Pastor John Gray stood in front of his congregation at Relentless Church on Sunday to let them know that despite rumors, they are not being evicted by Ron Carpenter's Redemption Church.
"We are the body of Christ and all of this is a distraction because the enemy wants us to fight each other instead of fighting him."- Pastor Gray
Pastor Gray left Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Texas to take over Ron Carpenter's Redemption church in Greenville, SC back in 2018. At that time he changed the name to Relentless Church, but here is the kicker... Carpenter and Redemption still owned the building and the land surrounding the church. So, Pastor Gray and Relentless are basically renters. Not long after taking over the church, Gray found out there were complications with the deal.
Fast Forward: MONEY PROBLEMS!!!
Back in March, Pastor Gray reportedly told the congregation it needed to give an additional $250,000 to fix a leaky roof, he also shared with them that Redemption church had accumulated debt before they moved - debt that Relentless now has to pay.
- An attorney for Redemption said in a Nov. 27 letter that the church is terminating the lease for Relentless, according to Greenville News.
- The letter says it is a "30 day notice of termination of of non-residential month-to-month lease" and applies to the church and a former fitness center on the Haywood campus.
- The provided letter says it is notice that a verbal lease agreed to in May 2018 would be terminated and Relentless had 30 days to vacate the property.
- The letter ends with a reference to "ejectment proceedings" if Relentless is not out of the property by the end of the year.
- In a Dec. 5 response to that letter, an attorney for Relentless said there were two subsequent leases and Relentless "has paid and is current on both leases, and possibly has overpaid based on rent increases dictated by Ron Carpenter and Redemption."
- Relentless' letter also asks Hope Carpenter to stop sending direct messages to members of Redemption.
- Relentless also said in its letter that 30 days may not be sufficient time for a church of its size to vacate the property.
- No formal eviction paperwork had been filed with county authorities as of Friday afternoon, according to online records.
In-spite of the drama, Pastor Gray doesn't regret accepting the position at Relentless Church.
