Prologue

As I've started this blog, my wife and I have had several conversations about what we want to come of it. My main fear is that by working on this narrative, I will keep her wound open. There are few things more dangerous than this. While one of my goals for writing this is to provide her closure, I need to make sure that I am not doing the opposite by uncovering new information and generating new concerns. That seems like a ways off for now. Prior to any real investigation, I want to begin the story with her own experience. This post will focus on that, only through my perspective.

In 1993 my wife, at the age of 2, moved with her parents to the Nashville area. Her dad worked with a drug prevention program called "Just Say No" that was created by Nancy Reagan. He traveled regularly for work speaking to schools across the country. They wanted to live somewhere that was close to an airport with a low cost of living. He would tell stories of people abusing drugs while promoting an understanding of peer pressure. Critics argued that the program did not have any clear evidence of preventing drug use among teens and young adults. The program would be shut down by Bill Clinton's administration in the following years.

Her family moved into a neighborhood in the suburb of Bellevue. Two doors down from them was a local pastor named David Foster. I am able to disclose his name because he is now deceased, much to the dismay of some very good people. He helped her family move into their house. The family was very kind and welcoming. Her parents were Christian and had been looking for a new church to attend. Foster encouraged my wife's family to attend the church he had just started that met at a local school. They held services in the gymnasium and for the most part, it was pretty humble. Attendees consisted of local musicians, creatives, and other community members that made up the Nashville suburb at the time. Over a few years the church would grow significantly, and eventually launched a campaign to construct their own building. The name would also change from Bellevue Community Church to Hope Park. If you want a frame of reference on the size of Hope Park, know that it's about to become the new high school in present day.

For context, the 90's were an interesting time for Bellevue. As people started moving to Middle Tennessee for a lower cost of living, this suburb was seen as a prime location. Foster had the capability to ride this wave and did so. People were moving and needed a church, while he had the growing community. This all happened before Bellevue took a nosedive in the 2000's with the rise of a new suburb.

With the new building, many changes came with it. David Foster became less of a pastor and more of a celebrity figure. He moved out of my wife's neighborhood into a bigger house. Remember that Bellevue's economy took a nosedive, so he wanted to live somewhere that gave him more status. Status, it seems, is very important to popular ministers. Foster became less involved with the community members. His interests shifted to writing books and speaking across the country. Instead of being a local pastor, he had a brand that he was selling. One of his books was titled "The Renegade's Guide to God" with a tagline on finding a new life outside of the conventional church. It was clear that David Foster had big things in mind that took precedence to the growing number of supporters and paid no mind to his humble beginnings. Instead of staying around after service to speak with attendees, he would immediately leave the building. Foster may have confused being in the right place at the right time with the idea that he had a gift that made him unique. I never knew him personally, so I cannot say for sure. People that heard his sermons can attest to his motivational speeches. To this day, he still has a following.

Eventually there was a split in 2002. Families who had been there a long time were beginning to see through Foster. He was making decisions that people found questionable. People also were not sure where their money was going. It was clear that Foster was doing well for himself, and he had the ego to show for it. At the same time, he had brought in an assistant pastor significantly younger than him. This assistant pastor saw the corruption and misuse of his leadership. Attendees started approach this assistant pastor and insisted that something needed to be done. He also shared a similar charisma that made Foster so popular to begin with. There was enough of a crowd that this man in his mid-20's saw an opportunity to build his own following. People thought Foster wouldn't notice, because he was too busy speaking on television and doing book tours. Then while he was on vacation, Foster announced that his assistant pastor had quit. What he didn't realize, however, is how many families would go with him.

The church Foster started began to turn against him. By 2006, the elders had seen many people leave and noticed that Foster was only choosing staff members that were subservient to him. He had become more concerned with his own career than the typical goals of a religious organization. They made the hasty decision to fire the pastor in order to save their church. Unfortunately, this would lead the demise of Bellevue Community Church/Hope Park. It wasn't because the attendees defended their pastor, though some did. It was simply too late. People had lost faith in the movement they started. Foster would start a new church, known as The Gathering, that met every Sunday in Franklin, Tennessee at the local movie theater. In 2007-08 I would drive by every morning while I was on my way to work at a sandwich shop. Little did I know, I would be writing about this over ten years later.

There is little to be said about The Gathering. His remaining followers were devoted to him. Although he still felt like a celebrity figure, it was clear that his peak days had ended. His new church would last until his untimely passing in 2012. My wife still attended his funeral, though she hadn't been a member of his church for nearly ten years. Instead, she and her family, along with many other former attendees of BCC/HP were with his former assistant at a much larger church they had started from the ground up.

The church that started as a result of Foster's success story is the true subject of this blog. Whether or not there is a correlation in the story of David Foster and this new church will also be researched in the posts that follow. My next post will look into the mind of a pastor. What caused the shift for Foster? Why did he forget what brought him to such an elevated position? Did he believe it was solely his words people were following? As I go through the narrative of my wife's megachurch experience, I'm hoping to find answers to these questions too.