Gwen Shamblin
Encyclopedia
Gwen Shamblin is an American Christian non-fiction author and leader of the Remnant Fellowship Church. The most distinctive aspect of her writing is its combination of weight loss programs with Christianity. She is married and has two children.
for five years. She also worked in the state health department for an additional five years. Before she started writing, she earned an undergraduate degree
in dietetics from University of Tennessee
, in Knoxville and then her master's degree in food
and nutrition
from the University of Memphis.
Shamblin and her husband David have been married for over 25 years and have two grown children and five grandchildren. Shamblin resides in an historic mansion known as Ashlawn built in the early 1800s in Brentwood, Tennessee. Her husband has become overweight and no longer attends the church he founded with her.
The popularity of Shamblin's teaching resulted in appearances on CNN's Larry King Live
, BBC
, 20/20, The View, as well as in such magazines as Good Housekeeping
and Woman’s Day. Participants were not only losing weight while eating regular foods, but they were using the same Bible-based principles to turn away from other addictions such as smoking and alcohol abuse.
Shamblin has developed seven different seminars over the past two decades through Weigh Down. These seminars teach people "how to transfer a relationship with food over to a loving relationship toward God."
Shamblin teaches that there are two very different needs in each person: a need for food and an emotional need. According to Shamblin, people should only eat when they feel real, physical hunger and stop when full; prayer and Bible reading will fill emotional needs instead of food. Overeating is equated with greed. A core principle of the Weigh Down Diet, when people feel an urge to snack but are not experiencing true physiological "hunger"
, Shamblin encourages participants to read the Bible instead.
" DaySide
, and The Early Show
. Participants from the Weigh Down Workshop have been featured on the cover of Good Housekeeping
, in the Ladies' Home Journal
, in People Magazine, First magazine, Quick and Simple, and in numerous newspaper articles.In 2007, The Tyra Banks Show
devoted an hour long program to Shamblin, the Weigh Down Workshop, the Fellowship and participants from Weigh Down programs.
In 2009, Shamblin and Weigh Down Ministries were featured on such television programs as WeTV’s Secret Lives of Women, The Insider, and MBC-TV’s Morning Show.
Shamblin was also written about in the book Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment by Janet Heimlich (ISBN 161614405X). The author wrote about Shamblin's interaction and discussion with Sonya Smith regarding disciplining their child which "seemed to forshadow the tradegy" of the murder of that child by church members Joseph and Sonya Smith.
9:8-9, which mentions a "faithful remnant" of followers. According to the church's website, it currently has over 100 locations worldwide. The church was started in 1999 in Brentwood, Tennessee.
In a 2001 interview with The New Yorker
, Shamblin stated that she felt called by God to start Remnant Fellowship after noticing that some users of the Weigh Down program were beginning to gain back their weight. This led her to theorize that the mainstream Protestant doctrine of "Eternal Security" leads some people to believe they have a license to sin.
was not Biblical. Shamblin made it clear that she believes Jesus Christ is not God but rather God's son http://www.trinitycontroversy.com. This led Thomas Nelson Publishers to cancel the publication of Exodus, her next work. In a letter to her followers sent to clarify her position on the Trinity, Shamblin wrote: "The reason all of this is important is that if you do not understand that God is the clear authority and that Jesus was under God's authority, then you will not have a clear picture of what it means to be Christ like. Jesus suffered, obeyed, submitted, denied his will, and made it his food to do the will of the Father." Later Shamblin writes, "I believe that Jesus and God are two separate beings." She also says that she does not believe that Jesus and God are equal in power and glory.
Martinez continued in his claims, causing Shamblin and Tedd Anger (a leader of Shamblin's church) to file a second suit against him. On March 22, 2010, this suit was heard in Williamson County Circuit Court in Tennessee. The judge granted the defense's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit. Shamblin and Anger appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Case No. M2010-00974-COA-R3-CV, and in an opinion filed April 13, 2011, the dismissal was affirmed: "This defamation action arises out of the publication of a statement to an internet website. The trial court held that plaintiffs were unable to show actual malice in order to sustain defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims and granted summary judgment to the defendant. Finding no error, we affirm."
Early years
According to her website, Shamblin is a registered dietitian, consultant, and was an instructor of food and nutrition at the University of MemphisUniversity of Memphis
The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....
for five years. She also worked in the state health department for an additional five years. Before she started writing, she earned an undergraduate degree
Undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
in dietetics from University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, in Knoxville and then her master's degree in food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
and nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
from the University of Memphis.
Shamblin and her husband David have been married for over 25 years and have two grown children and five grandchildren. Shamblin resides in an historic mansion known as Ashlawn built in the early 1800s in Brentwood, Tennessee. Her husband has become overweight and no longer attends the church he founded with her.
Weigh Down Workshop
Shamblin began her consulting practice in the area of weight control in 1980. She later became "convinced that genetics, metabolism and behavior modification alone couldn't explain why some people were thin and others battled the bulge”. In 1986, she founded the Weigh Down Workshop. Initially offered through audiotapes and small classes in a retail setting, the workshop was offered in 1,800 churches in the United States by May 1995. By August of 1998, Weigh Down was holding more than 21,000 classes with over 250,000 participants worldwide. Weigh Down eventually held classes in all fifty states and every continent with over 1 million participants becoming “one of the most popular weight-loss programs in the world” by mid-2000.The popularity of Shamblin's teaching resulted in appearances on CNN's Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 20/20, The View, as well as in such magazines as Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
and Woman’s Day. Participants were not only losing weight while eating regular foods, but they were using the same Bible-based principles to turn away from other addictions such as smoking and alcohol abuse.
Shamblin has developed seven different seminars over the past two decades through Weigh Down. These seminars teach people "how to transfer a relationship with food over to a loving relationship toward God."
The Weigh Down diet
Shamblin is the author of The Weigh Down Diet (ISBN 0-385-49324-X). First published in 1997, this diet advises using spirituality to avoid overeating and has sold more than 1.2 million copies. Since that time she has written Rise Above (ISBN 0-7852-6876-6), a devotional book called Exodus (ISBN 1-892729-00-8) and most recently in 2007 The Legend to The Treasure (ISBN 1-892729-80-6).Shamblin teaches that there are two very different needs in each person: a need for food and an emotional need. According to Shamblin, people should only eat when they feel real, physical hunger and stop when full; prayer and Bible reading will fill emotional needs instead of food. Overeating is equated with greed. A core principle of the Weigh Down Diet, when people feel an urge to snack but are not experiencing true physiological "hunger"
Hunger
Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.-Malnutrition, famine, starvation:...
, Shamblin encourages participants to read the Bible instead.
Television, magazine and news media appearances
Shamblin has been featured on The Today Show, CNN's "Larry King LiveLarry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
" DaySide
DaySide
DaySide was an American news/talk show on the Fox News Channel, which aired weekdays at 1:00 p.m. ET. Unlike most news channel programs, it had an live audience giving reaction throughout the program, similar to the CNN show TalkBack Live....
, and The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
. Participants from the Weigh Down Workshop have been featured on the cover of Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, in the Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
, in People Magazine, First magazine, Quick and Simple, and in numerous newspaper articles.In 2007, The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
devoted an hour long program to Shamblin, the Weigh Down Workshop, the Fellowship and participants from Weigh Down programs.
In 2009, Shamblin and Weigh Down Ministries were featured on such television programs as WeTV’s Secret Lives of Women, The Insider, and MBC-TV’s Morning Show.
Shamblin was also written about in the book Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment by Janet Heimlich (ISBN 161614405X). The author wrote about Shamblin's interaction and discussion with Sonya Smith regarding disciplining their child which "seemed to forshadow the tradegy" of the murder of that child by church members Joseph and Sonya Smith.
Remnant Fellowship Church
Shamblin is a leader in and a founder of the Remnant Fellowship Church. Remnant Fellowship members believe the path they follow is the only true path. Church members are encouraged to not engage in behavior that goes against biblical teachings. The church takes its name from the Book of EzraBook of Ezra
The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era...
9:8-9, which mentions a "faithful remnant" of followers. According to the church's website, it currently has over 100 locations worldwide. The church was started in 1999 in Brentwood, Tennessee.
In a 2001 interview with The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Shamblin stated that she felt called by God to start Remnant Fellowship after noticing that some users of the Weigh Down program were beginning to gain back their weight. This led her to theorize that the mainstream Protestant doctrine of "Eternal Security" leads some people to believe they have a license to sin.
Books
- The Weigh Down Diet (1997), ISBN 0-385-49324-X
- Rise Above (2000), ISBN 0-7852-6876-6
- Exodus Devotional Book (2006), ISBN 1-892729-00-8
- "Exodus Devotional: The True Vine" (2006), ISBN 1-892729-08-3
- The Legend to The Treasure (2007), ISBN 1-892729-80-6
Children's books
- "A to Zion" (2008) ISBN 1-892729-00-8
- "In the Beginning" (2010) ISBN 1-892729-11-3
Seminars
- Exodus Out of Egypt (1992)
- Feasting on the Will of the Father (1993)
- Rising Above the Pull of the Refrigerator (1996)
- Finding the Buried Keys (1996)
- Set Free from Eating Disorders (1999), ISBN 1-892729-61-x
- Weigh Down at Home Series (1999)
- Feeding Children Physically & Spiritually (1999)
- Exodus From Strongholds (1998), ISBN 1-892729-08-3
- Weigh Down Advanced (2001)
- The Last Exodus (2003)
- El Ultimo Exodo (2003)
- Exodus Out of Egypt: The Change Series (2005)
- The Legend to The Treasure (2007)
- Breakthrough (2008), ISBN 1-892729-04-0
- Weigh Down Basics (2010), ISBN 1-892729-10-5
Diet principles
Other dietitians have questioned the soundness of Shamblin's diet advice, which focuses on faith instead of healthy eating habits or exercise. In the book Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (ISBN 0520242408), author Marie Griffith, a Princeton associate professor of religion, examines the trend of religion-based dieting. Although critical of Shamblin for using the Christianity label while building her business, Griffith credits Shamblin for the new wave of interest in creating "a more holy body", and substantial sections of the work examine Shamblin's movement. Griffith notes, "In Shamblin's world, people who don't lose weight often feel like failures. If they don't lose weight, it's a failure of discipline; it's a failure of obedience." At the same time, Griffith's work places Shamblin's movement squarely within a historical tradition of perfecting one's body in order to be more Christ-like, or fasting and dieting in order to feel closer to God.Religious beliefs
Shamblin's weight loss programs were initially very well received within Christian churches. Tens of thousands of churches in many different denominations used her materials to teach her faith-based weight loss program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Controversy arose when she began to teach that the doctrine of the TrinityTrinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
was not Biblical. Shamblin made it clear that she believes Jesus Christ is not God but rather God's son http://www.trinitycontroversy.com. This led Thomas Nelson Publishers to cancel the publication of Exodus, her next work. In a letter to her followers sent to clarify her position on the Trinity, Shamblin wrote: "The reason all of this is important is that if you do not understand that God is the clear authority and that Jesus was under God's authority, then you will not have a clear picture of what it means to be Christ like. Jesus suffered, obeyed, submitted, denied his will, and made it his food to do the will of the Father." Later Shamblin writes, "I believe that Jesus and God are two separate beings." She also says that she does not believe that Jesus and God are equal in power and glory.
News channel 5 report
In 2001, NewsChannel 5, a local Nashville news station, aired a story entitled, "Is it a ministry or just big business?" looking into how Weigh Down Workshop’s money was spent. The interview ended with Shamblin stating that "this money -- half of it goes to the government, the other half goes to keep it going so someone else can be helped."..."She says she would sell her belongings to keep the ministry going." The article states that Weigh Down meets in 30,000 groups across the country, and one participant interviewed claims to have lost 196 pounds through the program. The Weigh Down Workshop has since been donated by the Shamblins and has become a non-profit, tax-deductible ministry within Remnant Fellowship, which is a registered 501c3 with the IRS.Employee lawsuits
In 2000, Shamblin began to advocate specific ideas about Christian theology and began to form her own church. During this time, four former employees of the Weigh Down Workshop sued Shamblin on the grounds of religious discrimination. These employee lawsuits were settled out of court, and as part of the settlement the exact amount of proceeds generated by the for-profit Weigh Down workshop were sealed.Libel suits filed against Remnant Fellowship critics
There have been two cases where Shamblin and other Remnant Fellowship church members have filed libel suits against critics. The first was a libel suit suing for a sum of 3.3 million dollars. It was filed by 67 members of Remnant Fellowship, including Shamblin, against two separate parties: an anonymous blogger and Rafael Martinez. An anonymous blogger posted criticism of Shamblin and her church. One of the statements implied that two Remnant Fellowship members who were indicted for beating their eight-year old son to death had relied on advice from "Remnant leadership." Other statements detailed the prices paid by Shamblin for properties she owned along with private information about the church members on his website. Martinez, a vocal critic of Remnant Fellowship, claimed Shamblin was leading a cult. After being threatened with a 3.3 million dollar lawsuit, the blogger recanted and posted an apology on his site. Martinez never changed his stance or changed any material on his website critical of Gwen so the trial went on. Martinez moved to dismiss the claim against him in January 2007. At the first hearing on April 4, 2007, the judge granted Martinez's motion concluding "the Plantiffs' Complaint does not sufficiently state a claim for defamation" to which the judge gave the plaintiffs 15 days to amend their complaint. Rather than amending, the plantiffs withdrew the suit.Martinez continued in his claims, causing Shamblin and Tedd Anger (a leader of Shamblin's church) to file a second suit against him. On March 22, 2010, this suit was heard in Williamson County Circuit Court in Tennessee. The judge granted the defense's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit. Shamblin and Anger appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Case No. M2010-00974-COA-R3-CV, and in an opinion filed April 13, 2011, the dismissal was affirmed: "This defamation action arises out of the publication of a statement to an internet website. The trial court held that plaintiffs were unable to show actual malice in order to sustain defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims and granted summary judgment to the defendant. Finding no error, we affirm."
External links
- Gwen Shamblin Website link retrieved 08/23/2009
- Remnant Fellowship Church Website link retrieved 01/16/2010