Homesteading The 'Family Capital of the World:' A Look At Grace City Church's Expansion Plans
How GCC leaders plan to spend the additional $15.5 followers pledged to the organization last fall
When Josh McPherson and Grace City Church leaders launched the “Be Fruitful” fundraising campaign last fall their goal was to raise $10 million – a million a week for 10 weeks.
According to McPherson, the campaign was designed to get “our people to give beyond their normal tithes and offerings” for the fourth phase of building on their Wenatchee compound, the establishment of a private Christian school and an offshoot church in Rome, Georgia.
By the end of those 10 weeks members had pledged $15.5 million.
Those pledges are to be deposited into GCC coffers over the next two years and will fund the construction of a recording studio, a “town square,” a food court, a “grain elevator,” a schoolhouse, and more. On Feb. 28, GCC’s Pastor of Finances Kyle Strong submitted an amended conditional use permit that if approved by the city of Wenatchee will allow GCC to expand its square footage at its Sunnyslope compound from 12,000 to 30,000 square feet with the addition of the schoolhouse and grain elevator. There’s no mention of the Adventure Playland structure, though. You can view that amended CUP here.
In a glossy 33-page publication titled “Be Fruitful: Grace City Resource Initiative 2023-2025” McPherson lays out exactly what that expansion is going to look like, and tells the story of the 11-month planning process that included a “4-day blue-sky burn” trip to Disneyland, complete with a “backstage pass and world-class tour” from former Disney “Imagineer” Mel McGowan. The trip also included a stop-off in Scottsdale to visit Mark Driscoll’s Trinity Church.
Driscoll is the disgraced founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and one of McPherson’s closest friends and mentors. Driscoll and Mars Hill gained national fame and an international platform before the organization imploded amid lawsuits and allegations of racketeering, fraud and abuse.
In “Be Fruitful,” McPherson lays out a vision for a future in which GCC succeeds where Mars Hill failed. In the “quick facts” section of the publication, McPherson writes that he’d like to establish schools across the state, and beyond.
“Our dreams for the school include buying property, acquiring facilities, building a business and education training center with full sports complex, funding an endowment to start more schools all over the state, and more,” he wrote. “In other words, we have more vision than resources. We are committed to being ready to build as the Lord provides. If you have the ability to accelerate any of these dreams with Legacy gifts, please reach out to Executive Pastor Kyle Strong.”
On page one McPherson starts things out by repeating GCC’s origin story, takes aim at his enemies, and frames the campaign as a “challenge to the craziness of our culture.”
“It’s our response to evil and anarchy,” he wrote. “It’s our answer to political tyranny and theological apostasy and sexual perversions and abhorrent morality running rampant in our day.”
You can read the forward address in full below.
In this article, we’ll break down this publication and GCC’s “Strategic Timeline” for 2024 and 2025.