(OPINION) ETH – It’s the battle of the “Mega Churches” as the ongoing dispute between the Ron Carpenter-led Redemption Church and John Gray’s Relentless Church in South Carolina continues over real estate that has continued to escalate after Relentless Church filed a motion in court last week seeking to reportedly enforce a settlement reached with Redemption Church back in October of last year.
According to the report from the Christian Post, “Last year, Relentless Church and Redemption Church met in good faith and both parties were able to reach an amicable agreement that allowed both churches to focus on their true mission — to serve the spiritual livelihoods of the Greenville community,”
This was from Relentless spokesperson. John Gray’s attorney, Devon Puriefoy, told Greenville News that “the terms of the mediation are confidential,” and that he is urging Redemption to comply with those terms so the case can “get through the finish line.” Meanwhile, Torres, claims Redemption Church leaders haven’t been “acting in good faith”.
Torres emailed a statement to Greenville News stating: “Relentless has made every effort to be a partner in faith to Redemption but unfortunately, this has become a distraction to the work the church has done in the Greenville community and beyond. Simply put, our community and congregations deserve better.
It is our hope that Redemption leadership accepts and abides by the terms of our original agreement so that we can all move forward,” According to the report from the CP, This drug-out dispute all began shortly after Carpenter and his wife, Hope, moved to San Jose, California, back in 2018 and were appointed the new pastors of the 14,000-member Jubilee Christian Center, now rebranded as “Redemption”.
The Carpenters reportedly founded Redemption Church in South Carolina back in 1991 and pastored it for 27 years before handing it over to John Gray and his wife who rebranded the congregation “Relentless Church”. Then came controversies with allegations stemming from marital infidelity and Relentless Church’s purchase of a $1.8 million home for the Grays, this led to the Carpenters issuing an eviction notice to Relentless Church from their Greenville facility.
Gray’s lawyers then came out with a statement stating that the dispute is really “a fight over church members.” “In essence, this is not a dispute as much about leases and occupancy of church buildings, as much as it is a fight over church members. Pastor Gray has come into Greenville at the urging of Ron Carpenter,
even moving to be here before school was out for the summer for his children because Carpenter said he had to leave immediately for California,” lawyers for Gray argued in 2020. Responding to the motion filed by Relentless Church, Redemption Church made a statement that they are committed to finalizing the settlement reached with Gray’s operation.
“Redemption is fully committed to finalizing the settlement reached at mediation with Relentless and has been working since October to make that happen. Though we cannot discuss specific terms of the confidential agreement, there are necessary actions to finalize the agreement that involve obligations to third parties that have taken more time than any of the parties may have liked,” Redemption said.
“We are very close to finalizing the settlement and are uncertain why Relentless has felt the need to involve the court and the media is something the parties are capable of resolving amongst themselves. Redemption looks forward to doing just that and to be a blessing to the Greenville community long into the future.”
