A few miles north of downtown Nashville, a local group has been trying to open a church and nothing is odd about that except only a few weeks earlier, the same group attempted to open a swinger’s club in the exact same location.
“It is the same client, yes,” said Larry Roberts, attorney for Freedom 4 All Inc – the group that has been trying to open the church.
Without any hindrances, the church could open by July, Roberts said. After Freedom 4 All Inc failed to open a branch of Social Club, a popular swingers’ club, just down the street from a Christian school earlier this year, local legislators revised the zoning laws for the area, thus restricting the swingers’ club from opening there. The revision to the zoning laws was tabled in January and passed within two months. Within a week, Freedom 4 All Inc, which owns the property where the swingers’ club was expected to open, acquired a renovations permit that would allow the property to be used as a church in the future.
Referring to the first amendment of the United States Constitution, Roberts said:
“If you say you are a church, you don’t have to get approval from the government… This is going to be a place where people can meet and enjoy fellowship. There won’t be any sexual behavior that goes on there… They can meet someone, take them to go somewhere else – take them home, to a hotel, motel, some other location. It’s not unlike what you might find in singles’ bar, except the people are a little bit more open-minded.”
According to Roberts, the membership of the church would be restricted to 200 people.
“Do I really think they are a church? Not really,” said Karen Bennett, a local council member.
Bennett believes four of the club’s leaders have only recently applied to be ordained as ministers and for her constituents that is cause for concern even though the establishment would now function as a church and not a swingers’ club.
However, Roberts said local residents need not worry about the church or it corrupting students of the nearby Christian school, because the church would still be operating during different hours than the school.
“They won’t operate when the school is in session. Just on Friday and Saturday nights from eight to two or three in the morning,” he said
The primary opponents of the church, which was earlier going to operate as a swingers’ club, are local residents, whose children attend Goodpasture Christian School. School President Ricky Perry told the media that the proposal submitted for the church was identical to the proposal submitted for the swingers’ club, except two rooms that were labeled ‘dungeon’ and ‘game room’ in the first proposal have now been renamed to ‘choir room’ and ‘fellowship hall’.
The renovations for the church are currently underway at 520 Lentz Drive, where the swingers’ club was expected to open. Roberts said the renovations should be complete by the end of this summer and the church would hopefully start functioning by July 1.
He added though, “But that is just speculation on my part.”
A permit acquired by Freedom 4 All Inc on March 25 allows the property to be renamed as United Fellowship Center and also its interiors to be renovated.
“Now this is a permit to renovate the interior of the building. It is not a permit to utilize the building for that purpose” as a church, Bill Herbert, the local zoning administrator, told the media. “It is an interior renovation permit only. We’ve been told they will lease to a church but the renovation work will be done first and the appropriate inspections will be done and if the work is done correctly then the permit can be issued to be utilized as a church, but we are not at this point yet. But a church is allowed in that area.”
Before opening, the city’s codes require the establishment to prove it is a church by merely showing that worship really does take place. However, oddly enough, Freedom 4 All Inc is charging a membership fee for those who wish to be part of the church. A flyer advertisement for United Fellowship Center states that members must pay $100 each year to be part of the organization. Unsurprisingly, Social Club’s website states similar membership fees for those who wish to be part of the swingers’ club.
“I didn’t realize you could charge people to enter the church,” said Bennet.
Roberts reiterated that the club and the center are being perceived in poor light by local residents for absolutely no reason.
“Many expect to walk in the front door and there’s orgies going on. That’s just not true,” he said.
While his clients have been expressing concern about the growing opposition despite renovations being underway, Roberts said they are not going to back down.
“Nobody wants a $750,000 investment that someone says ‘thanks for the money’ but you can’t use it for anything,” Roberts told the media. “That’s not the way this country works.”
Photo Credits: Washington Post