Already facing 2 lawsuits, pastor John Gray’s TV show gets canceled by Oprah Winfrey Network

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Friday, January 17, 2020

The Oprah Winfrey Network has reportedly canceled Relentless Church pastor John Gray's television show, "The Book of John Gray," as he faces two separate lawsuits including one that seeks to evict him and his congregation from facilities owned by megachurch pastors Ron and Hope Carpenter.

According to The Greenville News, a network spokesperson confirmed this week that OWN has no plans to new episodes after a three-season partnership with Gray. The Christian Post reached out to OWN for further comment Friday but a response was not immediately available.

Holly Baird, a spokesperson for Gray and his wife, Aventer, told Greenville News they were already considering other TV and film opportunities.

“The Book of John Gray” is described by OWN as a dramedy docu-follow hybrid show about Gray’s life and the unusual ways in which he helps people.

Gray’s real life, however, has been plagued with bad publicity since he gifted his wife a more than $200,000 Lamborghini Urus for their eighth wedding anniversary in what he initially defended as an ostentatious show of his love in 2018.

“First of all, it wasn’t a pastor that bought the car. It was a husband that bought the car. Get that in your spirit. I’m a husband first. Don’t confuse what I do with who I am. What I do is I pastor God’s people. Who I am is a husband and a father. And I’ll do anything to honor them. And I won’t ask permission from anybody to do it. No man should,” said Gray, who is also an associate pastor at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.

Shortly after that post, Gray publicly revealed he had wanted to end his life and received prayer from Bishop T.D. Jakes as allegations of infidelity clouded his marriage. Then last November, the Carpenters, who co-founded Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, South Carolina, served Gray and his church with a lease termination notice after their business relationship soured.

Gray was given until the end of 2019 to vacate the property amid allegations that he had been “shady” and “dishonest” in executing an agreement with the Carpenters after they passed the reins of their Redemption Church to him in 2018, which he rebranded as Relentless Church. He is now fighting a lawsuit filed by the Carpenters to evict his church.

Then this week, Richard Travis Hayes, a former chief operating officer for Relentless Church, filed a lawsuit against the church and Gray for more than $75,000 in unpaid money, news station WYFF-4 reported.

"This is a church and Travis was very thoughtful in bringing this lawsuit," Hayes' attorney, Paul Porter, said. "We did not want to end up in litigation in this situation. We’ll be sure to give (Relentless) a fair shake through the discovery process and we’re confident in our side but we’ll have to prove that to the court, which is what we intend to do," he added.

Hayes was reportedly never paid money owed to him after he resigned in December 2019. The funds he claims he is owed amount to more than $39,000 in unpaid compensation, over $12,000 in unpaid vacation time, and more than $23,000 owed in an offered salary increase in May 2018.