Guest Commentary: My Experience at Grace Valley Christian Center

by Frank Christian Thomsen

My name is Frank Christian Thomsen. In February 2021, I sent a message to the Davis Vanguard about my former church, Grace Valley Christian Center (GVCC). I was born and raised a member of GVCC. I was baptized at age eight. I went to the church’s private academy (GVCA) from Kindergarten through the ninth grade, and I attended GVCC regularly with my family until July 2019, when I was 23 years old.

I asked the Vanguard’s staff if they would consider writing an investigative article on GVCC and its abusive practices. Since then, the website has published three separate articles detailing some of the spiritual and emotional abuse GVCC inflicts on its members. I’m grateful for the work the Vanguard has done; I know the staff has conducted scores of interviews with past members and I believe they have attempted to contact GVCC’s leadership as well.

The Vanguard has so far kept all of its sources for the series (including me) anonymous to protect us from any retribution. While I appreciate the Vanguard’s willingness to put itself at the forefront of this, it struck me recently that the accusations don’t have the same bite that they would if the accusers were named. If you’re anonymous, you can pretty much say whatever you want.

Since I’m the one responsible for the series coming about in the first place, it’s only right that I own up to it. While I certainly can’t account for every accusation made in the series, I can say that its content quite accurately captures the abusive, frightening, and downright creepy methods of control employed by GVCC’s leadership.

I fully believe that GVCC is a cult. Pretty much anyone who leaves or challenges the Pastor’s authority is cut off from the community; members are taught to shun those who leave, even their own family members. When I left, I was told I had been “disfellowshipped,” a term I have since learned is closely associated with the Jehovah’s Witness faith. Until I was 15 and old enough to go to public high school, all of my social relationships were with people in the church. Even once I attended public school, close relationships with outsiders were discouraged. (Today, I believe the church also has its own high school, to make things worse). The Pastor regularly taught that GVCC was the only truly Bible-believing church in California (and one of very few in the entire world), and that all other churches were “synagogues of Satan.” Many church families, including my own, had framed pictures of the Pastor hanging in their homes, projecting an image less of a loving shepherd and more of a dictator.

The church is heavily invested in all its members’ private lives. I had to write weekly emails to elders in the church documenting what I’d been doing at work and school, whom I’d been spending time with outside of church, what my plans were for the near- and long-term future. Before I could make any decision of real consequence in my life (what college to attend, what subject to major in, what job to take, whom to ask on a date, etc.) I had to meet with church leaders at length and have my choices approved. More often than not, they did not approve; I was not allowed to go to any school other than UC Davis or Sacramento State, nor was I even allowed to move from Davis to Sacramento even when I was attending Sac State and working in Sacramento full time. I was told that I had been drifting away from the Kingdom of God, and that if I didn’t do everything I was told, I’d be buying myself a one-way ticket to hell.

So, I finally left. I’m sure GVCC’s leaders see this as proof that they were right. I moved away, turned my back on God. If only they could see that they were the ones who pushed me away. Not once did I feel a drop of God’s love at GVCC; never did I see the humility and grace of Jesus Christ in its leaders. All I remember is being called wicked and worthless, being told that I would never be able to make it without their help, being chastised for every bit of personality and individuality I expressed until I finally became quiet, unassuming, bland, easy to manipulate and control. And I remember being taught to hate myself, to not trust my own instincts and emotions, to treat my thoughts as though they came from the Devil.

I used to always feel like I was going crazy, like there was something about GVCC that I was missing, and was constantly afraid that my doubts signified a sinful heart. I can’t count how many nights I cried myself to sleep, begging God to save me, to outright transform me into a different person who suddenly enjoyed life at GVCC. I would scratch at my skin until I bled hoping God would see my penance and renew my heart. Predictably, that never happened. Instead, I shoved every bit of tender emotion down into the recesses of my heart and replaced it with self-loathing. And for what purpose? What was I working toward? Nothing. This life is short and absurd, but that doesn’t mean it has no value. There are no treasures in store for those who self-flagellate and view happiness as weakness. There is only a cold, dark and uncaring world. There is no reward for misery; there is only misery.

I probably could, given the time and mental fortitude, write a whole series of books outlining the many awful experiences I had at GVCC, and the toll they took on my mental and spiritual health. This isn’t the place to elaborate in detail. My purpose in all this is twofold: first, to warn the Davis community about this cult; second, to reach anyone currently in GVCC (or a similarly abusive church) and let them know that any doubts or concerns they have are valid, and that they’re not alone. That said, anyone who wants to know more—or who wants to dispute anything I’ve said—may feel free to contact me at frank.thomsen.96@gmail.com. I’m an open book.