Just announced a few hours ago on today, Friday October 9th of 2020 Redemption Church Greenville will reopen under the leadership of Apostle Ron Carpenter and his wife Pastor Hope Carpenter.
Such a diverse mega ministry started by a young couple and maintained for twenty-seven years in Upstate South Carolina was unheard of and then it not only happened but it changed the entire Christian and race infrastructure of the upstate.
It has been only two years since the church was handed over to Pastor John Gray of Lakewood Church (Houston Texas). (CLICK HERE for article)
Just before the church handoff, The attendance of the church faltered when the church began to receive hits first about a few good moral issues from its leadership and then again with what many saw as a lack of solidarity against racism.
Amazingly, the door opened for the couple, Ron and Hope Carpenter in San Diego, CA with an even bigger campus with even more kinds of people. What was then announced and also understood is that the pastors concluded it was for the better good of the ministry to leave the church instead of staying while may of the members began to scatter and leave.
It was then left in the hands of Pastor John Gray whose status was on an ever increasing incline as the ever popular, charismatic, and comedic associate pastor of Joel Olsteen’s Church as well as the star of his own popular reality tv show called The Book of John Gray hosted by the infamous OWN network.
Relentless church began fanatically as Hollywood celebrities from everywhere poured into the Upstate from Tyrese Gibson to Tisha Campbell…from Montel Jordan to Tyler Perry and everyone in between. The church was packed for both of their two services as it had not been for a few years.
Pastor Gray was increasingly becoming known as the giving pastor as he blessed people directly from the stage with entire hospital bills paid, new cars, and more. Many people who had stopped going to church were beginning to come back and a few more who had never visited, especially those within the African American community. Unfortunately, the church began to loose most of it’s white members and increasingly most of it’s Redemption members.
Alas, the first struggle arose. It was the confusion of the financial agreement between the two leaders which seemed to cause the initial “rocking and reeling.” Then suddenly Relentless was under a hard and fastened eviction notice.
If that wasn’t enough, once again the consequences of exposure of moral indecency affected the ministry under it’s new name and it’s a new leadership not just once but again…, and again…, and then once again. Today the new ministry is yet striving and amazingly still surviving. There has even been indication that new locations in both Greenville and Atlanta will soon be opened.
It was only today that it was announced that the Raliegh Campus will be closing and Redemption will be moving back. Whether or not either Redemption or Relentless will be held at ground zero is not yet known.
-Words from Apostle Ron Carpenter-
“We had some things that we felt that we were responsible for…and that we needed to go back and pick up. They were not handled exactly like we thought they would be handled in a succession and it left a lot of people who loved Redemption …who loved this ministry…kind of disenfranchised and without a home.
You will find out something about me…I’m a very responsible person, and I don’t like people to have to live within the decisions that I’ve made that has caused them to be distressed. So we’re going to be opening up… (listen to the video below for more information).
Kim I support all your efforts!! Kudos
Much love and thank you again!