John Gray and Ron Carpenter are at it again in the latest installment of their battle over control of South Carolina’s Relentless Church.
The pair are counter-claiming over who in fact has the right to the building, and while there is not yet a winner between the two in this messy lawsuit, one thing is for certain, and that is that their attorneys are making a fortune.
In late November, the high profile senior minister of Relentless Church had been served an eviction notice, even though the church claims it is up to date on all of its bills.
Just two weeks ago, news surfaced that Gray was to pay Ron Carpenter a $6.25 million ($250,000 a year over 25 years) retirement package.
Fox Carolina claims in new filings issued last Friday that Gray’s Relentless Church, the church handed to him by Ron Carpenter, has refuted Carpenter’s Redemption Church claims that Relentless is in illegal possession of the building, as well as Redemption’s claim that Relentless is in breach of the lease on the Imagine Center.
Fox stated that the documents filed Friday state that Relentless is the “lawful tenant, current on the rent, and compliant with all other obligations under written lease agreements. They argue that Redemption changed the terms of the lease agreement, including a 133% increase in payments on the Imagine Center, without consulting Relentless. Relentless argues that, in making lease payments for the Imagine Center, it covered Redemption’s monthly mortgage on the facility. Relentless says the amount was $18,603.25 per month, and Relentless says it has paid that amount as outlined in the lease agreement. However, Relentless claims that Redemption took out a loan to pay off the mortgage on the Imagine Center and in doing so, increased their lease payments by 133% without their consent.”
Greenville News is reporting that Carpenter’s church is facing mounting debt and Carpenter, who is now based in California, has allegedly been forced to take out loans to support his church.
Carpenter has argued from the get go that Relentless is in breach of the agreement, however the further this saga goes, the clearer it is becoming that perhaps John Gray, for all the negative publicity he has received, while the Carpenters have sat off to the side, may in fact have the upper hand.
That, of course, is pure speculation and the case is in the hands of lawyers, and a judge, who has dozens of pages of documents to wade through. A verdict will be delivered soon.
Danielle Jarvis
Soul Purpose
Matthias Browning
