Singer Amy Grant Reaches Settlement In Battle Over Nashville Church
Six-time Grammy winner Amy Grant, who gained much of her notoriety through her Christian songs, has agreed to a legal settlement about a church founded by her great-grandfather in downtown Nashville, Tenn., according to the Wall Street Journal.
The boarded-up red brick building, now worth at least $11 million, served for decades as the Central Church of Christ, founded in 1925 by A.M. Burton. During its heyday, the church was involved in providing housing, daycare, food, and a free library in addition to its worship services.
Burton’s sermons were broadcast through a radio station that he founded.
He died when Grant was just 5 years old, but his life “cast a beautiful shadow” over her life, she told the newspaper.
The church had deed restrictions that required the building to operate as a church, or it would revert to the Burton estate.
Through the mid-2010s, Central Church of Christ continued to have generous revenue that it garnered from two adjacent downtown parking lots, resulting in $3 million in the bank.
Despite its hefty bank account, its membership dwindled to a few dozen people, most of them elderly.
Introducing Shawn Mathis
In 2018, businessman Shawn Mathis is alleged to have seized control of the church and its assets, renamed it Nashville Church of Christ, and launched an online ministry. However, he didn’t hold church services in the building.
Mathis’s lawyer claimed the church was engaged in mission work supporting Church of Christ congregations around the world via online ministry.
Andy Burton, Grant’s cousin, said he heard from a friend in 2018 that “people [were] kind of being chased away” from Central Church of Christ. He checked on the building and found it boarded up and the new sign for Nashville Church of Christ.
Mathis told the the Wall Street Journal the congregation voted to adopt a resolution converting to Nashville Church of Christ, a nonprofit corporation.
Howell Townes, a long-time member of Central Church of Christ, welcomed Mathis when he came on board in 2017, telling the newspaper that Mathis impressed congregants with his credentials and connections.
He said Mathis began inquiring about church finances and was eager to become an elder. It wasn’t long before Mathis had control of the board, Townes said.
Court battle
In 2019, Grant and other Burton descendants hired an attorney to investigate Mathis and his takeover of the church. The renamed church then sued Grant to invalidate the deed restrictions.
The court documents asserted that Mathis pushed out longtime members and installed a handful of supporters to gain control of the church — a process that Burton’s descendants called “steeple-jacking.”
The case settlement requires that the building must be sold at fair market value with 80% of the proceeds going to the Burton family and the Mathis side receiving 20%.
Mathis “made the strategic decision to settle the very narrow litigation relation to certain deed restrictions,” his lawyer told the Wall Street Journal, and will use the proceeds to support global mission efforts.
Grant told the newspaper she has been in talks with groups and philanthropists about setting up a large center to assist homeless persons in downtown Nashville.
“It would be amazing to have a downtown location for that,” she said. “We sure need it.”
About $600,000 in back taxes are owed on the property, and those will be divided between the parties with the Burton descendants paying $50,000 and the Mathis group paying the remainder.
Townes told the Wall Street Journal he was disappointed the Mathis group will receive any proceeds.
“He’s getting paid extremely well for shutting down the Lord’s church in downtown Nashville,” Townes told the newspaper.
The state attorney general’s office is also conducting an investigation into the Nashville Church of Christ finances. Last year, it filed a civil lawsuit against the church for improperly commingling missionary funds with other money. Mathis denies any wrongdoing.
This article was originally published at MinistryWatch.
Kim Roberts is a freelance writer who holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from Baylor University and an undergraduate degree in government from Angelo State University. She has three young adult children who were home schooled and is happily married to her husband of 28 years.