Gwen Shamblin Lara

Gwen Shamblin Lara (February 18, 1955 – May 29, 2021) was an American author, founder of the Christian diet program The Weigh Down Workshop and founder of the Remnant Fellowship.

Gwendolyn Henley Shamblin Lara
Lara in 2018
Born(1955-02-18)February 18, 1955
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedMay 29, 2021(2021-05-29) (aged 66)
Percy Priest Lake, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupations
  • Author
  • Dietitian
Spouses
David Shamblin
​
​
(m. 1978; div. 2018)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2018; died 2021)​
    Children2[1][2]
    Writing career
    EducationUniversity of Tennessee
    Memphis State University
    Genre
    Website
    www.gwenshamblinlara.com

    She is the subject of the 2021 HBO Max docuseries, The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. She is portrayed by actress Jennifer Grey in the Lifetime movie, Starving for Salvation.

    Early life

    Lara earned an undergraduate degree in dietetics and a master's degree in food and nutrition with an emphasis in biochemistry from University of Tennessee, in Knoxville.[3][4] She was a registered dietitian, consultant and a faculty member at Memphis State University for five years.[5][6] She also worked in the city's Tennessee Department of Health for five years.[4] Lara was raised in a Church of Christ family.[7][8] She had two children and seven grandchildren.[9][10]

    Career and ministry

    Weigh Down Workshop

    Lara began a weight control consulting practice in 1980.[6] She had struggled with her weight in college.[11] She counseled that genetics, metabolism, and behavior modification did not explain why some people were thin while others were overweight.[12] Lara founded the Weigh Down Workshop, a weight-loss program with no food restrictions, exercise regimens, weigh-ins, or calorie-counting in 1986.[13][14][15][16]

    Some experts expressed concern that the program eliminated exercise and guidance on food selection as recommended by the American Dietetic Association.[17]

    Lara developed Weigh Down Workshop while working on her master's degree at Memphis State University.[18] As part of a counseling center, Lara hosted the first class in a mall in Memphis, Tennessee.[19][20] The program was offered as small classes in retail and non-religious settings.[21][22] She began hosting the program at Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis in the 1990s.[13][14][23] The program consisted of 12-week seminars guided by video and audio tapes featuring Lara.[24][25]

    The program was offered in about 600 churches in 35 U.S. states by 1994.[12] The program was in more than 1,000 churches in 49 states, Great Britain and Canada by January 1995.[15] The program had grown to about 5,000 churches, with about 10 percent located in Lara's home state of Tennessee, by July 1996.[26] Approximately eight churches in Britain were hosting workshops in December 1996.[27] Some participants in the U.S. hosted meetings in their homes.[13]

    In 1996, Weigh Down Workshop had a staff of 40 and built a headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and Lara began hosting an annual summer convention, Desert Oasis, in the Nashville area.[14][28]

    Weigh Down Workshop hosted more than 21,000 classes with more than 250,000 participants worldwide by August 1998.[29] Classes were hosted in every U.S. state and in Canada and Europe.[14][30]

    Lara was criticized for using the Christianity label while building her business.[31] In 2001, Nashville CBS affiliate WTVF investigated how Weigh Down Workshop leaders spent money. Lara said half the proceeds from Weigh Down Workshop were paid as taxes and the other half were put back into the program.[32]

    Remnant Fellowship Church

    Shamblin founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Franklin, Tennessee in 1999.[10] The church's building was completed in 2004 on 40 acres Lara purchased in Brentwood, Tennessee.[10][33][34]

    Shamblin had preached that members should give their money to the Remnant Fellowship church, the only true church, and that all other churches were fraudulent. Upon her death in 2021, it was found that Shamblin's will left none of her multimillion-dollar fortune to the church.[35]

    Writings

    Shamblin published The Weigh Down Diet, a book that advised readers to use spirituality to avoid overeating, in 1997. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies.[36][37][38] The Weigh Down Diet teaches the love of food should be transferred to a love of God, and to cut food portions in half and eat only when hungry.[39]

    Shamblin wrote Rise Above, (2000) and Exodus Devotional (2002).[40][41]

    Shamblin sent an email to her followers saying that she believed that the doctrine of the Trinity was not biblical on August 10, 2000. In response, some evangelical churches dropped her program, Thomas Nelson Publishers canceled the publication of her next book, she was removed from the Women of Faith website and some employees left her staff.[7]

    Accusations of abuse

    A 2021 HBO Max 5-part docuseries The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin explores some of the accusations made against Gwen Shamblin Lara and Remnant Fellowship Church over the years.

    Joseph and Sonya Smith were adherents of Shamblin and had an eight year old son, Josef. Sonya and Joseph routinely disciplined Josef by beating him with foot-long glue sticks,[42] belts, and heated coat hangers; locking him in confined spaces for extended periods of time; and tying his hands with rope. Mrs. Smith told police that she “normally” gave the children their whippings in increments of ten blows each and that Josef had gotten several of those whipping sessions on the day of his death. The police reported that the Smiths locked Josef in his room to pray to a picture of Jesus on the ceiling and in a closet for days and even weeks. He was given only a bucket for a toilet. An older son sometimes held Josef down while the parents beat him with implements.

    During the day on October 8, 2003, Joseph disciplined Josef several times, striking him repeatedly with a glue stick. County medical examiners concluded that eight-year-old Josef Smith died as a result of "acute and chronic" abuse. Members of the Remnant Church led by Shamblin paid for the defense of the Smiths. They were convicted in Georgia v. Smith. After being convicted, the Smiths were then sentenced on March 27, 2007, to life plus 30 years in prison, the maximum punishment, by Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford.[43]

    Personal life

    In 1978 she married David Shamblin, with whom she would have two children, Michelle Elizabeth Hannah and Michael Gordon Shamblin. In 2018 Shamblin filed for divorce and married Joe Lara.[44]

    Lara lived with her husband in Ashlawn, a historic mansion in Brentwood, Tennessee that was built in 1838.[45][46]

    Death
    Main article: 2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash

    Her husband Joe Lara, who was the sole pilot of the airplane that killed all onboard including Lara, her son-in-law Brandon Hannah, and two more couples were killed when her 1982 Cessna Citation 501 private jet, bound for Palm Beach, Florida, crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna, Tennessee, shortly after takeoff on May 29, 2021.[47][48]

    The NTSB final report found that the airplane crash was a result of pilot error, and that pilot Joe Lara had spatial disorientation.

    Selected works

    Books
    • The Weigh Down Diet. Doubleday. 1997. ISBN 9780385487627.
    • Exodus: Daily Devotional. Weigh Down Workshop. 1998. ISBN 9781892729002.
    • Rise Above: God Can Set You Free from Your Weight Problems Forever. Thomas Nelson. 2000. ISBN 9780785268765.
    • Out of Egypt: Inspiration for Conquering Life's Strongholds. Thomas Nelson. 2000. ISBN 9780785268499.
    • The Legend to the Treasure. Weigh Down Workshop. 2007. ISBN 9781892729804.
    • Weigh Down Basics: Workbook. Weigh Down Workshop. 2012. ISBN 9781892729132.
    • History of the One True God Workbook: Volume 1: the Origin of Good and Evil. Weigh Down Workshop. 2013. ISBN 9781892729170.
    • History of the Love of God: Volume II: A Love More Ancient Than Time. Weigh Down Ministries. 2015. ISBN 9781892729262.

    Other media
    • Exodus out of Egypt: weigh down workshop, Weigh Down Workshop, 1992, OCLC 42869110
    • Rising above: the magnetic pull of the refrigerator, Weigh Down Workshop, Inc., 1992, OCLC 42414509
    • Exodus from strongholds, Weigh Down Workshop, 1998, ISBN 1892729075, OCLC 51290468

    References
    1. "michaelshamblin.com". michaelshamblin.com. Archived from the original on June 25, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
    2. "gwenshamblinbooks.com". gwenshamblinbooks.com.
    3. "Williamson County Local Authors". Williamson County Library. Archived from the original on January 31, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
    4. Thorp, Lori Frazer (January 8, 1998). "Frazee woman shares personal weight loss story". Frazee Forum.
    5. Gang, Christine Arpe (April 13, 1988). "Unorthodox diet plan targeted at teens". Longview News-Journal. p. 4C. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    6. "Heart & Soul: An interview with Gwen Shamblin, founder of the Weigh Down Workshop". Murfreesboro Matters. Vol. 1, no. 3. February 1999. p. 3.
    7. Kennedy, John W. (September 11, 2000). "Thomas Nelson pulls plug on Gwen Shamblin's book". Retrieved July 22, 2019.
    8. White, Gaule (March 31, 1997). "Dieting religiously". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 3C. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    9. Ieron, Julie-Allyson (January 2000). "Women of the Year: Gwen Shamblin". Clarity Magazine.
    10. "remnantfellowship.org". remnantfellowship.org. September 17, 2020.
    11. Hull, Dana (May 17, 1997). "Dieters putting their faith in sustenance of the spirit". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    12. Spencer, Paula (November 22, 1994). "Divine Intervention". Woman's Day. pp. 76, 78.
    13. Waddle, Ray (February 27, 1994). "Churchgoers leaning on God to shed their unwanted pounds". The Tennessean. p. 2A. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    14. Waddle, Ray (July 3, 1996). "Weigh Down transfers love for food into love for God". The Tennessean. pp. 1B–2B. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    15. Associated Press (January 3, 1995). "God is focus of weight-loss program". Battle Creek Enquirer. p. 4A. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    16. Whyche, Stephanie (October 9, 1995). "The Weigh to the Lite". The News Journal. pp. C1, C4. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    17. Quigley, Linda (March 1, 1997). "Praying away the pounds". The Tennessean. pp. 1D, 4D. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    18. Kleczynski, Jennifer Coleridge (April 21, 1995). "Program helps dieters succeed". Strictly Hunterdon. The Courier-News. p. 5. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    19. "Dieters seek help in religion". The News Journal. April 13, 1997. pp. J1, J7. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    20. Bell, Bill (June 17, 1998). "The wages of thin: By putting grace before meals, Christian diet programs are reshaping lives". Daily News. New York. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    21. Graham, Jennifer (December 7, 1994). "Weight-loss disciples are shedding the extra pounds through prayer". Democrat and Chronicle. pp. 1C, 6C. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    22. Wells, Valerie (May 6, 1995). "Weighty matters". Herald and Review. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    23. Hill, Laura (February 10, 1998). "In God's own image". The Tennessean. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    24. Johnson II, Lucas L. (July 18, 1996). "Faith helps some people lower weight way down". Greensboro News & Record. Associated Press. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    25. Rosenfeld, Megan (January 23, 1995). "Dieting with Jesus". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    26. Associated Press (July 26, 1996). "Program urges people to turn to God to shed pounds". The Daily Spectrum. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    27. Brooks, Richard (December 29, 1996). "The divine diet". The Observer. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    28. De La Cruz, Jessi (March 19, 1999). "Heavenly help". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    29. Lauerman, Connie (August 20, 1998). "Christian Diet Programs: Nourishing The Spirit Is The Key To Slimming Down The Body". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    30. "Random House". Retrieved February 11, 2010.
    31. Griffith, R. Marie (October 4, 2004). Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520938113.
    32. "Part 1: Is it a ministry or just big business?". NewsChannel5.com. July 1, 2001. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
    33. "Gwen Shamblin on the Remnant Fellowship Church Construction" – via YouTube.
    34. "Gwen Shamblin on the Remnant Fellowship Church Construction" – via YouTube.
    35. "Gwen Shamblin's will, potentially worth millions, leaves nothing to her Remnant Fellowship church". October 28, 2021.
    36. Booth, Claire (March 14, 1997). "Dietitian says God, not food fills void". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. p. 2D. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    37. Stein, Joel (October 24, 1999). "The Low-Carb Diet Craze". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    38. Shamblin, Gwen (1997). The Weigh down Diet : The Inspirational Way to Lose Weight, Stay Slim and Find a New You. The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group (published February 1997). ISBN 9780385487627. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
    39. Mulrine, Anna (April 27, 1997). "A Godly Approach to Weight Loss". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2007.
    40. Shamblin, Gwen (2000). Rise Above. Thomas Nelson Publishers (published January 1, 2000). ISBN 9780785268765. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
    41. Lara, Gwen Shamblin (January 1, 2001). Exodus Devotional Volume One (1st ed.). Remnant Publishing. ISBN 9781892729774.
    42. Pordum, Matt (February 9, 2007). "Prosecutor says religious parents punished their 8-year-old son to death". Court TV News. Court TV. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
    43. "Smith v. State, 703 S.E.2d 629 – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
    44. "About". Gwen Shamblin. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
    45. McCampbell, Candy (March 11, 1996). "You could've had it, for $2.3 million". The Tennessean. p. 1E. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
    46. "Ashlawn". City of Brentwood. Archived from the original on June 21, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
    47. "Plane crashes into Percy Priest Lake; Christian diet guru Gwen Shamblin Lara, 6 others on board, church says". WTVF-TV. May 29, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
    48. Romero, Dennis (May 30, 2021). "Diet guru Gwen Lara, husband actor Joe Lara among seven killed in plane crash". NBC News.
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