Grace City Church Raises $15.5 Million in 10 Weeks for New School, Georgia Church Plant
After surpassing his goal of $12 million, GCC executive pastor Josh McPherson announces applications are now open for Garden City Academy
Grace City Church Executive Pastor Josh McPherson Sunday announced his followers had donated nearly $15.5 million in the last 10 weeks during their “Be Fruitful” campaign.
McPherson’s goal for the campaign was $12 million and he made the announcement they had exceeded that by $3.5 million before an ecstatic crowd packed into the “Community Hall” on GCC’s 12-acre compound in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Wenatchee, in Central Washington State.
Clad in a green camo hoodie and a baseball cap with the American flag on the front, an excited McPherson led the crowd in a call-and-response celebration of their new school’s mascot, the “Farmers,” and told everyone how much God had “deposited” to expand GCC’s operations.
“By God’s grace he just deposited $15.5 million into the Kingdom to build a church, to plant a church and to start Garden City Academy,” he said. “And we’re just a little fired up!”
The money will go to build a food court, a recording studio, an “Adventure Play Land,” and a “Grain Elevator” on the compound, as well as plant a new Grace City Church location in Rome, Georgia. However, the main goal of the campaign was to raise enough money to start a new Christian school in the Wenatchee Valley.
McPherson’s a vocal critic of public schools, which he refers to as “government schools.” He spoke at length about how the Wenatchee School District is “failing” during the announcement of their new school and the fundraiser for it in September.
In a now-deleted portion of that sermon, McPherson also said why his first choice for the school was “Patrick Henry Academy of Patriots.”
“I wanted to name it after the whitest, most stubborn anti-federalist founding father I could think of,” he said.
In the end, he settled for Garden City Academy with the mascot being a male farmer. They tried putting a female farmer on shirts and hats was “no bueno” he said.
“Either way too portly or way too hot,” McPherson said.
In an email Monday, he announced that applications are open for the new school, and praised GCC members for giving so much.
“All of this has been made possible because of the joyful generosity of the people of Grace City Church,” he wrote. “If you missed the Victory Sunday party last night, suffice it to say, God has delivered a clear message...this school is in His heart.”
The “Be Fruitful” campaign’s revenue brings the total amount raised by GCC leaders since the church was founded 15 years ago to $59.5 million, according to numbers McPherson has stated publicly.
Yet in 2022, GCC claimed on a nonprofit annual report to the state that they had a gross revenue of less than $500,000.