Bruxy Cavey

Born in 1965, Cavey was one of five children. After his family moved to Scarborough, he was enrolled in People's Church Christian Academy. In the 1980s, Cavey participated in street evangelism. Preaching, acting out a skit, break dancing and performing art. Cavey started his own performing group, "4 Crying Out Loud!" with similar style to his street evangelism days.[1]

Cavey attended York University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. At Ontario Theological Seminary, now Tyndale University, he obtained a master's degree in theological studies. After seminary he worked for World Vision as a speaker, promoting and fundraising for the organization. In 1991, Cavey became the pastor of Heritage Fellowship Baptist Church in Ancaster after he had spoken there while promoting World Vision.[1] The church grew from under 200 to over 1100 attendees during his tenure.

Cavey was accused of sexual abuse and subsequently placed on leave of absence from his role as teaching pastor in December 2021.[11][12][13] After the conclusion of an independent investigation into his conduct, Cavey was allowed to resign on March 3, 2022.[4][14] The investigation into Cavey's conduct determined that he had sexually harassed a member of his congregation, and this started in a "pastoral counselling relationship" and lasted for "a number of years".[2][14][15] The investigation concluded that Cavey "abused his power and authority".[2][16] Cavey's pastoral credentials were also revoked by his denomination, the Be in Christ Church of Canada.[17][2] On March 19, 2022, the church announced that two more people had made allegations against Cavey.[18][19] On August 14, 2022, the church clarified that "the actions substantiated in the first investigation constitute sexual abuse by a church leader" and apologised to the first victim for not publicly identifying Cavey's abuse in March, 2022.[20] The findings of the investigations into the additional allegations provided that "two sets of claims of sexual abuse by a church leader have been substantiated" and the third claim was found to be substantiated as "sexual misconduct".[21] The investigations revealed that one of his victims was underaged when the abuse took place.[22]

On June 6, 2022, the Hamilton Police Service announced it had arrested Cavey on May 31, 2022 and charged him with Sexual Assault.[6] He was released with conditions and appeared in court June 27, 2022.[7] On August 13, 2022, a detailed account of his abuse of one of his victims was published.[23]

Cavey published a confession on his blog and has hired Megan Savard, the lawyer who represented former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard, to defend him. His trial is scheduled for February of 2024. [24]

In 2007 Cavey published his best-known book, The End of Religion. In it Cavey argues that Jesus was abolishing religion, rather than establishing a new one, and explores the implications for Christians today. In 2020 he published an updated version with five new chapters. In 2017 he published Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners.