Grace Community Church allegedly knew about a sexual abuse case but refused to acknowledge it.
Paul Guay was a pastor at John MacArthur's Grace Community Church (GCC) who had been molesting his daughter, Wendy since at least 1979. Wendy Guay's friend, Lisa Ward, was a witness to an attempted abuse by Paul against herself and his own daughter back in 1979. Ward's father, John Tucker, was also a member of the church who had been informed of the incident. He was the person who witnessed Guay confess to his sexual abuse of his daughter to MacArthur himself just weeks later.
However, Guay appeared to not have been punished for his admission and continued to pastor for GCC for three more years, the Roys Report revealed. He was only fired from GCC after a scandal involving sexual misconduct with a secretary. Even then, he went on to pastor other churches for the next 30 years.
When Wendy learned that her father had more abuse victims, she reached out to MacArthur, who then denied knowing about her father's abuse. MacArthur even reproved Wendy for her "obsession" with the decades-old issue of sexual abuse. As a victim of sexual abuse from her own father, Wendy struggled with an eating disorder and addiction to pain medication. She also suffered from self-destructive behaviors.
However, Guay continued to pastor at Brethren Church in Mabton, Washington, while MacArthur earned the reputation of "the world's premier expository preacher." At the time of the abuse, Wendy was 16 years old and living with her father and stepmother, Jane Guay. Her mother, Marlou Fronapel, lived in Oregon.
When Fronapel found out about the abuse, she quickly arranged for Wendy to fly to her. When the mother called GCC to speak to MacArthur, the church leader refused to take her call. SHe then reached out to Tucker and her brother in law, Gary Davis, a pastor at West Covina Church of Christ in West Covina, California. Fronapel alleged that Davis spoke to a GCC leader about Guay's abuse of his own daughter, but the church failed to take action.
In a 2003 written statement, Tucker wrote that Guay admitted to "sexual acts" with his own daughter, Wendy, and admitted, "I know I touched her." Tucker wrote, "Paul agreed to my charges and confessed to MacArthur of repeated sexual acts involving Wendy at nighttime during normal sleeping hours."
When the sexual abuse first came into light in 1979, MacArthur wrote a letter to Wendy, saying he was "sorry" for the problems she had been facing and told her that her father was "sad about it all." The abuse began in 1977, when at night he would visit her bedroom several time a week, touch her inappropriately and at least once exposed himself to her. When asked about his behavior, Guay claimed to be sleepwalking. Her stepmother refused to believe her.
Despite the complaints and reports, GCC failed to take action against Guay's abuse. They never arranged for counseling for Paul and Wendy. In 2003, Wendy's cousin Pam came forward and reported that she was sexually assaulted by Guay, who once forced her to perform oran sex on him in 1964, when she was only seven years old. Guay's sister Donna also came forward to report that he once attempted to have sex with her in 1963. Fronapel confirmed that throughout their four-year marriage, Guay displayed a pattern of predatory behavior.
This is not the first time MacArthur and GCC got involved in a scandal like this. Relevant Magazine reported in March that David Gray, a former teacher at GCC, was convicted on multiple counts of the sexual and physical abuse of children in 2004. He served 21 years for aggravated child molestation, corporal injury to a child, and child abuse.
