LETTING HER PEOPLE GO

The ministry of best-selling author and weight-loss guru Gwen Shamblin recently reached an impassé with many of the evangelical churches that once actively promoted her highly successful Weigh Down Diet program. Shamblin experienced another setback when her publisher, Thomas Nelson, announced plans to cancel her book contract. The publisher said it was immediately stopping publication of her new book, Out of Egypt, which had been scheduled to be shipped to bookstores within days of the September announcement.

Shamblin’s woes began late last summer when apologist L.L. “Don” Veinot, of Midwest Christian Outreach, received several calls expressing uncertainty about Shamblin, including some from her employees. Veinot took a closer look at the doctrine and practice of Shamblin. His investigation uncovered her anti-Trinitarian theology, Church of Christ roots, and an exclusive notion in which she claims to be restoring New Testament Christianity.

In January 1999, Shamblin, along with her husband, founded the Remnant Fellowship, a Nashville-based church. The fellowship has about 80 members, mostly employees of Shamblin’s organization, and currently meets in a warehouse. It was stated in a Christianity Today report that, “At least 40 employees have been either fired or resigned since Jan. 1,” apparently because of their refusal to align with Shamblin’s elitist fellowship. The article, appearing on the magazine’s web site, attributed knowledge of the dismissals to “an anonymous source inside Weigh Down.”

A Baptist Press article paralleled the CT report saying “that at least 35 employees were pressured into resigning from the ministry because they would not join Shamblin’s church and two others were fired.” The BP report stated its information came from a “former high-ranking executive at Weigh Down” who also stated that, “On many occasions, Gwen had spoken to the employees during devotionals and strongly suggested that we all come and share in their worship service. The last week of my being there, it became more of a ‘you need to be there and support what we are doing or don’t take a paycheck from me.’”

One employee, Anita Pillow, told the Baptist news service, “I was told that because the direction the company was moving towards, my position was being replaced by someone who attended her Remnant Fellowship church.” Pillow added, “[Shamblin] thanked me for my hard work but said my services were no longer needed. Because I was not a member of the Remnant Fellowship, I was being replaced.” Pillow is a member of Park Avenue Baptist Church.

Amid the revelations of her heretical theology, Shamblin sought to play down her unorthodoxy. “A few people have been on a witch hunt in the last month,” she told CT. “People don’t care about this. They don’t care about the Trinity. This is going to pass. What the women want is weight loss. They care about their bodies being a temple and their lives turned over to the Lord. That’s what my ministry is about,” she said.

Shamblin says that despite the disclosure of her beliefs, she continues to receive the support of “many ministers,” from Baptists to Episcopalians.

In less than a decade, Shamblin’s diet program went from her garage to a multimillion-dollar business. Her 1997 volume, The Weigh Down Diet sold more than 1 million copies and at its apex, the ministry had 30,000 locations, including thousands of evangelical churches which hosted weekly meetings of her Weigh Down Workshops.

—MKG

© 2001 - PFO. All rights reserved by Personal Freedom Outreach. This article may not be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission. Reproduction is prohibited, except for portions intended for personal use and non-commercial purposes. For reproduction permission contact: Personal Freedom Outreach, P.O. Box 26062, Saint Louis, Missouri 63136.