Grace City Church's Connection to a Multimillion Dollar Real Estate Development
GCC's Executive Pastor Josh McPherson Organized the LLC Behind the 27-lot Freedom Hills Development in Cashmere, Wa.
The City of Cashmere last month approved phase one of the Freedom Hills subdivision development, a project with the goal of building 27 new single-family homes in the Wenatchee Valley.
According to the Wenatchee World, the project is being developed by POH Ventures LLC, owned by Gregg Smith. According to the Washington State Secretary of State, the LLC was organized by Smith’s pastor, Josh McPherson.
McPherson is the church planter and executive pastor of Grace City Church in Wenatchee, less than ten miles from the development. Smith owns Smith Excavation and is listed as the principal for “Kingdom Builders Inc,” which was established to provide GCC construction services at cost, according to McPherson.
“Kingdom Builders Incorporated is a different kind of business building a better kind of world, where business and generosity meet to advance the mission of the Church. As a newly-founded commercial construction company, their goal is to build the Kingdom through providing superior construction services at wholesale costs to Grace City…essentially donating their profit to our church,” McPherson wrote on page 15 of this PDF.
According to GCC Executive Pastor of Operations Chris Speten, KBI was established specifically for the “direct benefit of Grace City Church.”
Smith, McPherson, Speten and others tell the story of how Kingdom Builders came to be at about the five and a half minute mark in this video on GCC’s YouTube channel.
Smith bought the nearly 8-acre parcel that would become Freedom Hills from Blaine and Jacqueline Smith for $925,000 in March 2021, according to the Wenatchee World. Steve Bishop and Sharon Moreland Real Estate report that three of the nine lots listed with them have been sold, for a combined $578,000 so far.
The fact that Smith’s pastor is involved in real estate deals, construction and development is interesting. It’s unclear if McPherson is being compensated for his role in POH Ventures and if Kingdom Builders will be working on the Freedom Hills development when it comes time to start building, so I decided to reach out to both and ask.
I called both and left a message for Smith. McPherson has not set up his voicemail box so I was unable to leave a voicemail. Neither man returned my call. So I followed up with Smith via email, sending this on Jan. 3:
“Hi Mr. Smith,
I called your office and left a message, but I wanted to follow up via email as well. I'm a reporter working on a story about the McPherson family and Grace City Church.
I saw that the City of Cashmere approved phase I of the Freedom Hills project and had a couple of questions about that, POH Ventures and Mr. McPherson's involvement. I see that Mr. McPherson is listed as the organizer of the LLC on the certificate of formation. What is the level of his involvement with this real estate development, and is he being compensated? If so, what does that compensation look like?
Are these lots being marketed to Grace City Church members or potential members from out of the area looking to move closer to GCC?
Who came up with the title ‘Freedom Hills,’ and is GCC's KBI Inc. going to be involved in the construction of the homes?
Thank you and best regards,”
I asked the question about Freedom Hills being marketed to GCC followers or likeminded “patriots” because during the Project ManCard event last month a few of the fathers said they had moved their families to Wenatchee because of Grace City Church.
Additionally, GCC-member Michelle Van Bogart, spouse of former candidate for Wenatchee School Board Matt Van Bogart, told coworkers at the Chelan County PUD they moved here for a “more conservative lifestyle” and wanted to get involved in local politics to make sure it stays conservative.
I texted McPherson this request for comment the same day I reached out to Smith.
“Hi Mr. McPherson, my name is Dominick Bonny and I’m a reporter. I have some questions about your involvement with POH Ventures LLC and the Freedom Hills real estate development in Cashmere. Do you have some time to talk this week?”
As of Dec. 8, neither has responded, which is not surprising because no member of Grace City Church’s staff has responded to any request for comment. And McPherson addressed the reason why they avoid the media and directed his followers to follow suit recently. In a sermon in December, McPherson said people who ask questions don’t have their best interests or “the Kingdom” in mind.
“Critics and God-haters don’t ask questions in the service of discovering truth. They ask questions in the service of promoting their agenda, cornering you rhetorically and then burning you at the stake,” he said.
He went on to tell his followers to be the kind of people that keep the “God haters” up at night, and that if they’re not “on the radar of the enemy, then you’re not a threat to the enemy.”
Making it onto the radar of the enemy means proselytizing to coworkers, according to McPherson, and he shared his frustration with his followers telling him they can’t talk about religion at work.
“I’m saying this as pastorally as I can, but I am growing a little weary of hearing people say ‘I just can’t say that where I work,’” he said. “To which I want to say: ‘Says who?’”
He admitted that he didn’t care about their answer to his question and then encouraged all the public school teachers in his congregation to pray in their classrooms and over their students, daring the school districts to fire them.
“Friends, if you’re willing to be silenced by the enemy God will be unwilling to work through you to advance his Kingdom,” he said. “You’re telling me you stayed silent for Jesus to keep your job and then you’re going to enjoy meeting Peter in heaven?”
You can hear those remarks in full context from roughly minute 27 to 37 in this sermon from Dec. 2022.
For the Record
It’s not illegal or even that unusual for a pastor to have multiple streams of income. It’s not illegal for a pastor to invest in real estate. But establishing an LLC with a parishioner and developing a real estate project that could make millions in profit is interesting, and worth exploring.
I’m not a “God-hater” or anyone’s “enemy.” I’m just curious to know more about the McPherson family and their role at the intersection of business, politics and religion in the Wenatchee Valley. More specifically, I am interested to know if the Freedom Hills development represents a direct or indirect revenue stream for McPherson.
As I have written and said times before, I bear no ill-will or animosity toward any of McPherson’s followers or the McPherson family. I only started taking a deeper look into the McPhersons and Grace City Church after they sent a group of protestors to a Wenatchee School Board meeting during the pandemic. That group refused to follow the rules and eventually forced the board president to end the meeting. McPherson also led a lawsuit against the state governor over public health measures, claiming his authority as a religious leader supersedes that of elected leaders. Since then GCC members have been at the forefront of every anti-vaccine and anti-mask protest and lawsuit in North Central Washington. Add in the non-consensual baptism of a minor, the fact that McPherson tells his followers to “pay my bills!” and public resources going toward building his private residence, and any non-biased journalist will tell you there’s an interesting story here. It’s a puzzle that I have collected many pieces for, but there are still more out there to find.
If you or anyone you know has more information about Josh McPherson’s real estate interests or anything else to do with Grace City Church’s impact on public life, family life, politics and business in North Central Washington, please reach out to me on Twitter (@dbonny) or Instagram (@dominickbonny).
Another knockout article by the great Dom Bonney! Thank you for your service shining the light into dark corners, Dom.
If GCC wants to have control of schools, law enforcement, city government -all entities that are supported by tax dollars, then they should have to pay taxes too. This 'church' is just one big financial grift.