NASHVILLE — A once-prominent Southern Baptist church in Nashville downsized and rebranded after controversy over finances, lawsuits and excommunications. It has voted to sell its 220,000-square-foot building and 37.5-acre grounds to the Catholic Diocese of Nashville for $12.5 million.
The Fellowship at Two Rivers, formerly known as Two Rivers Baptist Church, decided two years ago to list the property across the road from Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center for sale as part of an effort to “reboot” a church culture marred by conflict in 2007–2008 reported in media and by grievances aired in a whistleblower blog.
Today about 575 worshippers gather weekly in one of two sites — the old campus and an elementary school in nearby Mount Juliet, Tenn. Church leaders said the sale, expected to close before end of summer, will not affect the multisite-church status.
Catholic officials say the diocese has outgrown the 38,000-square-foot Catholic Center built in 1956 by Presbyterians and sold to the Diocese of Nashville in September 1974 for $750,000.
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