead pastor) and Kyle Strong (pastor of finance).
They’re not afraid to accept federal funds to pay church employees and then turn around and sue the state government, that much is provable.
But briefly back to the photo at the top, and where it was taken. It was taken downstairs in the old PBOE building, which is owned by a man named Jeff Kurpuis. Jeff Kurpuis and a few militia friends posted up on the roof of that building during the June 7, 2020 Black Lives Matter march in Wenatchee. You can see Jeff in this picture, he’s on the far right.
Kurpuis also made it to the August 2021 Wenatchee School Board meeting and had a few outbursts before the meeting got shut down by an emotional anti-mask protestor who approached the board while yelling. In the photo below you can see Kurpuis is circled in blue, and school board candidate Matt Van Bogart is circled in red.
And let’s not forget the role that GCC Pastor Carey McPherson played in organizing that activist ambush. I am interested more and more in the connection between GCC, Kurpuis, the local militia and the struggle for control over the Wenatchee School Board. But more on that later.
Other threads:
The Vector Academy began this week, I know this because I received a copy of the student agreement those attending must read and sign.
GCC refugee reports being advised by leaders to stay in an abusive relationship
Financial pressure: “Pay my bills!” — a statement multiple former members have quoted Pastor Josh saying repeatedly. Members are encouraged to pay their tithe before they pay their own household bills.
Armed guards at church and events at GCC’s “community center” events like Stage Kids of Washington’s recent performance of “The Wizard of Oz.” One parent told me he asked the guard at that performance why he had a gun, and asked if it was to “protect people from the flying monkeys?” That made me laugh.