Leave & Cleave: One Family's Story of Getting Out of Grace City Church

They joined because they thought GCC was 'all about family,' but were disillusioned by church leaders' defense of men who behave badly and a refusal to help the homeless

Note: Most of the names of the subjects in this article have been changed due to privacy concerns, at the request of the sources.

Henry and Emma Patton joined Grace City Church in 2021 because they felt it was “all about family” – they left last year after GCC pastors drove a wedge in theirs.

At first GCC was a great fit for their family in many ways, and as a veteran Henry was a welcome addition to Pastor Josh McPherson’s “Strongerman Nation.”

When it came time to give they did, contributing “a lot of money” to last year’s campaign that saw GCC followers raise nearly $16 million to build a recording studio on the compound, start a school in Wenatchee and establish a second church in Rome, Georgia.

One Sunday, the couple noticed that Emma’s father Randy and his new wife Tina were at a service. They were surprised because her father was in leadership at another local church and had been a vocal critic of GCC in the past.

“My dad badmouthed Grace City a lot to us actually when we were going,” she said. “And all of a sudden we saw him there – it was surprising.”

Emma’s relationship with her father had been strained since he and Tina had made their affair public years earlier. Both had been married when they began seeing each other.

The affair started while Emma’s youngest brother was in the hospital in Seattle after a serious accident. Her mother, Randy’s first wife, stayed her with brother while he drove back to Wenatchee to get clothes. On the drive he called Tina for “prayer” and comfort.

It was something Randy kept secret from his family at the time and in Emma’s eyes, it was the beginning of the relationship that tore her parents’ marriage apart.

After Randy and Tina attended that Sunday, her father became enamored with GCC and McPherson over the following months.

“I think a lot of the storytelling that Pastor Josh does can really draw people in,” she said. “And the men stuff. My dad was drawn to the men stuff.”

They left their old church and became GCC members.

“Now he’s at church every time the doors are open,” Emma said.

But the upside was that GCC pastors provide counseling services, and Emma thought that with their help and guidance she and her father might have an opportunity to have an open and honest dialogue about how him cheating on her mom and leaving her for another woman affected her.

She was also concerned about her father’s relationship with alcohol and said he has enabled and encouraged her brother’s alcoholism. There was a lot to unpack.

So she was happy to have the help of spiritual leaders they all respected.