Bruxy Cavey is a mess. That’s how Canada’s disgraced former megachurch pastor refers to himself on two new websites he said he started to be his therapy. Donations, however, are welcome.
“Hello friends, welcome to my therapy,” he wrote for the site named The Ghost of 1820. “My name is Bruxy . . . and I’m a mess. But I am also discovering that suffering, especially from self-inflicted wounds, can be a good teacher, and I am learning so much.”
Cavey was arguably Canada’s most well-known evangelical pastor. With his casual style and inclusive nature, Cavey grew Canada’s The Meeting House to 5,000 people across 19 locations.
However, last March, the church asked him to resign amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Two months later, police in the Canadian city of Hamilton charged him with one count of sexual assault. Then last August, The Meeting House’s independent investigation substantiated multiple allegations of sexual abuse against Cavey, including one involving a minor.
His trial date has not yet been set, a member of the Hamilton Police Service’s public affairs office told The Roys Report (TRR).
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Cavey didn’t respond to TRR’s emailed request for comment. But in a blog post from last year that has now been deleted, Cavey admitted to one woman’s accusations but called it an “extramarital affair.”
His namesake website, with the tagline “Jesusy Thoughts for Seekers, Saints and Sinner,” has been essentially duplicated and rebranded on The Ghost of 1820 website.
Danielle Strickland, who resigned as a pastor at The Meeting House over allegations against Cavey, called him out on social media for teaching and asking for donations.
“There are heaps of great material already created and available on the beatitudes by people who haven’t sexually abused people,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Maybe it’s time to listen instead of teach?”
Cavey using the language of ministry — but says he’s a layman
The Ghost of 1820 refers to Jesus in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them,” Cavey explained on the site.
“In context, these groups of two or three are on mercy missions to help lost sheep return,” Cavey wrote. “And Jesus says that when we gather together in gracious spaces to love the lost, he is spiritually and fully present with us.”
The sites encourage grace — not judgment — for those who struggle.
“This is a gracious space for the encouragement of those of us who struggle with hardship, failure, and forgiveness, and who are aware of our own need for grace, mercy, and peace,” he wrote. “This is not a place for judgement and divisiveness, but for those of us who want to learn and grow together in the compassionate way of Jesus.
“In short, this is where, along with the input of others, I share some of my processing on the gospel principles of repentance (literally ‘rethinking,’ leading to regret for past sins and a recommitment to a new direction in life), faith, forgiveness, grace, mercy, peace, reconciliation, and restoration.”
He doesn’t spell out the allegations against him. He acknowledges that he has engaged in wrongdoing, but also says he’s been wrongly accused.
“. . . I am trying to rebuild what I have broken and repent of what I have done wrong, while also defending myself against accusations of things I have not done, and this all leaves my emotional energy quite low and my need of grace quite high,” he wrote.
On The Ghost of 1820, he said that it’s “too early” for him to return to pastoral ministry.
“I am often asked if/when I think I might return to pastoral ministry, and my answer is that I think it is far too early for me to even consider that issue,” he wrote. “What I’m doing here I do as a lay person, blogging and hopefully helping others who are feeling like a coal away from the fire.”
Not just blogging, though. He’s also offering a step-by-step guide for launching small groups using his materials and seeking donations to fund devotional resources.
“The idea of enabling someone to ‘lead’ discussions/small group/design concepts that invite people into ‘healing communities’ who has not owned his abuse, made any restitution to his victims, or even concluded the court case against him is not LOVE — it’s reckless and harmful,” Strickland wrote on X.
The Meeting House board of overseers previously said Cavey will not return to that church in a ministry role. In addition, Cavey is no longer credentialed with Be in Christ, the denomination The Meeting House belongs to, a denomination spokesperson wrote in an email to TRR.
Cavey asks for donations under a tab, “How You Can Help.” Gifts will help fund his devotionals, podcasts, and online and in-person community.
The donations are not accepted under an official charity, he wrote. But they’ll also help “explore other opportunities to help the Church re-centre grace, mercy, and peace in the middle of our faith and life.” And funding will “encourage my own healing and wholeness while also helping others find faith, hope and love.”
He also describes how he’s recently been part of “small communities of grace” that eventually invited him to share his thoughts on Jesus.
“I did not start nor do I lead any of these groups, but as invited guests, my family and I have sensed the power in their earnest, genuine, and gracious fellowship,” he wrote. “They are places where confession and repentance feel welcome, and where forgiveness and encouragement are abundant.”
His “1820 studies” have come from what he’s been learning and are therapeutic, but are also a group effort, he wrote. A tab on the website lists out how others can start “small church” groups and use his teachings.
“More ‘small church’ groups have started gathering, in person and online, to learn and love and live together, using the 1820 studies for personal reflection and group discussion,” he wrote. “A small church is a circle church: gatherings of believers small enough to be conversational . . . Whatever the format, we offer our 1820 material to be used freely, in individual study and even better in group discussions.”
Before it was taken down, his namesake site also had a “Resources” tab that offered his sermons taught in front of an audience, though the sermons don’t specifically list The Meeting House in the descriptions. The sermons — uploaded within the last month — link to a YouTube channel called “Bruxy Cavey Sermons.”
He signs off his donation page with a focus on grace, but not on receipts.
“Your grace is precious to me,” he wrote. “I am not a charity. There are no receipts. There is only truckloads of gratitude for your kind support of the research and writing I’m doing here.”
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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17 Responses
…and in the fine print of his website, he mentions the ‘donations will be used to fund his devotionals, podcasts and online and in-person community”.
No One who has been removed from ministry for sexual abuse, particularly including minors, should be seeking money to establish any kind of ministry, but especially one that includes any kind of in-person community!
These predators can’t resist putting their faces forward and using their predatory skills to gather in more victims.
If he’s looking for “Jesusy” thoughts, let him study quietly and humbly in one of the many established ministries of someone who isn’t a predator.
Shame.
Maybe Bruxy should be reflecting on Matthew 18:6-10, especially verse 6 – daily, for at least 40-days… and then another 40-days, so that he can receive God’s grace to take responsibility for the damage he has done to God’s “little ones.” Anything less is graceless repentance/cheap grace that reveals it is still all about him, NOT about God “circumcising his heart” (Romans 2:28-29), so God can renew his mind and heart with the language of personal responsibility that also reveals the spiritual “fruit” of Godly repentance through restitution to his victims. Then, once he takes full responsibility for the damage he has done, like King David did, he can read and reflect on Psalm 51 for at least 40-days and then another 40-days.
He and other Pastors like him just need to go away…. forever. Maybe prison will solve it in his case.
Once a Ravenous wolf and sexual predator is allowed in the church especially the pulpit it’s impossible to remove the stench they left in their wake !
According to 2 Peter these wolves are literally Unredeemable ! Rabid
They Bring DAMNABLE DOCTRINES OF DEVILS Peter writes! They destroy souls in the church !
Jude says they were ordained long ago meaning they were born unto damnation
These Wolves will constantly manipulate just to get a foot back in the door!
They are not sorry or repentant ! They seek your money at all times making merchandise of you ! Just like he is with a donation tab!
The problem is the current mega-church replatforming culture gives spaces for guys like this to exist.
ARC set the trend and all the like follow trend. The problem also is the, “who am I/you to judge?” passive aggressive mentality. We are to be discerning and wise, not doormats. Remember meek doesn’t mean weak!
He is a mess…and a grifter as well! Steer clear of this charlatan.
I have an idea.
Why not have a registry for disgraced former employees/anointed teachers/worship leaders/youth pastors/whatever and organize a draft, like the NFL and NBA have?
Churches/worship centers/fellowships/other businesses can show their interest in those people by publicly drafting them and disclosing what they are offering in the way of salary, honorariums at other organizations, aircraft, square feet of housing and all that. This way, people can get a better feel for the religious recycling that goes on and those that attend the drafting organizations are forewarned.
When I was a student at Fuller, I talked to other students about organizing a Christian Celebrity Draft that would allow organizations to put their dibs in on someone that wasn’t saved yet but might be in the future. No one took me seriously.
the audacity of this man.
At least he’s telling us what’s wrong in the first few lines. “Welcome to My Therapy”. The internet and commenters are not qualified to give him therapy. iIt’s simply his latest platform. “I’m a mess”. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. These people seek soft targets like religious organizations and they are good at using religious language to put up false humility, false transparency or false vulnerability. The last part: the donate if you’d like to help. So wait. We’re your therapists, we’re not qualified to be that, and we’re paying you for that privilege? Some actual work with real people might help him establish relationships, get himself together, and make some money. This is just his latest con.
As someone who learned more from Bruxy Cavey than Professor William Barclay, gave financial support to The Meeting House, and enjoys attending mega church Flatirons Community Church near Boulder Colorado, I am delighted that Bruxy is taking the Jordan Peterson route of using social media to spread the Good News to all those who know what suffering is. The apostle Paul was a dirt bag and became a great supporter of Jesus Christ and his followers. I pray that Bruxy will take the same path. Based on true repentance, I pray that he will once again impact us all. by Heimen Donker
Are we not suppose to be better than the world forgiving loving and graceful. ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. Not only you who do this or did that. ALL of us. Who are we to say what God can will do through Bruxy.
I don’t condone or support any thing he did or is being accused of but the whole Christian faith is love and forgiveness so if Jesus can forgive you for trespasses then who are you to say bruxy can’t be and who are we not to give what’s been so freely given to us.
Take the plank out of your own eye. To many Christians say love your neighbour cause Jesus said it but can barely see past their own nose.
What your comment is missing is an understanding of the qualifications of those in ministry. I encourage you to read Titus 1:5-7, which says an elder must be above reproach. Also, 1 Tim 5:20 states, “But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.”
In repose to those who think Bruxy hasn’t been reproved – a reminder that he was reproved before everyone in the church, and very publicly in fact, on social media, news outlets and sites like these. He stepped away from his position, repented, and has since continued to seek and work towards repair where appropriate. Yet as he works hard to make things right, he has been repeated canceled, by people who call themselves Christians, nonetheless.
It seems to me that Christians who are hell-bent on hating him with vengeance rest assured in this hatred by mislabeling it “righteous anger”, when in fact it’s nothing more than performative public outrage. So many Christians sit stuck in this place of being completely unwilling to move towards restoration or rehabilitation – something Jesus called us too repeatedly. The lack of Jesus-centric posturing in all of this has been astounding to me!
What Bruxy did was wrong, and in no way am I saying he shouldn’t have to deal with the consequences, which he is. But are we saying he should never get up from this again? He should never use his gift of teaching again? That it’s OK to ostracize, belittle, and condemn until when? Forever? Where is the love? Where is the forgiveness? Why do so many Christian cherry pick verses like Titus 1: 5-7 and at the same time refuse to live out “love your enemies”?
Jesus taught us to not to judge other sinners (Matt 7: 1-2). He displayed by example how to show mercy towards people caught in sin (John 8:7) – Jesus doesn’t condone sin, but he also doesn’t condemn the sinner, so neither should we – it’s not our place.
Obviously we shouldn’t be hating on Bruxy. I learned so much from his books and they changed my faith (in a good way). But, that doesn’t mean he can just say sorry and get right back onto public media and begin teaching again. No, he needs to stay out of the public eye and quietly serve God and reflect on what he’s done and all the people he has hurt. He should get a job in a hospital kitchen or similar and just humbly serve people, and stop calling attention to himself. He needs to empty himself of self.
Jan Wentworth, you are full of insight, you have stated in far fewer words than others who think this character should be listened to any further that indeed, he should retire completely from public view, for as long as he lives. He has nothing, absolutely nothing, of worth to say to any human being. Those who wish to continue to listen to what he has to say are most unwise, foolish, but these people will always be with us. We must guard ourselves dealing with these people also.
The consequence of his actions should include service in a venue that does not include the term “Pastor”. Forgiveness does not have to include restoration of position, but it does include (a) the person, and his soul. Remember – we do not have the power to forgive. When we mortal souls forgive – we are emulating and honouring Christ.
I truly believe Timothy (Bruxy) Cavey has sexual addiction and I believe he has Bi-Polar or Schizophrenia. I pray he gets all the help he needs. I pray he truly wants the help he needs. 🙏💟