Sovereign Grace Music
Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC), formerly People of Destiny International (PDI) and Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), is an evangelical network of churches, based primarily in the United States, whose theology is Reformed and continuationist. The organization is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
The movement grew out of the charismatic renewal of the 1970s under Larry Tomczak and C. J. Mahaney. Its roots were in a prayer meeting in the Washington, D.C., area that developed into Covenant Life Church in Maryland. In 1982, Tomczak, Mahaney, Brent Detwiler and others formed People of Destiny International as an umbrella organization for their ministries. During the 1990s, the movement shifted increasingly toward Reformed theology; Tomczak subsequently left the organization. PDI became Sovereign Grace Ministries in 2002 and adopted its present name in 2014. Mahaney, who had become the organization's principal leader, took a leave of absence in 2011 while complaints about his leadership were reviewed and was reinstated the following year. He stepped down as president in 2013 after a period in which Covenant Life and a number of other churches left the network.
Church planting has been a significant part of the movement's work, both through establishing new congregations and, later, by admitting existing churches considered compatible with its doctrine and practices. SGC also operates Sovereign Grace Music, which has produced contemporary worship music since the 1980s. Several of its albums have appeared on the Billboard Christian albums chart.
Sovereign Grace has faced controversy over its leadership culture and its handling of allegations of child sexual abuse. Some former members and critics have characterized the movement as cult-like and accused its leaders of exercising excessive authority; the organization and its supporters have disputed those characterizations. A civil lawsuit filed in Maryland in 2012 alleged that leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries had conspired to conceal child sexual abuse and failed to report allegations to police. The Maryland plaintiffs' claims were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired, and subsequent appellate proceedings ended in 2014. In a separate case, former Covenant Life Church youth mentor Nathaniel Morales was convicted in 2014 of sexually abusing four boys between 1983 and 1991; reporting on the trial said that several church staff members had previously been told of his abuse but had not notified police.
Similar Artists