“It’s Just an Office Space” GGIC Employee Addresses Ignite Life Center Affiliation
The Matheson History Museum unveiled their Refugee Resettlement exhibit by the Greater Gainesville International Center (GGIC) Wednesday evening.
GGIC is a trade name for the Sister Cities of Gainesville nonprofit with the goal of promoting the international community in Gainesville.
In Fall 2024, GGIC started a refugee resettlement program with the International Rescue Committee.
The exhibit was created by GGIC’s two and only employees, with narration by Sister Cities of Gainesville President Lauren Poe and art by Refugee Resettlement Treasurer Terrence Ho. Everyone else who works with GGIC is a volunteer.
Poe, who is the former mayor of Gainesville, was not present at the event.
In October 2024, GGIC/Sister Cities of Gainesville moved their principal and mailing address to Ignite Life Center (ILC) church, state business records show.
ILC has faced numerous controversies over the years, most recently, multiple arrests for child sexual abuse.
ILC pastors did not report multiple instances of child sexual abuse, according to police reports, civil lawsuits, and testimonies from former members.
The GGIC art exhibit contains a section on housing that says, “Every family is placed in temporary housing that meets strict criteria for safety, cleanliness, and comfort.”
In June 2024, ILC head pastor Mark Vega said on a live streamed sermon that he met with a “former mayor” from “greater Gainesville” about working together to house immigrants.
The move came shortly after the end of ILC’s contract with Urban Strategies to house unaccompanied immigrant minors at the church.
GGIC shut down their refugee resettlement program earlier this year following an executive order by President Donald Trump to halt refugee resettlement across the nation. However, the nonprofit remains located at ILC.
A portion of the art exhibit contains portraits of several local politicians and other prominent members of the community who contributed to the GGIC Refugee Resettlement program, among them ILC pastor Nicole Gomez.
GGIC has not addressed their partnership with ILC until now. Ho sat down with GnvInfo and answered questions about the situation in the following interview:
Q: How do you balance being an artist with your role in GGIC?
Terrence Ho: It’s the same role, so it’s pretty easy to balance. Basically I draw as I do other things.
Q: What do you do as the Refugee Resettlement Treasurer?
Terrence Ho: I am the case worker and the director; there are only two of us, so I help with all the refugee resettlement needs, but recently that’s been basically nothing because of the fact that the program is over.
Q: How long have you been a member of GGIC?
Terrence Ho: I’ve been a member since before it was GGIC.
Q: Yeah, since Sister Cities.
Terrence Ho: Yeah, since it was Sister Cities. I’ve been helping since 2016 at least, probably before, but not in official capacities.
Q: What are your main responsibilities at GGIC?
Terrence Ho: Mostly refugee resettlement and art stuff.
Q: With GGIC being a DBA under Sister Cities, does that give the GGIC Board any decision-making ability in the Sister Cities program?
Terrence Ho: I think so technically, and I don’t know how it works.
Q: Yeah.
Terrence Ho: I was on the board briefly, and I’m honestly not very interested in the board, so I honestly don’t know how it works.
Q: Is there any mention of Ignite Life Center in this exhibit?
Terrence Ho: No, in fact I’d rather not because the less identifying or —you know—revealing information to keep them safe, the better.
Q: Why did GGIC move to Ignite Life Center?
Terrence Ho: There was a space. That’s it.
Q: How has GGIC been partnering with them?
Terrence Ho: We haven’t really; we’ve just been renting a space.
Q: Well, your principal and mailing address are there.
Terrence Ho: It’s just our space. It’s just an office space.
Q: Well, I see one of the pastors [drawn on the exhibit], Nicole Gomez. I know there’s been some meetings with them. How have they been involved with the program?
Terrence Ho: Basically none at all. Like, totally seriously. I’m not giving you the runaround—
Q: Did you see when I tried to reach out to you on your drawing Instagram?
Terrence Ho: I did, and I chose not to respond.
Q: Understandable. I appreciate you addressing it now…. So they were being housed at Ignite before they found permanent housing?
Terrence Ho: Yes. I don’t know if I should—we should try to be making sure we’re doing everything we can to keep them safe.
Q: That’s what I want too.
Terrence Ho: So if we say where they were housed—we don’t have any coming right now, so we’ll probably be okay, but let’s not because I don’t wanna.
Q: When GGIC was moved to Ignite, was that something Lauren did by himself, or was it something the board members decided collectively to do?
Terrence Ho: Neither, it’s literally just an office space.
Q: Were you or the GGIC Board aware of the child sexual abuse coverups at Ignite Life Center prior to moving there?
Terrence Ho: No. I don’t know much about it now.
Q: Have you looked into it at all?
Terrence Ho: Not much.
Q: Why not?
Terrence Ho: It’s literally a space for us.
Q: Do you think it’s a good idea to have this location of GGIC—I mean, there’s multiple accusations of the pastors forming a private meeting to cover up child sexual abuse, so I don’t understand why you’d wanna work with those pastors?
Terrence Ho: We don’t.
Q: [Pointing at exhibit] One of the pastors is literally drawn right up there. Like you can see Nicole Gomez, she’s up there drawn by you, respectfully.
Terrence Ho: Yeah.
Q: According to a December 2019 post by the Alachua County Human Rights Coalition, Ignite Life Center entered partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There’s also a TracImmigration report that shows they transferred minors to and from ICE. Do you think it’s a good idea for GGIC to partner with Ignite given their past?
Terrence Ho: I don’t know anything about that. I actually literally don’t know anything about it.
Q: Alright. Do you know anything about them being protested a few years back over allegations of conversion therapy?
Terrence Ho: No. What kind of conversion?
Q: Like changing people’s sexuality….
Terrence Ho: Really?
Q: Yes, I believe they were protested back in 2018 with their Unbound conference.
Terrence Ho: They’re literally— they are a space.
Q: And formerly residence…. as you said…. How are you moving forward with Ignite Life Center?
Terrence Ho: We just have a space there.
Q: Alright, that's all the questions I have for you.
Terrence Ho: Sorry—
Q: No, that’s okay. I appreciate you addressing it.
Shortly after the interview, Ho held a Q & A with attendees.
Someone asked Ho if there were any plans to continue the refugee resettlement program. Ho said they had plans to house several more families this year until Trump’s executive order.
Terrence Ho speaks to a small crowd at the Matheson History Museum (GnvInfo)
Ho went on to describe how GGIC does not make contact with the refugees prior to their arrival because of tight security measures. He said it’s necessary because “there have been instances where people who are posing as IRC or the future resettlement people are not that and end up doing very bad things to these people.”
More information on ILC is available in the investigation below.
