Myrtle Beach Alliance says anti-gay ministry ‘good’ for downtown. The city is a co-sponsor

City leaders deny knowing about the Christian youth ministry Ground Zero’s anti-LGBTQ views before promoting the organization on the social media of the taxpayer-funded Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance.

Ground Zero has received financial benefits from the city, including $1 a year rent and free services for their annual Dragon Boat Festival.

On Aug. 12, a post on Ground Zero was published on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance. The text, taken from the organization’s website, said “Ground Zero is a place where every teenager can go, belong and grow.” As of Aug. 22, over a week after it was brought to the Downtown Alliance’s attention, the post is still visible on social media.

The ministry, whose mission is “to transform teenagers’ lives through Jesus Christ,” publicly shares its homophobic beliefs.

The ministry see around 125 middle and high schoolers every week, according to Stephanie Sebring, Ground Zero’s advancement director.

Ground Zero’s website includes statements and Bible verses against gay marriage and homosexuality under the Biblical Positions section – “We believe marriage is between one man and one woman” and “We believe God calls Christ-followers to abstain from sexual relationships or marriage with members of the same sex.”

Other entries on that section say Ground Zero believes sex is only for marriage and life begins at conception.

Adult volunteers are asked to agree with the organization’s biblical positions. Language against gay marriage and homosexuality has been present on the organization’s website since at least August 2015, according to the Wayback Machine.

Sebring said in an Aug. 16 phone interview that the organization has students who identify as gay or lesbian, but no homosexual staff members.

“While we welcome any and all teenagers, regardless of their sexual orientation, to come to Ground Zero, we do hope to be able to share the gospel with them,” Sebring said.

Area LGBTQ advocates said letting gay or lesbian teens participate with conditions of celibacy does not make them fully included.

“If you’re going to welcome people that are LGBTQ, you need to affirm their lives,” said Craig McGee, director of Pride Myrtle Beach, in an Aug. 22 phone interview.

Adam Hayes, chair of the volunteer Human Rights Commission and volunteer with Grand Strand Pride, said Aug. 22, “I would never go there as an LGBTQ+ teen.

“It’s very disheartening to have public tax dollars go to something that does not support people for who they are, and does not truly love people for who they are.”

Chase Masters, a member of the LGBTQ community and co-owner of Lucid Coast Candle Bar in downtown Myrtle Beach, said he felt the social media feature was “frustrating.” On Aug. 16, inside his ”pop and pop” shop, Masters said after the city’s new DEI office, “It seemed like we were heading in the right direction.”

Downtown Alliance dragged feet upon learning about anti-LGBTQ stance

In an Aug. 15 phone interview, Downtown Alliance CEO Jason Greene said he didn’t know of Ground Zero’s homophobic views. Greene said he’s primarily the one who decides which organizations to feature on the Downtown Alliance’s social media, which is executed by Myrtle Beach-based Element Marketing Company. The Downtown Alliance has an estimate to pay Element Marketing Company approximately $37,000 to manage their social media for six-months and build them a new website.

The Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance has had some recent missteps with hiring a new executive director.

Greene said he would go to the Downtown Alliance’s board of directors to discuss the post. The board’s next meeting is Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce conference room at 1200 North Oak Street.

“The goal of the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance is to promote equity and inclusivity in the downtown…We believe that we should be able to promote everybody in downtown that’s serving the community,” Greene said.

The Facebook post uses the term “we” when promoting the ministry.

“I don’t think the [Downtown Alliance] or the city was aware of the extended text on Ground Zero’s webpage which staked out religious preferences,” wrote city spokesperson Mark Kruea in an Aug. 16 email.

The Downtown Alliance’s 2024 $1.5 million budget calls for $1.2 million from the City of Myrtle Beach in taxpayer dollars. The rest of the funding is also taxpayer-funded through a tax on downtown property owners.

Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune is a board member for the Downtown Alliance. The Sun News contacted her for comment starting Aug. 16. Bethune repeatedly referred questions to the Downtown Alliance and Ground Zero.

The City of Myrtle Beach also supports anti-gay ministry by leasing a building for $1 a year

For over a decade, Ground Zero, a religious organization, has received financial benefits from the City of Myrtle Beach, including $1 a year rent and free city services for their Dragon Boat Festival.

The youth ministry has a 20-year lease at the city-owned historic Rivoli Theatre, across the street from the Pavilion parking garage. Ground Zero renovated the building and in 2014, opened their doors in downtown Myrtle Beach.

In June 2011, the Myrtle Beach City Council approved Ground Zero’s $1 a year lease of the crumbling Rivoli Theatre, which the ministry was tasked with renovating, according to a lease agreement obtained by The Sun News. Kruea wrote in an email Aug. 21 that Ground Zero and the Myrtle Beach Art Museum are the city’s only tenants that have the $1 a year lease agreement.

North Carolina native Scott Payseur started Ground Zero in 1998 in northeastern Tennessee. In the mid-2000s, Payseur moved the youth ministry to Myrtle Beach, where he had previously worked. Payseur was not available for an interview at the time of publication.

On April 25, 2014, The Sun News reported that the organization had completed $1.5 million worth of renovations and repairs, according to Payseur, which he said mostly came in the form of volunteer hours and donated building materials.

The city council approved its co-sponsorship of the 2020 Dragon Boat Festival, Ground Zero’s largest fundraiser. The City of Myrtle Beach waived the stage and park rental fees, which totaled $4,500.