Greater Grace World Outreach has thousands of members. Over its 50-year history, the church has been accused of being cult-like and of turning a blind eye to a culture of abuse. Now a group of former members, who call themselves the Millstones, are demanding a reckoning. This is the first installment in an investigative series:
The guys drove up to the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains that brisk November day, set up their tents, lugged coolers from the car and started a fire. That was one thing they had learned in the church—how to work together, heads down, focusing on the shared task.
That evening, the young men sank into folding chairs around the fire, cracking open beers. The camping trip was an annual tradition, a way to support each other as they carved out lives beyond Greater Grace World Outreach, the East Baltimore-based evangelical megachurch in which they were raised.
This time, the conversation turned dark. I’ve got to get something off my chest, one of the friends said. Years ago, he said, my aunt was babysitting and she walked in on a man molesting his son. He named the man, a prominent pastor in their church.
For a moment, the only sounds were the pops and crackles of the fire. Then another man spoke up: That same pastor…his son abused my sister.
Soon they were all talking at once. There was youth leader and coach Ray Fernandez, serving time for molesting three boys years ago—including one man sitting at the campfire. And Jesse Anderson, a camp counselor and Sunday school teacher who received an unusually light sentence for sexually assaulting a boy.
They spoke of loved ones who had been victims of abuse. My sister. My cousin. My friend. Me.
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