Church of Scientology of Celebrity Central Nashville

We ventured out to the world of Scientology today, visiting the Church of Scientology of Celebrity Centre Nashville. Located on 8th Ave, this old building is only old on the outside--you step inside into a world of high-tech video museums and a large business....I mean church. Impressive.

Nathan's View: Ok...so the last few blog postings I have bashed the Business of the Church. It tends to be that nasty little hidden agenda that every church has a sermon around and no one wants to talk about... until I visited the Church of Scientology. The history and background of Scientology I will let Ashley or Melissa explain or I will leave it up to the plethora of readers to research for yourselves. The concept and principles that are at the root of Scientology I generally agree with. The message is one of awareness, enlightenment, and support/respect for everything around you. It is a place where you can find healing and support to better yourself. It seemed to be a strange blend of the body, soul, God, faith, and eternity, all wrapped up in psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, business is business, and from the minute I entered to the minute I left I felt like I was in an infomercial...or better yet...at a time share pitch where you are lured in with the hopes of leaving with free tickets to a dolphin tour and instead you find yourself with a pocket full of debt and a "free" week at the beach. It was kind of like that except the product was happiness, and the classes and books were the tools to happiness. But all this joy is not free my friends, it comes with a price and Scientologist recognize that. The employees (that should be your first hint) dressed in black suits, white shirts, and red ties or scarves and they followed you around to show the different modules which played on flat screens throughout this renovated building. The business structure, which they openly shared with us, was similar to that of a multi level marketing firm. There were different levels but as soon as you got someone to join, you were a member and they were under you (I can only assume that the revenue stream you receive as an employee is directly related to how many people you have under you) And what is the engine that seemed to run the institution you might ask? Classes and lectures written by their leader...L. Ron Hubbard. The one with all the answers...and a ridiculously fantastic business mind in my opinion. The trick was to get you in by taking a personality test to determine which areas of your life you are struggling with. Then they would isolate those issues through the use of a device (which we tried and didn't work the way they said it would but they kept saying "see it moved a little bit!") that measures stress. From there you are given a list of classes that you can take to better that area in your life and if that does not clear it up...then someone is there to push you toward another class...all the while you are paying good money for these products. Now before you go throwing the word cult around remember, the same structure is within the church...we just don't always recognize that when we are new and are asked to volunteer as greeters for the church or work an activities table we are doing the same thing...the only difference is Scientologist have their price tag in the open, the church usually doesn't. The bottom line for me was the church of Scientology is a business just like any other...they have definitely kicked it up a few notches in the weird and uncomfortable factor...but they are a business never the less. What is odd is it IS structured as a church and the genius flaw of Scientology from my perspective. Genius because of the tax benefits I am sure they receive for operating under a non profit structure. A flaw for the fact that they are lumped into the same social expectations of a church and as a result are typically ridiculed for their practices and seemingly cultish approaches. The bottom line is the church of Scientology was so upfront with their eagerness to get us enrolled in a class that I was not sure if I should appreciate their honesty or ridicule it. For me I am still digesting the entire experience, but it is an experience I am glad I had...


Ashley's View:
I was truly fascinated by this whole experience. Nathan's already addressed the cynical business side, so I'm going to give you the positive perspective. Let me say that if Scientology were presented as a school instead of a religion, I'd be all over it. Honestly, like Nathan stated, it's a successful business model--and unlike every Protestant church I've been to, not once did they ever ask for donations. I love that. It's not about handouts--they have created a business out of it, and it's widely successful. I'm not sure what I think about that--if that's a good or bad thing to incorporate into religion. I mean, I strongly believe that the church needs to understand the business-side of things--it's what gives me a bad taste about church-always pulling on heartstrings to support them, and completely lost in the business world. So I appreciate that. But...for Scientology it was so skilled at the business side, and the intellectual/teaching side, that it lacked the spiritual side. No wait--the God part. Spiritual/emotional I can see, but the God part was pretty distant.

I could address so many areas of Scientology. It really fascinates me, and I think it's because I have grown up learning from all these motivational speakers like Zig Ziglar about the power of positive thinking. I believe strongly that we are in charge of our attitudes, and that our minds are way more powerful than just understanding your ABCs. Scientology really addresses this aspect. It encompasses the mind/body/soul aspect (although mind/body is more of what I saw an the soul part...).

I have to talk about the "exercise" they did during service. We spent 30 minutes doing a visualization thing. Wow--how do I explain it?? It was like "Simon Says"--"Think about that back wall. Now think about touching that wall. Don't do it, just decide to do it. Now decide to touch the wall. Once you have fully made that decision, get up and do it. Now touch it like you aren't letting go. Now decide to let go. Now actually let go." This went on forever. At first it was weird. At the end it was enough already. But in the middle, it really hit me on what it was all about. It's again, about the power of our minds. That we make conscious decisions on every move we make--and it's a threefold process. We decide we will do something. Then we actually act and do it. Then we decide how it will affect us. The process of going through it for the trivial things, like a wall at a church, makes it easier to understand it when we have to deal with the more difficult things, like personal relationships. I really appreciated that. Not quite as much as our tour guide, who giggled and squealed like a little school girl through the process, but I appreciated the goal nonetheless.

All in all, if Scientology were on the intellectual/motivational realm and not under the stigma of religion, I'd be all about promoting it. The religious side is the only part I don't fully agree with...although they swear LRH is not a god, every sermon, every book, every breath is directed by him. I think this is a lot of where the cultish assumption comes from. I'm intrigued and I want to go back and see the videos. But I don't want to make it my religion. I love that they did call God the "Author of the Universe" and other beautiful terms. I love that they truly embrace every element of life--respecting yourselves, others, the environment/world...I love that this was the most open place we've been to with welcoming us (although I was a little wary of their hidden MLM agenda)...but to switch to Scientology...I'm not sold on that as a religion.


Melissa's View:
Well, I have been procrastinating writing because I didn’t know how to put into words what I experienced. I am an emotional writer and have been a little hesitant to know exactly how to put that on paper. I guess I would sum it up in one statement….”crazier than shit house rats!” I could leave it at that, but I know many will question, so I will do my best to explain! I think the fact that they have called themselves a “church” has really messed with my head. If you told me you wanted to take me to a museum and we would be learning how to listen to our bodies and would be bettering myself and the world around me, I think I would really enjoy it. But the whole point of this faith tour is to experience new religions and I have no idea how this is a religion…other than depending solely on one’s self.
I was a little nervous as we walked in and led to a hallway to wait for the service to start. As soon as we walked in the hall, they closed the doors to the “sanctuary” …all I could see inside before the door closed was round tables and people with black coats all dressed alike. Nate and I looked at each other thinking, what the hell did we just get into! A girl greeted us and took us on a tour of the “church” where we watched flat screen TVs, each with its own topic on helping yourself. After a guided tour and some very awkward moments where we felt like the “staff members” were fighting over us, time for the service. This was just great…Shania Twain music was sung in honor of Valentine’s Day! The lady who led the service, asked us for permission to be our minister for the day and then read from the great book of L .Ron Hubbard. Afterwards we were guided through a 35 min exercise in “choosing to do things.” I think Ash did a great job of giving an example of what this consisted of…adult version of Simon Says! We were grabbing our feet, chairs, walls, floor, placing our ears, nose, legs, hands where we were told. I do understand that this was to show that you are in control of what you do and make sure that you are intentionally, on purpose making your own decisions. I think the underlying message was that we choose how we will act and feel and have control of our lives. I agree with this…drama is only drama if you make it that way (stay tuned for the book about me learning this the hard way!). I guess I just don’t know why it had to be so elementary. We are all adults and it felt very childish as we performed this exercise and the school house giggles in the background from our tour guide didn’t help either! And you guessed it, we ended with another Shania song…classic!
I think as Ash and Nate have said and I agree that Scientology has a great business model and they were very welcoming. I don’t really have anything bad to say about that. I just have a hard time with them calling themselves a church. I don’t know that I have done a very good job expressing how I feel about this experience because I don’t really know. There was no religion, no God, no intimacy, just felt cold and business like. So all in all, I loved the experience and would say the best way to explain it is to experience it for yourself.

GracePointe Church

Today was GracePointe Church in Franklin, TN. Reasons for going here were two-fold. First off, Ashley's brother and sis-in-law, Jared and Ilea Miller, were speaking about their KEZA Fashion line. Secondly, word is out about Stan's passionate preaching by all the Miller family, and Ashley knows him well.

Nathan's View:

Grace Pointe was an interesting church. It is Nondenominational dish with a Pentecostal glaze over the top. It was one of those churches that is sooo Nashville. How do you make a church sooo Nashville you ask. You must start with an overly emotional praise and worship team. Put one black man on the key board and let the weird guitar player do a solo riff during "My God is an Awesome God." Ensure at least half of them cry during the transition from song to prayer and you are off to a pretty good start. This church was a young, emotional church that was still in the process of defining who they are as a group. They had just built a brand new facility with an outstanding demographic and seemed to be desperate financially. I promise I wont go too deep into the sermon this go around like I did on the last one...but to sum it up it was a communal reading from Revelations where heaven (the prize) is revealed. And let me tell you. You better not pick your nose or scratch your butt in that joint because according to John...everything is made of eyes. Any way, the praise and worship leader spoke about her ministry through music...we heard how important it was to give unconditionally and we were reminded of how the poor widow gave all she had which was just two coins (a fantastic business plan created by the church I might add...I have an equation for it E + G = $ or Emotion + Guilt = a 53,000 monthly budget...) and there you had it. Ashley really enjoyed this church which I blame of the Freudian connection from her youth (the pastor was a player in Christ Church on Old Hickory where Ashley went for many years) but for me it was a little much. I prefer a more intimate approach to God rather then an emotional public display of affection that I saw here. The irony is I didn't much care for the quiet doldrums of Christ Church Cathedral either. Ahhh the life of a contradictory cynic...I guess someone has to do it...right?




Melissa's View:

Hmmmm, this is an interesting one...this is more of the "type" of Church that I am use to and thrive in, but GracePointe did not capture me in any area of the hour we spent there. I don't know that I ever got past the cheesy one liners and the used car salesman for a pastor. Within the 1st 5 minutes Stan (pastor) was helping some kid ask his girlfriend to prom...I mean are we at church or a sporting event? I was waiting for the blimp asking "will you marry me" but it never came. The singing was over the top...maybe 2 songs that the congregation could actually engage in and all the others were awkward and a chance for us to stare at the choir. It was hard to find a moment of connection with God with the song selections. This was then followed by a reading that we participated in from Revelation that I still have no clue why we were reading it. After the Revelation reading there was a strange transition to communion where you go as you "feel led" to the front to take bread and wine...which again...awkward. I think the concept of doing it this way is awesome, but their presentation of directing us was a little uncomfortable. It ended up being more about looking at the person next to you and asking "are you ready" as you move in a heard to the front. I go to Fellowship Bible and they actually did this same idea, but was very intimate and you knew why you were doing it as well as how it was going to happen. You would go in rows and as you made your way to the table, there was someone there to pray over the communion as you took it together as a Body of Christ. Not quite the same at GracePointe, anyway, after communion a girl spoke on praise and worship and gave the history of why we do certain things to show respect to God as we sing. I did enjoy listening to her and think she did a great job speaking about where her heart is. The service was then concluded by my favorite...Stan, creepy with tricks up his sleeve. His emotional reenactment of the poor widow giving everything she had to guilt me into giving was just flat out drama queen. Just wanted to laugh and roll my eyes all at the same time when listening to him talk about giving/tithe. The more I think about it, I'm sure someone else could say the exact same words as him and I would have received it differently, but something about him I just couldn't trust. It was really interesting to me that I ran into someone from work there that is a member of GracePointe and he said, "Didn't you just love Stan? He is just so transparent"....I just nodded and smiled (didn't want to tell a boldfaced lie in church)
After re-reading what I wrote, I feel like I was pretty harsh....they might just be a new church feeling out what works for them, but I will say it certainly didn't work for me!

Ashley's View:


Wow--to say Mel was brutal is an understatement!  Geesh--talk about a personal attack!  This is so crazy to me--out of the three of us, when we started, I was the most anti-church...yet I went to this church and thought it was really nice.  Let's see--Nathan and Mel saw fakeness, and I saw real people.  Maybe my perception was skewed because I know Stan...but I didn't see the shadiness, or the emotion for play.  I saw him being himself.  Granted, he is more theatric-emotional...which fits where he is.  This church was the non-denominational young church that thrived in music and media, but I thought they did a great job of not going overboard with the bells and whistles--yes, they built a church (they were formerly meeting in a school gym, I think?), but the church isn't full of stained glass and the jumbotron out front.  It's basic.  It's with the times technology-wise, but not over the top where I questioned the stewardship of their money.  The music...it was music I enjoyed, and the lady that talked about worship painted a beautiful picture of why people raise their hands in praise.  I liked what she had to say, I liked the music, and I thought hmm, although this is more charismatic than I usually go for, I think I could get involved here.  But boy did Mel and Nathan have a different perspective!  Maybe I am viewing this church through rose-colored glasses.  I have known Stan for a long time--I know his story, and I know his sermons.  I know that while at Christ Church, I have few good memories, but there were three pastors there that really reached me with their sermons--Stan was one of those.
This church prompted major discussion with Nathan and me...bottom line, I fell on the analogy of a wedding ceremony vs. a marriage.  Your every day life is your "marriage" with God-the ups and downs and learning to understand how to bring out the best in the relationship (truly honoring/loving God)...and Sundays...they are the wedding ceremony-the pomp and circumstance.  People go for different things--some want the big fancy dress and the formal ceremony (Christ Church Cathedral).  Other people strive for the most emotional public display of their love for the other person--they want to shout it from the mountaintops (hello Pentecostals!).  And others flat don't want a ceremony--they want to elope (that man be Nathan).  Church is a ceremony.  It's an external display on an internal relationship.  For someone who is private with their emotions, it's hard to understand why others want to display it...and the immediate judgment is they they are full of BS.  My take is that church is the "date."  It's the step out of routine--it's supposed to be the chance for community--it's the time to grow and challenge each other--to step out of complacency and have some focused one-on-one time.  But then again, one-on-one is anything but when you are in a whole congregation of people with their one-on-one relationship.  Nathan thinks it's the little moments throughout the day that make a marriage (and a spiritual walk) work.  I feel like the ceremony and the dating process is a part of it.  That it's important to step out of the little things and make a concerted effort beyond the norm to really focus on the relationship.

 I think this church is a great fit for some people, and for others it's a turn-off.  Kindof like relationships in general.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.  I wasn't offended, and this church prompted great discussions.  Interesting, though.  The ceremony is something I appreciate...but is it truly necessary for a "marriage" with God?