Music Icon Takes On City Hall To Save Family’s Historic Church
Six-time Grammy-winning Christian pop artist Amy Grant and her family are involved in a legal battle to preserve a historic church in Nashville, Tennessee. The Nashville Church of Christ, formerly known as Central Church of Christ, was founded in 1925 by Grant’s great-grandfather, Andrew Mizell “A.M.” Burton, a prominent civic figure and philanthropist. Burton had specified in the church’s deed that the property must continue to serve as a place of worship, or it would revert to his estate.
Grant emphasized that the dispute centers on preserving her great-grandfather’s legacy. The church, once a vibrant congregation, has been closed and boarded up. Family members and court documents allege that Shawn Mathis, who joined the church in 2017 and later became its director, ousted long-standing members and took over the church’s operations. Under his leadership, control of the church and its assets—estimated to be worth around $30 million—was transferred to a nonprofit he created.
The church had generated substantial income in the 2010s from parking lots it owns near South Broadway’s music venues, with the church building itself valued at $6.7 million. A former treasurer, Howell Townes, who had volunteered for decades, resigned in protest after objecting to the restructuring into a nonprofit. Legal action followed in 2019 when Grant’s family hired a lawyer to look into the church’s affairs. The church filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the deed restrictions, but courts rejected the attempt. Tennessee’s attorney general also filed a separate lawsuit, accusing the church of mismanaging funds.
Further scrutiny revealed significant compensation for Mathis and his father, both listed as ministers. Financial records showed that the two collected six-figure salaries and housing allowances, and that Mathis had taken out over $1.1 million in bank loans, backed by parking lot income. The property is now classified as commercial real estate and faces more than $500,000 in unpaid taxes.
Despite legal challenges, two courts have upheld the original deed’s stipulations, and judges are now determining if ceasing in-person services violated those terms. A spokesperson for Grant and the Burton family stated that instead of celebrating its centennial anniversary, the church now stands empty—symbolizing, in their view, the exploitation of a once-thriving congregation by individuals who assumed control for personal gain.