‘I cut people,’ a megachurch pastor threatened as she preached. Her target? The local newspaper.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Hope Carpenter was met with resounding applause before her monologue at Relentless Church in Greenville, S.C., on Sunday. The crowd was excited about their guest pastor — after all, she’d led the congregation with her husband for nearly three decades before they moved their show to a church in San Jose last year.
In her return, Carpenter delivered a fervent lecture on the importance of “holding fast” to confessions of faith, a message she claimed to have received from God that morning. She appeared fatigued by the end of her soliloquy, using its closing moments to express gratitude toward the church’s new, controversial leaders — pastors John and Aventer Gray — who stood directly behind her.
“I love you Pastor John and Pastor Aventer. I believe in you,” Carpenter said. “I’m praying for you. I’m rooting for you!”
Then, her monologue took an abrupt, violent turn.
“I cut people. I got a knife right in that pocketbook,” Carpenter said, gesturing toward her seat. “Greenville News, come on. We done went through this. I’m still here, and guess who else is still going to be here?” She pointed to John Gray, who nodded in agreement.
The crowd roared once again.
The apparent threat toward the Greenville News, a daily newspaper, comes after the outlet published several stories casting a negative light on the Grays. In December, for example, the outlet reported on John Gray’s purchase of a $200,000 Lamborghini as an anniversary present for his wife. In a tearful Facebook Live video, the pastor maintained he used “not a nickel, not a penny” of church funds to buy the car.
In January, the paper published a story after a reader tip revealed Gray was living in a home worth $1.8 million funded by Relentless Church. Officials at the church told Greenville News the home was included in a compensation package for the pastor, adding, “This is a practice that is done with every denomination in the nation.”
Then, in late March, John Gray asked churchgoers to help bankroll a $250,000 repair to the church’s roof. Gray told his congregation that the church was millions of dollars in debt, Greenville News reported, and suggested the money could be raised easily if 2,500 people gave $100.
He offered to pay $300 himself, but reportedly gave those in attendance a deadline of April 3 to raise the rest of the money.
Earlier that month, the pastor and his wife appeared on a daytime talk show to deny rumors of an extramarital affair. While on air, Gray defended the Lamborghini purchase as well as his 2018 visit with President Trump to discuss prison reform. He was publicly criticized for meeting with the president and accused by some of being a “pawn” for Trump, according to the Greenville News.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Greenville News Executive Editor Katrice Hardy said the paper strives to “cover every organization in our community in a fair and unbiased way.” Its coverage of Relentless Church includes a Friday story on the church’s commitment to help fund a homeless shelter in Pickens County, Hardy noted.
The statement did not directly refer to the apparent threat from Carpenter, who faced her own controversy in 2017 for chastising the NFL players who decided to silently kneel during the national anthem in protest of police brutality.
“THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS OUR NATIONS SONG!” Carpenter wrote in the Facebook post, which was deleted and captured in an image by The State. “Yes there are things in our country that’s wrong but our country is not yo blame [sic]. You don’t like it? Move or be apart of the healing of our nation!”
Her husband, Ron Carpenter, Jr., apologized for her comments soon afterward, stating that he and his wife “woefully underestimated how racially insensitive” her remarks were, Greenville News reported at the time.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Relentless Church spokeswoman Holly Baird said that Carpenter was given the microphone Sunday “out of honor,” and that the Grays had no idea what she was going to say.
“Neither our pastors or anyone in our leadership would agree with any type of communication that would encourage or incite violence against another individual or entity,” the statement read. “While we believe Pastor Hope was joking, we completely understand how her comments could be received in today’s climate. There is no place in our society for words that could fan the flames of discord.”
Hope Carpenter did not return a request for comment.
As she concluded her exuberant Sunday monologue, the woman embraced the church’s current leaders before John Gray began to speak again.
“Tell somebody you came to church on the right Sunday,” he joked with his congregation. “Unbelievable. Unbelievable.”
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Lol. wow
I'm waiting for one the Christians here to say that Jesus carried a switchblade.
Don't piss off Jesus. He'll cut you and bring you back from the dead just to cut you again!
JR, Jesus did not carry a weapon during his ministry days according to the Bible. That was not what Jesus' mission.
I do not particularly like Pastor John Gray's approach to ministry. I do not especially know much about him/wife/ministry. I have loosely observed that he associates himself with some 'heavy-hitters' in the church 'realm.' Many mega-church leaders are in partnership, association, and consider him a friend. As he rises, he would do well to remember not to 'burn out' trying to flame his way to the top in rapid succession.
He has become a lightning rod and "go to" person for controversy with those looking to 'accuse' the Church as a body. That said, the "seeded content" is not well-balanced and has open-ended statements where further follow-up in explanation could help lead to conclusions.
As to 'cutting people,' that is a non-starter. It's a joke. A pastor-leader would drop like a rock to the bottom of the roster, if they went around cutting people. Sure, it may have been a remark echoing out of her past-life, before joining the dais of ministry leaders (worthy of holding the mic and addressing other outside congregants). Who wants to take the time to discover what her life was before God's entrance across its threshold? That's an 'inside' joke with the congregants. Only someone without a sense of humor or being malicious would attempt to magnify it and consider it a, "federal offense."
Not sure why you feel the need to defend her odd remarks. Where did anyone say anything was a federal offense?
Not a big deal, ignore it.
Just wondering if you would think it was a joke if a man on the street said it to you and pointed at his pocket. Just because they are in church does not insure non-violence....Remember Dr. Tiller.
Okay, she was in a church 'sanctuary,' which means something spiritual to people in the building. But your point is well made, she really did not need the direct comment. But, context does matters. I am ready to give an atheist, a Trump supporter, and a religionist, the same 'space' to be light-hearted as long as they do not press the point 'home.'
You consider the phrase "cut people" to be light-hearted? That is weird.
I consider a great many things in this world to be light-hearted and flying under the banner of "free-speech" Veronica. What is it I hear my fellow liberals exclaim, 'say what one will as long as one's liberties end where another's begins.' She should not have stated it and most definitely not on camera, but she did so here we are reading and watching the video.
I have heard worse for nearly every quadrant. We hear it, we speak about it, we move on from it. Usually better for it. Context matters.
I don't even know what she means.
She will "cut a person"? Excuse me while I go back to my corner and cackle.
She was trying to say "Cut a bitch" but realized that her parishioners are offended by bad words, but violently attacking and "cutting" someone to defend religious beliefs, that's a display of deep faith...
My experience is that you should stay far away from people with knives who say things like "We done went through this".
See? "Cut a bitch" I understand
HA! You better know what you talking 'bout!! (Smile.)
All that money couldn't buy her time with an english language tutor ?
I am a Chistian, but I want nothing to do with any megachurches as they are some of the most worthless institutions on the face of the Earth. All one has to do is look at the lifestyles of megachurch pastors, their spouses, and families live. Take a look at that shyster Joel Osteen and the witch he is married too. Those people are more than enough to turn people away from organized churches. Just look at what he did when he refused to open his church doors to hurricane victims in Texas a while back.
Agreed. I would even say they are dangerous.
I don't think I even understand what she's trying to say and I'm not sure I want to know.