PASTOR OPTS FOR A
NEWER MODEL WOMAN
(AND VEHICLE IN CHURCH'S NAME)
(AND VEHICLE IN CHURCH'S NAME)
Don't Let Your Spouse Hold You Back...
Pastor Greg Locke Sure Didn't!
Pastor Greg Locke 'Shake It Off' Sheep Beating:
Subject: "Slanderous People"
Placed "blame upon those in his congregation who had alerted the world to his divorce."
(Hint: It's Not Slander if it's True)
SEE MISTRESS TAI MCGEE'S PICTURE AT : https://globalvisionbc.com/staff/
According to Pulpit and Pen’s report, the controversial pastor was allegedly in a relationship with Tai McGee, an administrative assistant at Global Vision Church.“Tai was given a ministry position at the church shortly before this unfolded. Pulpit & Pen has seen text messages between Greg and others, acknowledging that he was indeed in a relationship with the woman, Tai. They have begun doing things together with their mutual families. We have also seen photos of the two together,” the report said.
GLOBAL VISION BIBLE CHURCH
QUOTE:
"RADICAL COMPASSION Where Broken People Find New Meaning to Life is much more than a slogan at Global Vision. We endeavor to reach out to those who are hurting, marginalized, broken and in need of restoration. We have found that when we go after the people that nobody wants, the Lord sends us the people that everybody wants. Our entire congregation is known for being accepting, loving, gracious and forgiving."
EXCEPT HIM:
ABOVE: APOSTATE, HYPOCRITICAL, UNREPENTANT PASTOR &
HIS FORMER WIFE MELISSA~
NEW CHURCH SECRETARY/MISTRESS TAI MCGEE
A Pulpit & Pen report said Locke, who shot to internet fame after he posted a video on Facebook on April 22, 2016, criticizing Target for its new policies on gender-neutral bathrooms, “literally put his wife, Melissa, on a bus and sent her away.” The couple have four children, including two who were adopted.
APOSTATE TENNESSEE PASTOR GREG LOCKE: DIVORCE, "MISTRESS", CHURCH MEMBER BEATINGS, PLAGIARISM, ETC.
Global Vision Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
2060 Old Lebanon Dirt Rd, Mt Juliet, TN 37122(615) 553-2990
Greg Locke Divorces Wife, Finds New Girlfriend
BY J.D. HALL
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Greg Locke is founder and pastor of Global Vision Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. He’s best known for his Facebook presence, and has over one million ‘likes’ on Facebook and it is not uncommon for him to have hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of views on his Facebook videos. Locke is a conservative politically and a pseudo-fundamentalist doctrinally. Mostly, however, he focuses on politics and current events. Here’s a post of his shared by Milo Yiann-I-forget-he’s gay:And here is Locke making videos against those liberals down at Target:
Locke seems to have started out like an alright, run-of-the-mill, semi-conservative preacher. Perhaps the spotlight has become too much for him.
According to sources at Global Vision Church in Mt. Juliet, Greg Locke has put away his wife. About a month ago*, he said he was not going to go live on Facebook that week. He claimed that his wife, Melissa, was mentally ill and that they were getting a divorce. Ostensibly, much of the crowd had no idea what “illness” he was talking about.
Locke then laid out ultimatums to the congregation, telling them that they had to walk with him in his “brokenness.” Immediately, it became relatively common knowledge that Greg and “Tai” were having a relationship. Tai was given a ministry position at the church shortly before this unfolded. Pulpit & Pen has seen text messages between Greg and others, acknowledging that he was indeed in a relationship with the woman, Tai. They have begun doing things together with their mutual families. We have also seen photos of the two together.
Locke claims that his church staff knows he’s in a courtship (or whatever word you prefer) relationship with the woman, who is not his wife. Keep in mind that he only announced the separation from his wife a month ago.* He literally put his wife on a bus and sent her away.
Sadly, we have also seen Greg call out one woman in his church – by name – in the middle of a sermon, for caring about his home not being in order. It was a shocking display of pulpit-bullying. In the meantime, the press has yet to report on Locke’s divorcing of his wife or his new relationship. People within the church are hurting, and want it to be exposed.
Now that we have, they soon will.
We asked Locke for comment, but at the time of publishing, he has not returned our message.
[Editor’s Note: We would love to provide more detailed information, but we are trying to protect the wife and several other victims. More information will be forthcoming in future days. We are as right here as we were on Clayton Jennings, who by the way, was an associate of Greg Locke. * It should be noted that Locke pulled his endorsement from Clayton Jennings’ book, upon our reporting of Jennings. So he gets credit for that]
[*Editor’s Note 2: After speaking with Locke, his wife has been gone for a little more than 2 months – not one month as reported above]
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Greg Locke Update: Sheep Beating, Sermon Copying, Disappearing Video, Etc…
BY J.D. HALL
SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/01/17/greg-locke-update-sheep-beating-sermon-copying-disappearing-video-etc/;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Greg Locke, an Internet-famous pastor from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, admitted to his 1.6 million Facebook followers that he had indeed been in the midst of a divorce, after we wrote about the situation here. In the aforementioned video from Locke, he acknowledges the divorce, but claims that he was not in adultery. When I spoke to Locke on the phone, as I stated in this podcast episode, he said that we was “moving on with his life.” When asked if he was “moving on” with the woman (a church staffer) in question, he acknowledged that it was a possibility. When further asked if the female staffer – who is also in the midst of a divorce – had yet finalized the termination of her own marriage (legally), Locke said he did not know.While claiming to be “innocent” of them all, Locke did not contradict any specific accusation we presented to him. He did, however, place blame upon those in his congregation who had alerted the world to his divorce.
What we can affirm without question is that Locke indeed put his wife on a bus and she currently lives in a shelter for women. We (by that I mean one of my contributors, Seth Dunn) has spoken to the woman who runs that shelter. We discovered where Locke’s wife is living due to a pastor who is familiar with the situation, reaching out to us with a phone call and wanting us to know that Melissa was not – as some had actually wondered – dead somewhere.
He asked us to defend and support Locke’s wife, but also to keep her location confidential. Additionally, she has been ill, and in the hospital. By Locke’s own declaration, which he made on Facebook, he had to arrange the retrieval of some of her belongings due to the abrupt nature of her disappearance.
At least one of the women also living at the shelter has spoken out on Facebook, but we have digitally removed her name to protect the innocent (women’s shelters – quite rightly – require extreme privacy because of the nature of their ministry).
We would discourage women living at the same shelter from posting on Facebook, for her protection, lest the whereabouts of Locke’s wife be inadvertently revealed.
Locke drew the ire of church members for appearing in public, as though on a date, with the female staff member. With his children still living with his mother (some – according to both his mother and Locke himself- have not wanted to be with their father, and some have returned since the story broke), Locke was spending time with the divorced staff member and her children.
We think this picture is worth a thousand words (it was the Facebook profile picture of a close relative, whose identity we are being discreet and sensitive about, because there is no reason for them to be brought into this by us or anybody else).
One person (local to the area) texted Greg to find out why in the world he would be seen in public in such a way within days of putting his wife on a bus. Locke lit into them, claiming his church staff were well aware (a staff that includes the woman in question).
The name obscured below is that of a family member of the staff person, who is reportedly incensed that her loved one is in such a relationship with Locke.
Indeed, his mother does know. What is this time obscured below are comments regarding minors and others whose inclusion is both unnecessary and inappropriate.
Since then, the Facebook page of the staff member under discussion has been made private (or taken down, we are unsure which). Likewise, Locke has taken down his video response to our post in the wake of some in the local community calling foul on it’s inaccuracies. Again, the obfuscating, red herring video Greg Locke posted in self defense has been removed due to what appears to be local pressure.
These individuals are either former members of Locke’s congregation or locals to the Mt. Juliet area (we have confirmed this). The following is just a sampling of what’s been made public via social media. While we cannot vouch for every testimony of every person – we can vouch for our own.
To reiterate, the staff member’s family has testified to Locke’s relationship with the woman, Greg’s family has testified to Locke’s relationship with the woman, and Locke himself acknowledged to us that he’s “moving on with his life” possibly with this woman.
But even more disturbing is Locke’s treatment of those in the congregation who have spoken out about the whole ordeal. I covered it on yesterday’s webcast. You can pick up at the pertinent portion at the 44.30 mark.
Now, what this sermon review will make perfectly clear (should you choose not to listen) is that at the end of November 2017, Locke had already told his congregation that his marriage was crumbling but had not told his 1.6 million Facebook followers.
By this time some of his church had left (in his now-deleted video, Greg said “lots.” In the sermon I reviewed I believe he said 20 or so, something like that, and so the numbers may have increased) over the divorce. Greg preaches from the end of Acts and Paul’s shipwreck, upon the island of Miletus, when he is bitten by a viper. In this crime of a sermon, Locke makes the Biblical story into an allegory in which he is Paul, and his critics (he has one in particular in mind) is the viper.
He declares his critics “no more saved than a dog,” calls them “stupid” and says “stupid people get [him] lit.” He also tells them “not to let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.” He tells them to leave the church and says he does not want them back. He proclaims himself happy to start the church over again, and to sell the church building to a bowling alley.
It was the most atrocious display of sheep-beating I have ever personally witnessed. He then calls a woman out by name (we have seen her financial giving statement, and she was a solid and regular giver, which might seem impertinent except to demonstrate her commitment to Locke’s church) from the pulpit and threatens that if people keep criticizing him, he’ll call out their name in the pulpit next (1.16.30 mark).
The final irony in all of this is that it really wasn’t his own sermon he was preaching (except for when he turned his guns on his own congregation). As I demonstrated in the program, his message is seemingly derived (at some points line-by-line) from another Tennessee preacher. You can compare Locke’s message on SermonAudio with Jeremy Bollinger’s message on SermonAudio (by the same title, “Shake it Off”)
EDITOR’S’s NOTE:
Gentlemen, do not think about taking them down; they’ve already been saved to the Cloud. Bollinger preached his message years ago. When we contacted Bollinger, he says he got the message from “Kenny Baldwin.” My question is, does anybody in Tennessee write their own sermons, anymore? Making the Acts 28 story about gossip isn’t exactly taken from the text, but forced into it. How many people can come up with that bizarre eisegesis on their own? Seriously, pastors. Write your own sermons.
PASTORAL NOTE
As I demonstrated in the webcast, the point of all of this is that the Bible has specific standards laid out in the pastoral epistles for qualifications for pastoral service (1 Timothy 3 is a good place to start). Locke said in his now-deleted video that he wasn’t stepping down because his church didn’t want him to.
A few problems with that. First, it’s not up to the church, as the local church cannot override the Word of God and next, after watching Locke metaphorically beat a poor woman from the pulpit, it’s no wonder others are scared to death of him.
Another issue is this; it’s really hard to find time to write your own sermons when your life is clearly out of order and upside down. Most pastors who plagiarize their messages do so because they either feel an (unnecessary) pressure to “perform” well or because they haven’t properly prioritized their time. It’s for this reason that Paul writes, “If a man cannot rule his own household well, how can he rule the household of God?”
Amazingly, at one point in the sermon Locke preached (I dare not say his sermon), he said, “If you can’t trust me in my character how can you trust me to handle God’s word” (that’s a paraphrase, I will not torture myself by listening to it twice). The fact that Locke did not handle God’s Word well in this sermon might indicate the opposite point to the one Locke meant to convey; if you can’t trust his character, you probably can’t trust his handling of the Word.
Third (I’m keeping track even if you aren’t), some might ask why we do this. We’ve been accused of being atheists or homosexuals, but nope. All of our team are Baptists (some of us Southern Baptists, some of us Reformed Baptists, some of us in Bible churches that are Baptist in everything but the name) in right standing with local churches. If we don’t monitor and correct our own hypocrisy, we will have led the world to lift our Savior to shame. Believe it or not, there are a whole host of people who need Jesus who have said, “Well, at least you’re not helping to sweep this under the rug like so many others.” No, we are not trying to sweep this under the rug because of point four below.
Fourthly, we correct ourselves (that is evangelicalism in general), because we have no need to hide our sins. We have a Savior. His name is Jesus. He forgives all sins of all those who by faith are justified before God. That type of justifying, saving faith is the type that leads us to repentance and a turning from sin. If you had no Savior, I suppose it would make sense to hide and cover-up trespasses. But because we have a Savior, we can freely admit our sin, confess it as sin, and be forgiven.
What Greg Locke needs – and what he can freely have – is absolution. He can be forgiven. This doesn’t mean that his qualifications for ministry are automatically (or ever, depending upon your ecclesiological viewpoint) restored. What it does mean is that he can shout Romans 8:1 from the rooftops.
“There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.”
But, before one is forgiven, they must confess. They must confess contritely. They must cling to Jesus more than their own career or standing in the public eye.
Unlike what Steven Anderson espoused on my program yesterday (with which I disagreed), no one is beyond forgiveness. But please, for the sake of your soul everyone, confess your sin as sin (not “being messy” or “mistakes” or “a weird place,” as Locke called it), own up to it, and be forgiven.
It’s in forgiveness that the running stops. It’s in forgiveness that the spin machine stops turning. It’s in forgiveness that the heart can rest. It’s in forgiveness you can surrender and truly, honestly, and righteously “move on with your life.”
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Who’s Afraid of Greg Locke?
A Call for Testimonies
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Are you a member of Global Vision Bible Church? Are you afraid of Greg Locke? This week, I had the extreme displeasure of listening to his sermon “Shake it Off.” I use the term “his” loosely because it seems he plagiarized the sermon from another Tennessee preacher. What he didn’t plagiarize was the vicious signal he sent from the pulpit message to any congregant who would dare speak out against him. In his sermon, Locke called out a female congregant by name who has been critical of him on social media for his disqualifying actions. To quell additional criticism of his popular, public pastorate Locke loudly shouted “You think you’re nervous now? You wait till the next five or six names keep running their mouth and I’ll call them from the pulpit. Don’t you think I won’t. Don’t you think I won’t.”
Did that shut you up? Did that make you scared of losing your friends and drawing the ire of Locke’s thousands of Facebook followers?
You don’t have to be.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not Greg Locke. You don’t have to be afraid of him. He’s not God’s anointed. He’s an entrepreneurial speaker who started his own church and started an internet “ministry” of preaching to the masses. When the internet masses find out that Greg Locke is divorcing his wife (a woman who has been reduced to taking refuge in a women’s shelter hundreds of miles from her children) and is now running around town with the church secretary, they can mark Locke and move on to another preacher. You can’t do that so easily can you church member?
If you leave your church, you could be leaving your friends. These are the people you eat dinner with, play softball with, go camping with, watch the Super Bowl with…these are the people with whom you live your life. You don’t want to lose them, but you know what? You need to lose Greg Locke. He’s not fit to be your pastor. He’s not fit to be anyone’s pastor. In his sermon, he defiantly and ironically screams, “You’ve hired the wrong guy.”
But you didn’t hire him did you? He personally, not another church body (this according to Locke’s church website bio) founded the church…like any small businessman. It’s his. He needs you. He needs your money. You don’t need him. Tennessee if full of churches with qualified pastors. Why are you and your precious friends and family still at Global Vision?. Is it because he has you fooled? Is it because he has you in fear?
You don’t have anything to be afraid of; Greg Locke should be the nervous one. He stands before a Holy God as a pastor who is running around with the church secretary while his wife suffers in solitude. Given enough time, the truth almost always comes to light. Greg Locke knows this as much as anybody else. He’s still holding on; don’t let him hold onto you.
Raise your voice. Help his deceived followers. Don’t let him be the worldwide face of Christianity. Is he the face of a pastor you want lost people to see? Understand, we don’t like Target or Planned Parenthood anymore than he does. We aren’t liberals out to destroy a Christian voice, we are conservative Baptists out to further the cause of Christ.
If you’ve gotten beyond the fear of being yelled at from the pulpit by Greg Locke, write to us at talkback@pulpitandpen.org and tell us your Global Vision story. Let us be your megaphone. You don’t have to be afraid or alone. We are here to help.
Have nothing to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness but rather expose them.
[Contributed by Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
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Divorced? The State of Greg Locke’s Marriage
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
On January 8th, Pulpit & Pen published an article critical of Pastor Greg Locke’s separation from his wife Melissa, to whom he has been married for twenty years. Greg is the pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Melissa is currently residing in an out of state women’s’ shelter and has been, according to Pulpit & Pen’s sources, repeatedly admitted to the hospital with stress related symptoms. Meanwhile, sources local to Mt. Juliet have reported to Pulpit & Pen that Greg has been spotted with his church secretary,Tai McGee, attending a basketball game and having dinner (albeit with a group) at Longhorn Steakhouse. To objective onlookers, their activities and relationship appear to be romantic.Shortly after Pulpit & Pen published its January 8th article, Locke released a video response on social media for his thousands of on-line followers. In this video, which he has since deleted, Greg attempted and defended clarification of his actions. He also therein stated, “I am a divorced pastor.” Audio from that video has been preserved on the Pulpit & Pen Facebook page and can be viewed below:
This week, Pulpit & Pen obtained copies of the Locke’s public divorce filings from Rutherford County, Tennessee authorities. The documentary evidence indicates that Greg Locke’s claim that he is a “divorced pastor” is not true. Although the Locke’s have filed a complaint for divorce and signed a Marriage Dissolution Agreement, the Rutherford County website lists their case as “open.”
The case was filed on November 13, 2017. By Tennessee State Law, no divorce involving minor children can be finalized until 90 days after the divorce complaint is filed. At present, and at the time of Locke’s video, 90 days have not as of yet expired. Circumstances indicate that Locke’s claim to be a “divorced pastor” was not truthful. On January 8th, Melissa Locke’s attorney filed a Notice of Voluntary Nonsuit. At this time, it is unclear to Pulpit & Pen whether this action is intended to halt divorce proceedings or give up the right to a hearing (the Locke’s divorce filings list their reason for separation as “irreconcilable differences” which could indicate an uncontested divorce.)
Please see (note.)A final divorce decree does not appear to have been issued. It appears clear that Greg and Melissa Locke are still legally married and therefore, as noted above, his public assertion of his divorced status is not quite true. This is not what he indicated to his thousands of online followers in his Facebook video.
[Contributed by Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
**Many readers have reached out expressing support for Melissa. People have even offered up their homes for her. Others want her to know that her friends in Tennessee still love her. Her caretaker indicates that she is not currently in need of financial support but does need prayer. Please continue to pray for all parties involved.
(note.) The technical issue involving the previous low resolution version of this image has now been resolved.
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Greg Locke: “I Did Not Divorce My Wife”
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Popular internet personality and Mt. Juliet, Tennessee pastor Greg Locke said it plainly on a recent Facebook video (now removed) that addressed his followers, “I did not divorce my wife.” While making the claim, now demonstrated to be false, that he was a “divorced pastor,” Locke insisted that it was he who had been abandoned by his wife and not the other way around. The claim of abandonment is an important one for someone in Locke’s position. There are differing views among Bible-believing Christians about what situations make divorce allowable. Those who hold to the permanence view of marriage, such as the owner of Pulpit & Pen, contend that divorce is never morally permissible. Others believe that the only permissible grounds for divorce is a spouse’s adultery. Some posit that spousal abandonment makes a divorce permissible. Locke, as a divorced pastor, could lose his following and even his church for being divorced. Demonstrating that he was abandoned could help Locke retain at least some of his followers. He has already compared himself to popular preacher Charles Stanley, whose wife demanded a divorce, in order to paint himself in a sympathetic light.Abandonment is the claim that has Locke made.
Indeed, it was Locke’s wife who filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences”. However, court records clearly show that Locke responded in agreement. In arranging what could fairly be called a “quickie divorce” Locke filed documentation with the court stating that his marriage was “irretrievably broken”. There is nothing in Locke’s divorce papers that indicate he took action to fight the divorce proceedings or demand a trial. Locke signed a Marriage Dissolution Agreement. If that’s not taking action to “divorce his wife”, no matter who filed first, then what is?
A trail of witnesses from Mt. Juliet, to Mufreesboro, to the out-of-state women’s shelter in which Melissa now resides contend that Locke coerced his subservient and obedient wife into filing divorce in order to preserve for himself the claim that he was “abandoned”. These same witnesses contend that Locke basically ordered his wife out of the state of Tennessee. The traumatized woman is now isolated far away from her home and her family. Locke is still in close proximity to his church secretary, Tai McGee. The mandatory waiting period required by Tennessee law to make Locke’s divorce final has not elapsed.
Christians still following Greg Locke’s internet antics and attending his church should ask themselves if Locke is worthy of their time and generous donations. As an outspoken moralist, Locke’s actions towards his wife (and his secretary) are on display for the lost world to see and mock. Rather than condone his continuing pastorate, Locke’s familiars would do well to encourage him to repent and reconcile with his wife.
[Contributed by Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
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Pastor Greg Locke: Opting for the Newer Model
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following story is the product of interviews with and submissions from numerous sources local to Middle Tennessee. The truth of the reporting here is dependent on the accuracy of the information reported by those sources. Pulpit & Pen is confident in the accuracy of the information provided. Anyone with first-hand information about Pastor Greg Locke, his actions toward Global Vision Church and or his wife, is encouraged to contact Pulpit & Pen at talkback@pulpitandpen.org.Jarrod Almond is the “Executive Pastor” of Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC). He recently walked into Nissan of Cool Springs with a check from GVBC for $60,000. He walked out with two new cars, a Maxima for himself and a Quest for GVBC Senior Pastor Greg Locke. Locke (a father of four) [1] felt the need for a new minivan; he lost possession of his 2007 minivan through signing a Marriage Dissolution Agreement (MDA) in November.
His estranged wife, Melissa, who did not have a driver’s license for the first two decades of her marriage to Greg, received the 2007 van along with monthly monetary support as a condition of her separation from Greg. She now resides in an out-of-state women’s shelter due to being coerced by her husband to file for divorce and leave the state. Greg Locke remains in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, filling the pulpit of GVBC and staying close to his church secretary, Tai McGee. Tai McGee, like Pastor Locke’s new van, is younger than his wife. At mid-life, Greg Locke, aged forty, has expressed his desire to move on with his life.
A page from the Locke’s MDA.
Greg and Melissa Locke in their younger days.
Locke is the child of a broken home. His father was an incarcerated felon and he has described his stepfather as tough and uncommunicative. After several arrests, he ended up at Good Shepherd, where he seemingly turned his life around and set about to becoming a gospel preacher. Now, after coercing his obedient and submissive wife into filing for divorce, he appears to be on schedule to break, not only the home of his own wife and children, but also that of the church secretary to whom he has been romantically linked.
Greg and Tai together recently
A page from the Locke’s MDA.
Despite having a social media following of over a million, and a job as the pastor of a popular church, Greg Locke’s MDA indicates that he does not own any real property and possesses no health insurance coverage, yet somehow he gets by. With the controversy surrounding the putting away of his wife, some GVBC members are wondering what is happening with all the money they have been donating. Still others have been wondering what has happened to his wife, who is beloved by many back in Mt. Juliet.
One thing no one has to wonder about, is where Tai and his new van are.
[Contributed by Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article implied that the purchase of the Quest took place after the signing of the MDA. The timing of the purchase and the MDA is not currently certain to the author.
[1] Technically he is a father of three. He and his wife have been in the process of adopting a fourth child.
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SEE ALSO:
A still from Pastor Greg Locke's video blasting Target's bathroom policy, which allows customers to choose the restroom for the gender with which they self-identify. This video has more than 17 million views on Facebook.
(Photo: From Greg Locke's Facebook page)
Greg Locke at 14 in a Vanilla Ice T-shirt. Growing up, Locke often listened to rap acts such as N.W.A. and Eazy-E. (Photo: Submitted)
Target-blasting pastor Greg Locke
channels anger in new way
BY BRAD SCHMITT
SEE: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2016/05/01/target-blasting-pastor-greg-locke-channels-anger-new-way/83615088/
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For most of my life, I was lost. In his mercy, God saved me seven years ago. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and I submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. Before I came to Christ, I lived for myself; I was very much addicted to drugs and alcohol but, most of all, I was dead in my sin. Now that God has saved me, I want to live for Him. Part of doing so involves faithfully attending a New Testament church. I am currently looking for a church to join after leaving Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC), founded and pastored by Gregory Duane Locke, in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Like many others, my husband and I have left GVBC after suffering great disappointment.
We attended Global Vision for approximately two years and we very much enjoyed and appreciated the body. We liked Greg Locke’s style of preaching, he didn’t hold back from proclaiming the Bible. Everything at GVBC seemed to line up with scripture, except for the way the church was run. GVBC didn’t quite fit the mold of a New Testament church. The pastor was more of a speaker than a shepherd. My husband and I knew that Greg was a very busy man with a lot on his plate so we, like many others there, made excuse after excuse for him not conforming to the Biblical archetype of a pastor. At the very least, he was preaching the truth. Unfortunately, Greg’s lack of shepherding caught up with him and the members of GVBC. The ideas of false teachers, such as Joyce Meyer, began to be passed around the church. The prayer group had some very errant ideas. These are problems newer Christians, the kind GVBC tends to attract, wouldn’t notice. However, they were apparent to those who had been maturing in their faith. I warned Greg about the situation with false teachings amongst the body but nothing changed. Sadly, I believe there are many pastors who, while proclaiming truth, shy away from warning against error. Greg isn’t alone in this boat. However, the majority of pastors out there focus on their local churches, not their social media fame. Greg’s popularity on Facebook and other platforms seemed to be his main concern.
The elders of the church had been advising Greg to cut back on his travel schedule. They thought it was best for him to spend more time with his wife Melissa and their four children. (Melissa was uncomfortable with all the attention her family received on social media.) The elders also wanted to form a financial committee for GVBC because they questioned how money was being spent. Neither Greg nor his executive pastor Jarrod wanted or accepted this kind of accountability. They wouldn’t listen. Greg’s lack of shepherding, speaking schedule, and outward political focus came home to roost in October of last year. It was then that he announced that he was “broken” and was making some big changes that would cause those with “religious spirits” to leave GVBC. He said that he was the new Pastor Greg version 2.0. Pastor Greg 2.0, we would later learn, would be separating from his wife of twenty years.
Greg announced to the congregation that he had told his staff that it would be getting really rough around GVBC and that they would soon be walking through severe brokenness with him as a church. He said he told the staff that if this scared them that they could take 6 month’s pay in advance and leave. Greg said upon hearing this that none of the staff left. He soon addressed the congregation in an unaired sermon (not on the live stream available on the internet) and told everyone that his wife Melissa had lost her mind, cut her hair, and moved away. He told one visitor from Indiana that Melissa had been cutting herself. He said he and his wife were divorced.
I was floored. He painted Melissa as a disturbed woman who had abandoned her children and refused to talk to them. He made all of these public accusations in his capacity as GVBC’s pastor. Some people believed him but I did not. The Melissa I had known over the past two years was not a crazy child-abandoner. Greg’s announcement coincided with a shocking announcement from Chris McGee, the husband of the church secretary, Tai. Chris began to declare that Greg and Tai were messing around with one another. It was hard not to notice that Greg and Tai had been acting overly attentive to each other. In light of Greg saying he was divorced, when Chris made his announcement, it just made sense.
Uncomfortable with any kind of speculation about my pastor, I followed Matthew 18 and went to each of them privately, reaching out via text message. Both were rude and defensive to me. I encouraged them to repent, for the sake of themselves and the congregation. At that point, they wrote me off. I stopped attending GVBC. Greg Locke took the unusual step of preaching against me, by name, to the church. “Every church has an Arlene Greer!” he hollered from the pulpit. “You think you’re nervous now? You wait till the next five or six names keep running their mouth and I’ll call them from the pulpit. Don’t you think I won’t. Don’t you think I won’t.”
I’m not afraid of Greg Locke. This man went from recommending me to study the Bible at Union University to running me down before the whole congregation. What did he expect from someone who wanted to go deeper in God’s word, for me to not call him out about having an affair and sending his wife off?
When Greg’s mom, Judy, saw that I had been put out of GVBC she contacted me via Facebook messenger and asked me to call her. When I did she told me a lot. Judy was extremely upset about the entire situation. She said that Greg put Melissa on a bus and sent her away and that the kids were with her. She was extremely disgusted with Greg and Tai for having an affair and she reported to me that the kids were completely torn and that they missed Melissa really badly. Judy also told me that Greg was not helping her financially with the kids at the moment because of her objection to the affair. She said that Greg and Jarrod were very deceitful in their dealings with cash donations too. I was so upset to hear this that I contacted GVBC to ask for all my donations back.
Judy has now changed her story. It tends to change back and forth depending on how upset she gets with Greg. I struggled about coming forward for a while because the entire church had ousted me, including people whom I considered close friends. When I saw that Greg and Tai had been seen in public on a family outing that was posted to Facebook, I felt that I could finally come forward and hopefully find out what happened to dear Melissa.
This situation has been extremely hard for my family. It is hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that our pastor just wasn’t the person that he claimed he was. We thought he was a noble man of integrity who loved his family and held close to the truth and to the standards of a pastor. He wasn’t. He won’t even address the matter without spinning his terms to fit lies and half-truths. He is stiff-necked and in total defense of his sin. He is unrepentant and has tried to throw his sweet wife, Melissa away and take everything from her, even her children. He has been attacking anyone who formerly attended GVBC, but is now speaking out on the matter. For this reason, others are afraid to speak out. For me, GVBC used to be a place of rest and love. When I was down, the church even helped me financially. Now, GVBC just seems like Greg Locke’s own personal piggy bank to me.
I don’t share my story to hurt Greg Locke. I don’t want to destroy him. I’m afraid many of the enemies he’s made on social media will seize on the opportunity of his infidelity to do so. They shouldn’t. Forgiveness comes from the same source, Christ. Whether it’s Greg and Tai or all the homosexual people on social media who are mad at Greg, it doesn’t matter. Christ forgives. He forgave me. A lot of people may point to my rough background to try and discredit me. Go ahead. I’m forgiven by Christ and I’m telling the truth. There are a lot of hurting people in Mt. Juliet right now; Greg’s internet fan-base should know what happened. To his internet fans and those still at GVBC, be careful with your money and who you trust. At the same time, always remember this:
[Edited by: Seth Dunn]
*Editor’s Note: I contacted Greg Locke’s mother, Judy Sumner, to verify the testimony provided by Arlene. Mrs. Sumner denies telling Arlene that Tai and Greg were having an affair. According to Mrs. Sumner, she relayed to Arlene that it was Melissa Locke’s belief that Greg and Tai were having an affair. Judy firmly stated that she did not believe that Greg and Tai were having an affair before Melissa left Mt. Juliet. Contradicting accounts provided to Pulpit & Pen by other parties in Mt. Juliet, Judy further stated that Melissa desired the divorce and left her marriage and town of her own accord and volition. Other GBVC church members are encouraged to speak out, especially if they have been in contact with Melissa, who remains in an out of state women’s shelter. Speculation about the matters being reported is not healthy.
**Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
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And that is how I found the whereabouts of Melissa Locke.
The two women who had been sheltering Melissa since her separation from Greg told me similar stories, Greg initiated the divorce. Greg ran Melissa out of Tennessee. I for one don’t have the inclination to doubt one woman who has dedicated her life to taking care of at-risk women and another woman who graduated from one of the most respected bible colleges (Tennessee Temple) in the South and has dedicated her life to taking care of at-risk children. Both of these women have known the Lockes for years. Neither support Greg Locke in his actions. Of course the story they tell is not the story that has been put forth by Greg Locke.
Whether they be real or metaphorical, buses have not been kind to Melissa Locke lately.
If Melissa Locke is mentally ill, does it make sense to blame her? If Melissa Locke, in the throes of mental illness misled her caretakers about her filing for divorce then Greg Locke is telling the truth and the truth is that Greg Locke agreed to an “irreconcilable differences” divorce from his ill wife and let her flee the state and should not therefore be a pastor. If Greg Locke forced the divorce then he should not therefore be a pastor. Yet he remains in the pulpit.
If Greg Locke has legal authority over GVBC, at it appears he does, he can mangage the church as he sees fit. No one should hold their breath waiting for him to fire the church’s embattled pastor.
Would you fire yourself from your job, one that comes with a company car, and a tax-free home rental allowance?
Today, I spoke with close Locke family friend Jimmy Hayden. He’s like a father to Melissa Locke. Locke’s children call Hayden “pawpaw.” Hayden, aged 80, has often taken on the loving responsibility of looking after Melissa Locke while Greg is out of town. According to Hayden, Locke, who frequently travels on the preaching circuit, has often gone on the road and left Melissa Locke at home alone with their children, little money, and no transportation. He’s witnessed Melissa struggle to obtain groceries in Greg’s absence. He’s also witnessed Melissa be a supportive pastor’s wife, never speaking ill of her husband, a man, according to Hayden, who could barely be bothered to take out the garbage. Haden wants the world to know that “Melissa Locke is one of the finest people he’s ever met” in his entire life and that he dearly loves her. He also wants to warn people to stay away from Global Vision Bible Church. After attending the church for years, almost from its start, Jimmy wants no part of GVBC and its pastor.
Jimmy Hayden would have walked through fire for his pastor in times past. Now, like so many other disaffected friends, he has lost trust in the man and has chosen to warn others about him.
Greg Locke is, in my theological opinion, utterly unqualified for the pastorate. His sermons should have no influence on his national following and he doesn’t need to be the face of the American Christian to a lost and dying world. He is, in the opinion of one New York reporter, a “wise guy.” People, like Jimmy Hayden and the other disaffected members of GVBC are hurting. They need a pastor, not Greg Locke. In my mind there isn’t much difference between Greg Locke and a entrepreneur who open up BBQ restaurant, except for the latter doesn’t purport to be in the care of souls and live off of their donations.
What will you choose if such a choice ever comes your way? Without the grace of God, you will fare no better than choice B. There is forgiveness for Greg Locke. God can restore his marriage. God can forgive Greg Locke.
God can forgive you, too.
Greg Locke has made a lot of enemies with his politically charged internet preaching. I fear that they are taking joy in his failure. Locke may be hurting, his family is hurting, his friends are hurting, his church is hurting. Why take joy in that?
Without Jesus, you are hurting. Repent or you will likewise perish. There is forgiveness for sinners in Jesus Christ. I hope everyone reading this finds it.
I hope all the GVBC members and Locke supporters reading this find a new church and find a new spokesperson. May they look first to the Bible.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
**The preceding story is the product of interviews with and submissions from numerous sources local to Middle Tennessee. The truth of the reporting here is dependent on the accuracy of the information reported by those sources. Pulpit & Pen is confident in the accuracy of the information provided. Anyone with first-hand information about Pastor Greg Locke, his actions toward Global Vision Church and or his wife, is encouraged to contact Pulpit & Pen attalkback@pulpitandpen.org. A special thanks goes out to Arlene Greer and all the witnesses who continue to put aside fear and come forward.
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Greg Locke and a Great Disappointment
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following testimony was provided to Pulpit & Pen by New Vision Bible Church member Arlene Greer. We have been reporting on the unfortunate situation with nationally famous pastor Greg Locke for some time.
My name is Arlene Greer.For most of my life, I was lost. In his mercy, God saved me seven years ago. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and I submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. Before I came to Christ, I lived for myself; I was very much addicted to drugs and alcohol but, most of all, I was dead in my sin. Now that God has saved me, I want to live for Him. Part of doing so involves faithfully attending a New Testament church. I am currently looking for a church to join after leaving Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC), founded and pastored by Gregory Duane Locke, in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Like many others, my husband and I have left GVBC after suffering great disappointment.
We attended Global Vision for approximately two years and we very much enjoyed and appreciated the body. We liked Greg Locke’s style of preaching, he didn’t hold back from proclaiming the Bible. Everything at GVBC seemed to line up with scripture, except for the way the church was run. GVBC didn’t quite fit the mold of a New Testament church. The pastor was more of a speaker than a shepherd. My husband and I knew that Greg was a very busy man with a lot on his plate so we, like many others there, made excuse after excuse for him not conforming to the Biblical archetype of a pastor. At the very least, he was preaching the truth. Unfortunately, Greg’s lack of shepherding caught up with him and the members of GVBC. The ideas of false teachers, such as Joyce Meyer, began to be passed around the church. The prayer group had some very errant ideas. These are problems newer Christians, the kind GVBC tends to attract, wouldn’t notice. However, they were apparent to those who had been maturing in their faith. I warned Greg about the situation with false teachings amongst the body but nothing changed. Sadly, I believe there are many pastors who, while proclaiming truth, shy away from warning against error. Greg isn’t alone in this boat. However, the majority of pastors out there focus on their local churches, not their social media fame. Greg’s popularity on Facebook and other platforms seemed to be his main concern.
The elders of the church had been advising Greg to cut back on his travel schedule. They thought it was best for him to spend more time with his wife Melissa and their four children. (Melissa was uncomfortable with all the attention her family received on social media.) The elders also wanted to form a financial committee for GVBC because they questioned how money was being spent. Neither Greg nor his executive pastor Jarrod wanted or accepted this kind of accountability. They wouldn’t listen. Greg’s lack of shepherding, speaking schedule, and outward political focus came home to roost in October of last year. It was then that he announced that he was “broken” and was making some big changes that would cause those with “religious spirits” to leave GVBC. He said that he was the new Pastor Greg version 2.0. Pastor Greg 2.0, we would later learn, would be separating from his wife of twenty years.
Greg announced to the congregation that he had told his staff that it would be getting really rough around GVBC and that they would soon be walking through severe brokenness with him as a church. He said he told the staff that if this scared them that they could take 6 month’s pay in advance and leave. Greg said upon hearing this that none of the staff left. He soon addressed the congregation in an unaired sermon (not on the live stream available on the internet) and told everyone that his wife Melissa had lost her mind, cut her hair, and moved away. He told one visitor from Indiana that Melissa had been cutting herself. He said he and his wife were divorced.
I was floored. He painted Melissa as a disturbed woman who had abandoned her children and refused to talk to them. He made all of these public accusations in his capacity as GVBC’s pastor. Some people believed him but I did not. The Melissa I had known over the past two years was not a crazy child-abandoner. Greg’s announcement coincided with a shocking announcement from Chris McGee, the husband of the church secretary, Tai. Chris began to declare that Greg and Tai were messing around with one another. It was hard not to notice that Greg and Tai had been acting overly attentive to each other. In light of Greg saying he was divorced, when Chris made his announcement, it just made sense.
Uncomfortable with any kind of speculation about my pastor, I followed Matthew 18 and went to each of them privately, reaching out via text message. Both were rude and defensive to me. I encouraged them to repent, for the sake of themselves and the congregation. At that point, they wrote me off. I stopped attending GVBC. Greg Locke took the unusual step of preaching against me, by name, to the church. “Every church has an Arlene Greer!” he hollered from the pulpit. “You think you’re nervous now? You wait till the next five or six names keep running their mouth and I’ll call them from the pulpit. Don’t you think I won’t. Don’t you think I won’t.”
When Greg’s mom, Judy, saw that I had been put out of GVBC she contacted me via Facebook messenger and asked me to call her. When I did she told me a lot. Judy was extremely upset about the entire situation. She said that Greg put Melissa on a bus and sent her away and that the kids were with her. She was extremely disgusted with Greg and Tai for having an affair and she reported to me that the kids were completely torn and that they missed Melissa really badly. Judy also told me that Greg was not helping her financially with the kids at the moment because of her objection to the affair. She said that Greg and Jarrod were very deceitful in their dealings with cash donations too. I was so upset to hear this that I contacted GVBC to ask for all my donations back.
Judy has now changed her story. It tends to change back and forth depending on how upset she gets with Greg. I struggled about coming forward for a while because the entire church had ousted me, including people whom I considered close friends. When I saw that Greg and Tai had been seen in public on a family outing that was posted to Facebook, I felt that I could finally come forward and hopefully find out what happened to dear Melissa.
This situation has been extremely hard for my family. It is hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that our pastor just wasn’t the person that he claimed he was. We thought he was a noble man of integrity who loved his family and held close to the truth and to the standards of a pastor. He wasn’t. He won’t even address the matter without spinning his terms to fit lies and half-truths. He is stiff-necked and in total defense of his sin. He is unrepentant and has tried to throw his sweet wife, Melissa away and take everything from her, even her children. He has been attacking anyone who formerly attended GVBC, but is now speaking out on the matter. For this reason, others are afraid to speak out. For me, GVBC used to be a place of rest and love. When I was down, the church even helped me financially. Now, GVBC just seems like Greg Locke’s own personal piggy bank to me.
I don’t share my story to hurt Greg Locke. I don’t want to destroy him. I’m afraid many of the enemies he’s made on social media will seize on the opportunity of his infidelity to do so. They shouldn’t. Forgiveness comes from the same source, Christ. Whether it’s Greg and Tai or all the homosexual people on social media who are mad at Greg, it doesn’t matter. Christ forgives. He forgave me. A lot of people may point to my rough background to try and discredit me. Go ahead. I’m forgiven by Christ and I’m telling the truth. There are a lot of hurting people in Mt. Juliet right now; Greg’s internet fan-base should know what happened. To his internet fans and those still at GVBC, be careful with your money and who you trust. At the same time, always remember this:
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13Please pray with me that Greg will repent and Melissa can get better and come home. There are people in Tennessee who love her and miss her. They don’t have to be scared of men, especially Greg Locke. They can speak up and share to all Locke’s internet fans what they need to know. Fear God and He will guide you.
[Edited by: Seth Dunn]
*Editor’s Note: I contacted Greg Locke’s mother, Judy Sumner, to verify the testimony provided by Arlene. Mrs. Sumner denies telling Arlene that Tai and Greg were having an affair. According to Mrs. Sumner, she relayed to Arlene that it was Melissa Locke’s belief that Greg and Tai were having an affair. Judy firmly stated that she did not believe that Greg and Tai were having an affair before Melissa left Mt. Juliet. Contradicting accounts provided to Pulpit & Pen by other parties in Mt. Juliet, Judy further stated that Melissa desired the divorce and left her marriage and town of her own accord and volition. Other GBVC church members are encouraged to speak out, especially if they have been in contact with Melissa, who remains in an out of state women’s shelter. Speculation about the matters being reported is not healthy.
**Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
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Greg Locke and the Two Buses
BY SETH DUNN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“I wouldn’t give Greg Locke dung if he was a blind tumble bug.“
Jimmy Hayden
It was January 8th and Alabama was losing 13-0 to Georgia at the half of the CFB National Championship game. I had kind of, and quite foolishly, given up on the game. Normally, I wouldn’t make a Pulpit & Pen related phone call (really any phone call) during an Alabama game. That night I did. Right about the same time Henry Ruggs caught Alabama’s first Touchdown pass, I scored some information from a nearby pastor who had reached out to Pulpit & Pen in the wake of Jordan Hall’s article Greg Locke divorces Wife, Finds New Girlfriend. Before concerned church members from Locke’s church reached out to us about their pastor’s recent and concerning behavior, the only thing I knew about Greg Locke is that he had written and retracted a forward for Clayton Jennings’ now cancelled book. Locke’s association with a characters like Clayton Jennings and Blake Reynolds didn’t paint the prettiest picture of him in my mind. The pastor I was on the phone with didn’t paint a pretty picture of Greg Locke either. This pastor (who has asked to remain anonymous) stated that he had went to school with Locke. According to him, Greg is a pathological liar who originally aspired to be a rapper and went as far as to borrow the background story of another man in that line of work. Unwilling to put something as nefarious as purposely putting his wife out of the house past Greg Locke, the pastor reacted to Jordan’s article by reaching out to Pulpit & Pen and providing the name of the Georgia women’s shelter where Greg’s wife has been living for the past few months. And that is how I found the whereabouts of Melissa Locke.
Melissa Locke on the Bus
Tracking her path backwards to Mt. Juliet, from Murfreesboro and Georgia would take me nearly two weeks. I first contacted the director of the women’s shelter. She confirmed to me that Melissa Locke was indeed in her care. In a later phone call she described the situation as something Greg had done, chalking it up to a Satanic attack. My next phone call was to Judy Sumner, Greg Locke’s mom. Judy told me that Melissa was not forced to go to the Georgia shelter by Greg but chose to go there after leaving Murfreesboro. According to Judy, Melissa had rejected a home offered to her in Murfreesboro in favor of the women’s shelter. I was unable to verify Judy’s claim, until I obtained the Locke’s divorce court filings. Their divorce was filed in Rutherford County, Tennessee, the location of Murfreesboro. This perplexed me given that the Locke’s make their home in Wilson County. Examining the divorce documents closely I learned that Melissa has listed a Murfreesboro address as her home address. This was the home to which Judy had referred. It is the home of “Aunt” Martha Kemle, who for years ran the Good Shepherded Children’s Home in Murfreesboro. As a troubled teen, Greg Locke had spent time there. In fact, it is where he would meet his future wife, Melissa. Melissa worked for Martha at the children’s home as a teenager. When Melissa left Mt. Juliet in the midst of her marital separation, Martha opened her home to her. Melissa was to help take care of the aging Marth Kemle while she resided in her home. When I reached her by phone, Martha, a graduate of Tennessee Temple University, told me three things in no uncertain terms: (1) she believed that Greg and his church secretary Tai McGee were having an affair, (2) Greg coerced Melissa into filing for divorce, and (3) Greg coerced Melissa into leaving Murfreesboro for the Georgia women’s shelter.
This is a screenshot from the Facebook feed of the director of the shelter where Melissa has been staying. She is exhorting Greg to ask forgiveness.
Melissa Locke Under the Bus
On January 30, Pulpit and Pen published Greg Locke and a Great Disappointment, an article which included the testimony of (Global Vision Bible Church) member Arlene Greer. Arlene’s testimony, like the numerous others share with Pulpit & Pen anonymously, did not paint Locke in a pretty light. The next morning I received an email from Leonardo Blair, a reporter from the Christian Post. Blair had been working on a Locke article of his own and wanted to have a discussion with me. Blair and I conversed that morning as I commuted to work, comparing the information we’d received from sources. Blair informed that he had been in touch with Locke, who, had denied sending his wife away and coercing her into a divorce. On February 1st, Blair published his Locke piece; the headline read, “Pastor Greg Locke Admits his Wife Struggles with Mental Illness, Is Living in a Shelter.” The claim that Melissa Locke suffered from mental illness had not been unknown to me. However, given that Mrs. Locke was currently residing in a women’s shelter and had been in and out of the hospital since her arrival in Georgia, I did not deem it prudent to comment on Mrs. Locke’s mental health as a part of Pulpit & Pen‘s coverage of Greg Locke and Global Vision Bible Church. Locke revealed his wife’s alleged mental state to Leonardo Blair in an interview with The Christian Post: She’s been in and out of mental health facilities but that is not where she is right now. She is at a place that helps ladies get on their feet again. The only reason why she is there is that the lady who runs it is like her grandmother, and so she’s there. She’s only there because of the comfort…It is a shelter there is no doubt. But it’s not something like a homeless shelter. She’s with the lady who runs the place.Greg Locke alleged that his wife is mentally ill in an interview for all the world to see. From my perspective, a defensive Greg Locke, seeking to justify being a pastor going through a divorce, threw his wife under the bus. In keeping with what I’ve been hearing out of Mt. Juliet, Greg Locke’s primary concern seems to be Greg Locke. It’s also worth noting that the pastor who originally shared Melissa’s whereabouts with me commented on her mental fragility. Greg’s comment to the Christian Post makes it sound as if Melissa is staying in the home of the shelter director, her close friend. This has not been the case according to our source; Melissa is in such a touchy state that she must reside in the shelter. Who could blame her? She is away from her husband, her children, and her home. Melissa Locke, mentally ill or not deserves our prayers and sympathy.
Whether they be real or metaphorical, buses have not been kind to Melissa Locke lately.
If Melissa Locke is mentally ill, does it make sense to blame her? If Melissa Locke, in the throes of mental illness misled her caretakers about her filing for divorce then Greg Locke is telling the truth and the truth is that Greg Locke agreed to an “irreconcilable differences” divorce from his ill wife and let her flee the state and should not therefore be a pastor. If Greg Locke forced the divorce then he should not therefore be a pastor. Yet he remains in the pulpit.
Greg Locke and Tai McGee
Much has been said about the alleged romantic connections between Greg Locke and Tai McGee, his church secretary. More could be said. Pictures speak more than words, however. The video below was provided by a source in Mt. Juliet. According to the source, it was taken at Mt. Juliet High School on Friday, January 5th by a relative of Tai’s. The video clearly shows Locke and his female church employee attending a basketball game together. Viewers can draw their own conclusions about the propriety of a married pastor (despite his claims to the contrary, Locke’s divorce is not final) attending a basketball game with a woman in this manner.
Where are the Elders?
Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC) does not appear to have meaningful membership or eldership. A source from inside GVBC shared the following with me:The elders were picked by Locke, 3 quit over the course of about 3 years mostly because of bad communication and lack of interest…The other 2 left in November after Greg announced his divorce. (The elders) would meet on Wednesday night after church but many times (they) would go months without meeting at all. (They) could say a lot in our meetings but Jarrod and Greg made all the decisions, (the elders) had very little say. The church was given to Greg, it’s Greg’s church and there has never been any deacons or budget committee. No overseers or accountability. The biggest problem was a lack of COMMUNICATION which lead to most of (the elders) stepping down or just giving up on being an elder. People want the TRUTH AND PROOF to come out and for Greg to humble himself so the forgiveness can begin. People like Greg, he’s done a lot of good for people in the church but like any man has fallen.Greg Locke seems to rule without accountability at GVBC. Many have expressed misgivings about the way Greg and his Executive Pastor Jarrod Almond spend the church’s money, especially Almond’s recent purchase of a Nissan Maxima and a Nissan Quest with church money. There is nothing illegal about this action.
GVBC obtained a new church bus in October according to the local who provided this picture.
Would you fire yourself from your job, one that comes with a company car, and a tax-free home rental allowance?
Papaw Jimmy: Witness to a Mismanaged Household
Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy, prescribed that one who fills the office of pastor must “manage his own household well,” asking the rhetorical question, “if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Timothy 3). Greg Locke is going through a divorce. Locke admitted to the Christian Post just yesterday that he is “flat broke in every way imaginable.” Preliminary inquiries by the Pulpit & Pen indicate that he has a bankruptcy in his past (court documents have not been obtained). Some of his children have been residing with his mother for the past couple of months. His estranged wife is in a women’s shelter. Does the evidence of his life in any way indicate that he has managed his household well?Today, I spoke with close Locke family friend Jimmy Hayden. He’s like a father to Melissa Locke. Locke’s children call Hayden “pawpaw.” Hayden, aged 80, has often taken on the loving responsibility of looking after Melissa Locke while Greg is out of town. According to Hayden, Locke, who frequently travels on the preaching circuit, has often gone on the road and left Melissa Locke at home alone with their children, little money, and no transportation. He’s witnessed Melissa struggle to obtain groceries in Greg’s absence. He’s also witnessed Melissa be a supportive pastor’s wife, never speaking ill of her husband, a man, according to Hayden, who could barely be bothered to take out the garbage. Haden wants the world to know that “Melissa Locke is one of the finest people he’s ever met” in his entire life and that he dearly loves her. He also wants to warn people to stay away from Global Vision Bible Church. After attending the church for years, almost from its start, Jimmy wants no part of GVBC and its pastor.
Jimmy Hayden would have walked through fire for his pastor in times past. Now, like so many other disaffected friends, he has lost trust in the man and has chosen to warn others about him.
Why Greg Locke Matters
Greg Locke isn’t the first pastor to have marital troubles. Greg Locke isn’t the first pastor to borrow sermon material from another preacher. If he’s dating his secretary, he’s not the first pastor to do that either. He’s not even the first man to basically found his own church and set himself up as a “pastor” with no accountability. So why does he matter? He has over one million followers on his Facebook page. He is marketing himself as a “bold” and “outspoken” Christian. He’s the face of Christianity for many in this nation. Before the story of his troubles broke, CNN was planning to feature his church in a national story. Just last week, Locke released a viral video which garnered him local new coverage. A pastor who is a media darling should first look after his darling wife.Greg Locke is, in my theological opinion, utterly unqualified for the pastorate. His sermons should have no influence on his national following and he doesn’t need to be the face of the American Christian to a lost and dying world. He is, in the opinion of one New York reporter, a “wise guy.” People, like Jimmy Hayden and the other disaffected members of GVBC are hurting. They need a pastor, not Greg Locke. In my mind there isn’t much difference between Greg Locke and a entrepreneur who open up BBQ restaurant, except for the latter doesn’t purport to be in the care of souls and live off of their donations.
A Simple Hypothetical Question
Imagine that you are a pastor and you are concerned that your wife is mentally ill. Do you:- A. Step back from vocational ministry, the speaking circuit, and internet video fame in order to take care of your wife and family.
- Sign divorce papers, put your wife on a bus to Georgia, take your kids to your mom’s house, and take your secretary to a ballgame.
What will you choose if such a choice ever comes your way? Without the grace of God, you will fare no better than choice B. There is forgiveness for Greg Locke. God can restore his marriage. God can forgive Greg Locke.
God can forgive you, too.
Greg Locke has made a lot of enemies with his politically charged internet preaching. I fear that they are taking joy in his failure. Locke may be hurting, his family is hurting, his friends are hurting, his church is hurting. Why take joy in that?
Without Jesus, you are hurting. Repent or you will likewise perish. There is forgiveness for sinners in Jesus Christ. I hope everyone reading this finds it.
I hope all the GVBC members and Locke supporters reading this find a new church and find a new spokesperson. May they look first to the Bible.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
**The preceding story is the product of interviews with and submissions from numerous sources local to Middle Tennessee. The truth of the reporting here is dependent on the accuracy of the information reported by those sources. Pulpit & Pen is confident in the accuracy of the information provided. Anyone with first-hand information about Pastor Greg Locke, his actions toward Global Vision Church and or his wife, is encouraged to contact Pulpit & Pen attalkback@pulpitandpen.org. A special thanks goes out to Arlene Greer and all the witnesses who continue to put aside fear and come forward.
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UPDATE!
MARCH 19, 2018
Video: Greg Locke Rebuked at Church, Church Assaults the Man and His Family Who Spoke the Reuke
SEE:http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/03/16/greg-locke-rebuked-church-church-assaults-man-family; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Man politely prays for Locke and with the congregation, before saying Locke was unfit to preach and then being assaulted by the congregation.
Greg Locke is a conservative Internet-famous Facebook preacher who is known for his selfie-videos opining on political and social issues. He is pastor of Global Vision Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Originally beginning as an Independent, Fundamental Baptist preacher, Locke eventually drifted from his theological roots and took more of a mainstream, seeker-friendly appeal to his ministry style. Locke married his teenage sweetheart, who faithfully stood by him as a dutiful preacher’s wife, bearing him children, being admirably submissive, and adopting more children. As his fame rose, however, so did his distaste for the wife he felt didn’t live up to his growing reputation. Locke, according to his wife and her counselors, hit her and spit on her. We released text messages of him telling her, “F%$^ you,” calling her the “b-word” and fat-shaming her for gaining weight after he paid for her weight-loss surgery, and calling his own mother the word for a male phallus for taking the side of his wife. Locke also began to be seen socializing – romantically it seems – with his secretary (who was also going through a divorce and whose family said they were having an affair). He then put his wife on a bus and sent her to a woman’s shelter. His wife – raised an orphan – has little family to call upon for help. As the text messages reveal, Locke intimidated her into filing for divorce (ostensibly, so he could claim abandonment and remain in ministry). When she dismissed her divorce claim and begged to reconcile and save their marriage, Locke swore at her and filed for divorce himself. All the while, Locke had hid his separation from his Facebook followers. As news began to be released, he fraudulently claimed the divorce was already final, he had been abandoned and blamed his wife’s supposed mental illness.
Greg Locke is not a one-woman man (1 Timothy 3:2), so it seems. Greg Locke’s household is not in order (1 Timothy 3:5). Greg Locke has not loved his wife like Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5). Greg Locke has repeatedly attacked his own church members for begging him to repent. Greg Locke has repeatedly blamed everyone but himself. Greg Locke – by the Bible’s standards, is unfit for ministry.
And yet, Benchmark Church and its pastor, Benjamin Blankenship, chose to have Locke preach at a “revival” last night at their church. They chose – on purpose – to have a man preach who is currently in the middle of a divorce, who was the one who filed for the divorce, and who admitted (in a Facebook post) that the text messages of him verbally abusing his wife and mother were his. There is no excuse for Benjamin Blankenship or Benchmark Church. What they did is absolutely unconscionable for anyone who considers the Scripture to be the infallible and authoritative Word of God. The pastoral epistles are very clear regarding the qualifications of a pastor, and Blankenship’s disinterest – and I would go so far as to say hatred – for the Holy Bible is evident.
While the Scripture speaks much of love, love calls to repentance. While the Scripture speaks of forgiveness, forgiveness is given by a repentance-producing faith (and Greg Locke is not repentant; his innocent wife would come home, if only he would let her). While the Scripture speaks of restoration, restoration is a consequence of repentance. And, while the Scripture speaks of restoration, nowhere does it indicate that a man who has fallen so terribly in ministry should resume the preaching task from a church pulpit, least of all while he is still stubbornly clinging to his sin.
So then, an admin of Pulpit & Pen, Tim Weakley, attended Benchmark Church last night with his wife and family. As Locke began to speak, Weakley quietly and calmly approached the pulpit and asked to begin the service in prayer. He acknowledged that the church was under the attack of the devil, to the ‘amens’ and accolades of the congregation. The congregation all prayed simultaneously, with shouts of “Hallelujah!” Locke handed his microphone to Weakley, who told the congregation that his heart was troubled because Locke had not been living up to what a pastor should be.
Then a group of mostly women, and a few men, began to scream wildly at Weakley. After a few moments of watching, Blankenship joined in and physically shoved Weakley (from the video, it appears it was as hard as he could). Almost immediately, Weakley said that he was leaving because they asked him to leave. They continued to shove him and pull at him, even though Weakley was trying to leave. They tried to snatch his camera. They also tried to take his wife’s camera and physically shoved her (this is also on video).
Weakley continued to plead with them, “You’re assaulting me.” One individual – we think it was the pastor – said, “You haven’t even seen assault yet.”
So much for love, forgiveness, reconciliation. The people at Benchmark Church hate the Gospel’s call to repentance every much as the mob that stoned Stephen. They hate the Gospel’s call to repentance every bit as much as the Synagogue attendees in Ephesus. For them, even a (very polite) call to prayer and a (very polite) admonishment with the simple words, “This man is not living up to what a pastor should be” was met with violence.
Locke went on to preach a self-aggrandizing message, comparing himself to Christ and talking about how “everybody has haters.” Locke brushed off the incident as one of the usual protests that follow him. Although, this time it wasn’t the LGBT or liberals or God-haters. This time it was a church member in a Biblical, New Testament church who personally believes in the Inerrancy of Scripture, the true Gospel, the sinfulness of homosexuality (and the surety of all of God’s law), and personal evangelism. Tim Weakley doesn’t hate the Gospel. He’s an evangelist. He’s a church member. He’s on Jesus’ team. Tim Weakley wasn’t trying to attack the church, but protect it. In the end, it might be that Benchmark Church is not actually a church at all, given their instinctive, guttural and violent reaction to any mention of Scripture that seems inconvenient to them.
You can watch the full video of the rebuke and subsequent assault, as filmed from Tim’s camera, here.
Interestingly, Locke says that he knew as soon as he put his hand on Tim “it was going to go that way,” but it was after that Locke handed his microphone to Tim.
By the way, you can also watch the full video of from Tim’s wife’s camera here. Notice that they also begin to push her, and at one point, someone tries to take her camera.
You can watch the full video as filmed from the church’s Livestream here (start at about the 27 minute mark).
Afterward, Weakley provides his own thoughts about the ordeal, as you can see below.
After the sermon, this is how the pastor – Benjamin Blankenship – chose to respond on his Facebook page:
The same half-baked busybodies gossiping hate-mongers, and the mindless cronies who follow them rather that God that are attacking him have made threats against myself for refusing to bar Pastor Greg Locke from our service that I’d initially booked him for way back in the fall of last year. While the list of things that I’ve done in my ministry has been sizable & unnoticed by some. I find myself getting caught in the crossfire of these sanctimonious jerks, internet trolls, and weak minded people who follow them and their #fakenews (I’m referring to internet dribble).
Weakley politely came forward, asked for prayer, let them pray, was given a mic and said one sentence – this man has not been living up to what a pastor should be. Does that sound like, “Stormed in and tried to verbally assault” someone? Puh-lease. These are the people Jesus would be driving out with whips.
One wonders what the “fake news” Blankenship is referring to. Locke has confessed to putting his wife on the bus. He did say it was her idea, but text messages (which Locke says were his) reveal it was not her idea and the divorce was forced upon her. Locke confessed to saying those nasty things to his wife, albeit he shrugged it off as being in a moment of stress. Locke confesses to being divorced (he is not divorced, but he is trying as hard as he can to get divorced – even with a wife who is trying to reconcile). Locke confessed these things to us on the phone (it’s not hearsay). He confessed these things to the Christian Post. His mother has confirmed these things with us on the phone. The family of his new lover has confirmed these things. It’s been reported on accurately. Locke hasn’t sued us for libel because he can’t; the truth isn’t libel. Vast numbers of his church have left. It’s only people who are either illiterate or not caring about the Bible who think it’s a good idea he be behind a pulpit.
Likewise, the only “hate mongers” are those who – like Blankenship – hate the Gospel’s call to repentance. They hate the Holy Bible and the pastoral epistles. Greg Locke hates his wife. He hates his mother. To these people, love looks like hate and hate looks like love. Their instinctual, guttural, intuitive hatred of the mentioning of sin indicates their lostness and form of religion, minus the real godliness or power.
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UPDATE MAY 28, 2018:
Locked Out: A Former Global Vision Church Member Speaks Out About Greg Locke
BY SETH DUNN
SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/05/24/locked-out-a-former-global-vision-church-member-speaks-out-about-greg-locke/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
My name is Lori Pierce. Five years ago, my family and I began attending Global Vision Bible Church (GVBC) in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. We had heard its pastor, Greg Locke, preach online and we really liked his expository preaching style. We had been attending another local church but felt we needed to experience deeper exposition of God’s word. GVBC was a bare bones church; there was nothing fancy and the children’s program was very basic. We found Greg to be genuine and down to earth. His wife, Melissa, was very quiet but also very sweet. We hit it off with the Lockes because both our families have adopted children. Greg seemed to love his church family and did things such as ride his bike and pray at every member’s house at New Year’s (technically GVBC does not have official “members” who can vote on church affairs). He also rode his bike across America to help raise awareness about sex trafficking. We loved Greg’s dedication and humbleness. GVBC really did a lot for the community, especially considering the small size of the congregation, such as giving away turkeys to the poor at Thanksgiving.
A couple of years after we started attending GVBC, Greg decided to start posting videos on Facebook. He posted a lot of encouraging messages with some of his conservative political views mixed in. We really liked them at first, but then there came a point where Greg’s video messages were more focused on politics than the Bible. All of the sudden, Greg just started going on rants without doing substantial background research into his subject matter. Thus, a lot of the claims he made while ranting were false. One example is a video accusing our local school system of indoctrinating our children into Islam. Our children go to the local public school and Greg’s accusation was simply not true. We had a child in the class in question at that time and indeed the curriculum covered Islam but it also covered other world religions. We did not feel our children were being indoctrinated into Islam at all.
Due to Greg’s Facebook videos, the church and the Facebook ministry grew. Attendance started to swell rapidly, and Greg started adding services. We had visitors from all over. As the church grew, so did Greg’s head. He was traveling all of the time to speak at various places. He was inserting himself more and more into the political arena. A year ago my husband and I started growing weary of that and determined that the church was no longer the same. GVBC seemed to be all about Greg Locke and it became very cliquish. Then came the focus on Planned Parenthood (PP). Don’t get me wrong, I am just as much against abortion as any Bible-believing Christian. I have an adopted child for goodness sake. The issue we had with Greg was that he was spending more energy on goading PP then fighting against abortion. Greg was using church funds to go deliver the hate mail that he had received to the PP headquarters in DC instead of going and praying with people at abortion clinics, such as another local pastor does. We felt like Greg just wanted attention on himself. Nevertheless my husband and I did stand up for him after he began receiving a lot of hateful Facebook messages. Even though he seemed to be getting cocky, we still believed Greg was genuine.
The church continued to change for the worst. All of the elders left. Greg started adding all kinds of staff and nothing was announced. One of the things we loved when we first started attending was the transparency and how leadership devoted one night to go over the past year’s financials. This was no longer the case. It seemed like Greg’s right hand man, Executive Pastor Jarrod Almond, didn’t want anyone to know what was going on with church finances. Greg and Jarrod were asked by an elder (all of the elders subsequently left) to start a financial committee to oversee the finances. Jarrod was totally against doing so, which is preposterous considering almost every church has one. It began to seem like money was being spent on staff cars, homes, and other things that no one was supposed to know about. Two golf carts were purchased and we still have no idea what they were for. GVBC does not sit on a lot of acreage. Jarrod ran off many people as he was controlling and just downright hateful. With all the money coming in from the internet ministry, local attendees became less important and anyone with questions was expendable. Jarrod and Greg seemed to keep everyone in the dark. One of the Locke children happened to be in my car one day playing with one of my kids and he announced his dad told them they were rich. What kid would make that up?
The prayer group became problematic as well. The ladies who ran it seemed to run the church as well. People started coming forward and saying that they were asked to leave because some of the prayer ladies didn’t like their ideas. On one January day, Greg Locke and some of his children happened to be at the skating rink at the same time as my family and I. I asked him about certain ladies that had come forward with horror stories from the prayer group. Greg provided me all kinds of excuses, such as the women who had been run off were actually trying to take over the prayer ministry and had been causing problems. I had never in my life been to a church where the prayer ladies were so rude and unwelcoming. The fact that Greg allowed this spoke volumes to me.
Although we were weary of what was happening we still loved our church. We invited our neighbors and friends to attend. They did and they loved Greg’s preaching. However, there was a shift in his preaching. This past fall, Greg seemed to get very vitriolic. The humble Greg Locke was nowhere to be found. He then started preaching about a tree he would go sit by and how God was changing him. My husband and I were baffled as what he was saying seemed to make no sense. Our neighbors even sensed how rude Greg came across as he began to tell people to leave if they couldn’t handle Greg Locke 2.0. In November, Greg made the announcement at church that he and Melissa were divorcing. We were not there but heard about it later. People began to criticize Greg for breaking from his wife. I defended him because I believed his stories that he was being abandoned and not seeking a divorce. I lost friends because of my defense of Greg and the church. When Pulpit & Pen broke the news of Greg’s infidelity, I defended my pastor and was banned from its Facebook page. I thought Pulpit & Pen were horrible for going after Greg and GVBC. I tried to reach out to Melissa via the cell phone number I had for her but I received no reply. Little did I know, that Greg had taken her church-issued phone. Something in the back of my head told me something wasn’t right. I conveyed my concerns to my husband and he thought we should step away from reading about GVBC in social media and blogs. We prayed for God to reveal anything we needed to know.
Shortly thereafter, my friend texted me the Pulpit & Pen article that came out with Greg’s nasty text messages to his wife. I was so heartbroken. My husband looked at them and said, “We are done.” These text messages conveyed how horrible Greg talked and still talks to Melissa. The fact that he called her fat and put down her hair cut shows how controlling and vicious he is. My husband and I were appalled. Greg never apologized for how he talked to Melissa or said it was wrong. He made excuses. Melissa is one of the most Biblical women I have ever known. She stood by his side for over twenty years, hardly living a luxurious life. Greg texted us a few weeks after we stopped attending GVBC asking where we were and if he could do anything for us. We replied that we were having a hard time with what was going on and we would like to sit down and talk with him. He agreed but never gave us a time and date when we could get together. We haven’t heard from him since. We now know he was just wanting to verify if we had left the church or not. I thought if they were divorcing, Greg would take time off and go somewhere with his children and get counseling and do everything he could for them. We were appalled at what we saw. He started dating his secretary, Tai Cowan, and telling people he was “moving on with his life.” Someone had sent out a picture of Greg and Tai together at a basketball game. I sent it to Greg and asked about it and he said he was just going to watch the game and was moving on with his life. I took that to mean he was just getting out. I had no idea it meant he was dating Tai! The odd thing is I told my husband a couple of years ago that I felt the church secretary (who was also Melissa’s best friend) was infatuated with Greg. It was apparent by the way she acted around him and looked at him. Greg’s children had started to talk about things that were going on with their dad and his secretary and it didn’t match the story Greg was telling.
Greg Locke is not the man we thought he was. He thinks of the church and the ministry as his, not God’s. His wife and kids are not his first priority. He even stated from the pulpit that he didn’t help with homework because he already had to do homework when he was their age. I recently got wind that his children didn’t have money on their accounts at school to eat lunch. I had heard so many rumors that I wanted to verify it for myself. I called the school and asked about a certain Locke child and the school verified that he had no money on his account. I asked if he did indeed eat in the cafeteria or if he brought his lunch. They knew him and said he did eat in the cafeteria. They said they let kids with no credit in their account go into the negative to a certain point but then stopped granting it. I put money on the Locke child’s account because I have children and it broke my heart that his own daddy wasn’t giving him lunch money. With everything these kids have gone through, eating should not be a concern. This is just an example of how Greg puts his wants and his needs above everyone else’s. He constantly posts pictures of himself at the gym or in his car. If you ask him about anything, he will whine about how much hurt he and his family have gone through. He caused his own hurt. He never fought for his marriage. He lies straight from the pulpit saying Melissa filed but what he doesn’t tell you is that she stopped her divorce proceedings and begged to reconcile. He filed his own divorce suit but you will not hear him admit that. Melisa stood by his side for so many years and he left her with next to nothing. It’s like he doesn’t want her to succeed or get ahead in life. I wish all of his online followers knew what a fraud he was. There are people giving their hard earned money to a fraudulent “church.” So many families, believers, and non-believers have been hurt by all of this. The people still there and still supporting him will have to answer to God. Greg Locke needs to repent and step down. Ezekiel 34:1-31 comes to my mind. Greg doesn’t realize that he is not respected in our town, especially by Godly pastors. It is embarrassing to even tell people where we went to church. When we are visiting other churches, they ask where we went to church before. When we tell them, people shake their heads in disgust.
I know that I will probably get bombarded with hate mail due to this expose but it needed to come out. I want other people to be aware of false pastors. I mean, what if any of these people needed Christian counseling for their relationships? They certainly could not get it from Greg Locke. What would he tell them? Divorce your wife/husband and take up with the secretary/spouse’s best friend? Please reconsider your support of Greg Locke and GVBC. I supported him for years. I don’t anymore.
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SEE ALSO:Breaking: Greg Locke Under Investigation by Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
BY SETH DUNN
SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/05/21/breaking-greg-locke-under-investigation-by-tennessee-department-of-childrens-services/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Pulpit & Pen has learned that embattled Tennessee Pastor and internet sensation Greg Locke of Mt. Juliet is under investigation by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (TDCS). Readers of Pulpit & Pen will remember that Locke, a father of three, was accused by his estranged wife of spousal abuse earlier this year. After receiving multiple accounts from people local to Mt. Juliet, Pulpit & Pen reached out to the case worker in charge of Locke’s case and confirmed that Locke, who is currently going through a divorce, is indeed under investigation. Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to first contact the Mid-Cumberland Office of TDCS and then this publication at talkback@pulpitandpen.org.
