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Church Check: World Revival Church in Kansas City, Missouri

Basic Church Information


Church Name: World Revival Church

Senior/Lead Pastor: Steve and Kathy Gray

Board of Elders/Leadership Staff: See leadership staff on the church website here

Address: 9900 View High Drive, Kansas City, MO 64134

Phone: +1 877-804-5433

Email: wrc-info@wrckc.com

Website: https://worldrevivalchurch.com/


Social Media:

Online Services: https://worldrevivalchurch.com/ondemand


Church Specifics


Denomination: Charismatic & Possible Calvinism/Reformed Theology Teachings

Preaching Style: Topical

Membership Requirements: Yes

Tithes/Compelled Giving: Yes

Financial Transparency: No

Answered Questionnaire: No

Affiliations: Steve Gray Ministries, Inc., The Revival Network of Ministries and Churches, House of Hope and Healing, Jubilation Ministries, Inc.

Red Flags of Abuse:


There are multiple red flags concerning the World Revival Church in Kansas City, Missouri. For starters, there’s a page on Facebook called KC Cult Survivor with over 475 followers focused entirely on “Finding freedom and solidarity through our stories. This is a journalistic endeavor to bring into the open the stories of cult survivors, particularly from organizations people were unaware of. The first dive will be into World Revival Church in KC, MO.”


The Facebook Page details experiences of former members in areas of mental, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, child abuse, financial abuse, OSHA violations, and other forms of mistreatment and abuse of members and volunteers at the church.


Another source for concern is an article from Christianity Today which briefly details the sudden and surprising uprooting, renaming, and moving of Steve & Kathy Gray’s church from rural Missouri under the name Smithton Community Church to Kansas City under the new name, World Revival Church.


Another website worth checking into is The Cult Life, where former members of the World Revival Church document their experiences in the church. You can also find documents on the church, including information on the many para-church and other non-profit organizations owned and operated by Steve and Kathy Gray.


There are videos detailing the abuse and experiences former members have had in this church. Ever since I put the word out that I'm writing a report on World Revival Church, I've been receiving story after story of abuse, cult-like activity and treatment, and more. Here is a particularly revealing one from an individual who wishes to remain anonymous:


WRC Testimony
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Download PDF • 85KB

Lastly and as always, we recommend that anyone currently attending this church walk themselves through Steve Hassan’s BITE Model and Undue Influence Continuum to detect and protect themselves and their loved ones from potential abuse in the church. The links to the BITE Model and Continuum are below, as usual.


Influence-Continuum-2019UPDATED-1200x103
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Download • 145KB

BITE Model of Authoritarian Control Hand
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Download • 124KB

Additionally, we took WRC’s characteristics of “pride” and “humility” from their training manual and compared them to Steve Hassan's Influence Continuum. If the standards for humility in WRC’s training manual reflect the church’s real expectations, they may be spiritually abusive.