A year after Gwen Shamblin Lara's death, her presence looms large at Remnant Fellowship
Gwen Shamblin Lara founded Remnant Fellowship after the success of her Weigh Down Workshop weightloss program. A year after her death, her presence is still heavily felt as the church recovers.
A year has passed since Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, lost several leaders in a plane crash. And questions still remain regarding the church's future after the death of its charismatic, controversial founder, Gwen Shamblin Lara.
Lara, known for her Weigh Down Workshop Christian diet program, died alongside her husband, Joe, who piloted the small Cessna jet, as well as her son-in-law and two other couples after the Florida-bound aircraft crashed into a lake near Nashville.
The sudden passing of several church leaders itself caused disbelief and trauma among the congregation, but that was further complicated by the fact that Lara ran a personality-based ministry, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School.