Grace Community Church Dismisses Christianity Today’s Accusations

Last year, Julie Roys, prior to being discredited as a groomer, attacked John MacArthur and Grace Community Church for protecting child abusers when the facts and information they had at the time did not lend credibility to these beliefs. This overall story has been known for years. Last year, Julie Roys “discovered” it and now Christianity Today is running the same story again.

The timeline of events is as follows:

1. 1982: David and Eileen are married.
2. 1994-1998: The couple adopts three children.
3. 1998: David begins displaying abusive behavior in his discipline of the children.
4. 1998-2001: David continues abusive treatment of children, including not being appropriately dressed when around the kids (walking around in his underwear).
5. June 2001: Children reportedly tell Eileen they think David was trying to kill them (due to one particularly abusive instance of “discipline”). Eileen files a restraining order against David. Church members house her and the kids until the order takes effect and they can return home without David there.
6. September 2001: Eileen and David begin marital counseling at the church with elder Carey Hardy. These sessions were taped, with the exact context of statements made during the sessions being disputed in statements from Eileen Gray and Carey Hardy.
7. November 2001: Eileen requests to be removed from the church’s membership. The church denies this request in accordance with their bylaws, reporting that they believe they are dealing with a marital reconciliation issue that is within the disciplinary purview of the church.
8. April 2002: The church continues to insist that Eileen reconcile with David, revealing their belief that there is no longer any biblical reason Eileen should continue to refuse reconciliation.
9. May 2002: Believing that they are dealing with Eileen’s unsubstantiated refusal to reconcile, pastor MacArthur brings the issue before the church in a communion service.
10. August 2002: The church elders reiterates their belief that it is Eileen who is refusing a proper reconciliation, and concludes that Eileen has no desire to reconcile the marriage.
11. September 2002: The family court grants Eileen sole custody of the children and a legal separation, and she moves north with the kids to be closer to family, who were helping care for them as she fought cancer. David is still granted monitored visitation as Eileen still wanted the kids to see their father and in fact wanted them to have more time with him.
12. February 2003: The children begin counseling with psychologist Melinda Adams.
13. February-May 2003: The children begin to demonstrate negative reactions to David during visitations, and reportedly begin describing to Eileen instances of David sexually abusing them. Eileen reports thinking they were mistaken at first, but upon believing them she ceases David’s visitations.
14. Late 2003: Eileen reports the children’s accusations to the police. She reportedly tells police that she recalls smelling semen on the children in 2001, but upon examination found nothing. There is no evidence that this was reported to anyone when it happened.
15. February 2004: Detectives arrest David Gray on suspicion of 10 felonies, including sexual abuse charges.
16. June 2005: David Gray is convicted on 6 out of 10 counts, and sentenced to multiple prison terms resulting in his incarceration for 21 years to life in prison. Gray had pleaded non guilty, insisting that Eileen had been more interested in “building a case” against him rather than reconciling. He testified that prior to December 2002, the kids reacted positively to him during visits, but that this changed in the following months. He denied all allegations of sexual abuse, insisting that Eileen planted these events in the minds of the kids to drive David out of their lives.
17. November 2006: David Gray’s appeal is denied. The appeal alleged that the court failed to provide a fair trial by not severing the abuse allegations (which had admission evidence) from the sexual abuse allegations (which were entirely based on the children’s statements), but the court found that connecting them was proper. Gray’s attorneys also argued that it was wrong to admit as evidence an unsubstantiated allegation against Gray of sexual contact from 22 years prior to the trial.
18. March 2022: David Gray is reportedly denied parole for another ten years, with the parole board reportedly describing Gray as a “sadistic predator who weaponized religion.” Roys celebrates the decision.

Summary

At worst you could say that GCC acted off of bad information because the Eileen Gray was uncooperative in the process. After all, they executed church discipline prior to any charges being brought fourth or mentioned

What’s New?

Hohn Cho a former pastor at Grace Community Church tells Christianity Today that he read Julie Roys’ article, believes it, and further complains about the process at GCC. Christianity Today describes Hohn Cho’s struggle to get elder’s at GCC to take the writings of Julie Roys seriously. According to him, his attempts to revisit the issue were rebuffed. Cho’s complaints about GCC and biblical counseling in general are really the only developments to this large story by Christianity Today.

GCC Responds