Chesapeake pastor back on pulpit after scandal

CHESAPEAKE

It's Sunday morning and Fathers Day, and more than 100 people have filled the Cinema Cafe theater inside Greenbrier Mall.

Christian music blasts from the speakers as a clock on the movie screen ticks down toward a 10 a.m. start time.

They're not here for a movie. They are here to listen to the Rev. Bob Groves.

It has been a year since Groves, the pastor of Faith Alive Ministries, got up in front of 1,500 of his congregants and apologized for having an affair with a married church staffer.

Groves says he was forced to leave Faith Alive. The church's new pastor said Groves left on his own after failing to complete a clergy restoration program.

Less than four months ago, Groves and his wife started a new church, Genesis Ministry, in a rented theater at Cinema Cafe.

Meanwhile, Faith Alive needs a new home.

The church's $11 million, 46,000-square-foot building in Deep Creek was hit by foreclosure and sold at auction late last month for $7.1 million to another local church, Faith Alive officials said. Faith Alive owed a bank more than $8 million it borrowed to build the sanctuary.

"There was just no way we could pay back all the money that was spent," said Jim Chambers, the church's new lead pastor. "The bottom line is, this congregation, given all that it' s been through, couldn't afford the building."

Little more than 17 months ago, Faith Alive was one of Chesapeake's fastest-growing congregations. The nondenominational, evangelical church had grown from a dozen members to more than 2,000 over 18 years, was celebrating the grand opening of its new sanctuary, and had earned attention from leaders such as Pat Robertson and U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes.

Groves had a high profile in Chesapeake. He served as one of several spiritual mentors on Mayor Alan Krasnoff's 2008 campaign. He gave the opening prayer at the 2009 State of the City address. The new 1,550-seat sanctuary had about $1 million worth of audiovisual equipment, which Groves hoped to use to get on television.

Groves left the church on May 3, 2009, or so many members thought. A month later, Groves stood before a packed house to apologize. Chambers, hired as a consultant, flew in from Georgia to moderate the event. The implication was that Groves was on his way back to return as the church's lead pastor.

From there the accounts differ. Chambers, who was counseling Groves, said Groves left the church after failing to complete a clergy restoration program.

Groves sees things differently.

"I was kicked out," he said. "I was told I was not welcome here."

Said Chambers: "I don't know what he's talking about. He left and never came back."

Chambers became the lead pastor. Soon after taking over, Chambers said he discovered that the church owed more than $8 million.

The major problem was that church membership had fallen from more than 2,000 to as low as 600 or 700 after Groves left, although that figure has jumped back over 1,000, Chambers said. "At the time, there was a lot of money coming in," he said. "It didn't look like there was a problem."

Groves and his wife, Shawn, said they paid all the bills when they were at the church. "All of it was working until it quit working," Groves said.

Chambers said the money spent on the building made it difficult after the popular pastor left.

As Faith Alive struggled, Groves and his wife contemplated their future. He said people asked him frequently to preach again, but for a while he insisted he would not.

"We were done with all of it," Groves said.

It was around Christmas, Groves said, when God started giving him signs that he should return to lead a church. He and his wife said they knew he would be criticized for returning to ministry so soon.

"We would have never done this if we didn't feel God directed this," Groves said.

Genesis Ministry started up March 14 at the Cinema Cafe. Within weeks, the theater had reached its 130-person capacity, and more people stood in the hallway.

Ann Bowes, an eight-year member of Faith Alive, made her first visit to Genesis on Fathers Day, where Groves discussed ongoing battles every man has to fight. Afterward, she said she had tried find another church after Groves left.

"It was not Faith Alive without him," she said. When she'd hear other pastors, "Bob always came back to mind."

Groves said he plans to look for a larger space.

Faith Alive is also searching for a new space. The massive sanctuary was auctioned in June to Virginia Beach's New Life Providence Church, which plans to use the Faith Alive sanctuary as its Chesapeake campus, according to its website.

Chambers said Faith Alive is looking forward to moving on. "The good news is, we owed $8.2 million last week," he said. "This week, we don't. Now we can get back to helping people."

Groves and his wife and are also looking forward. They say they want people to know Groves' backstory before they join and that the new church is about forgiveness.

"If you walk into Genesis knowing the story, you choose to forgive," Shawn Groves said.

Bob Groves said he felt responsible in part for Faith Alive's difficulties.

"We're sad, man," he said. "We've cut all ties. We had to. It was just too hurtful."

As for the $8 million debt, Groves said it was "100 percent out of our control and has been the whole time."

Had he been allowed to return as pastor, Groves said, the church would not have been in such a difficult financial situation. "It doesn't have to be the way that it is," he said.