HBO Max notes that Remnant Fellowship’s leadership page has been “substantially redesigned“ over the past months. Michael Shamblin, who after the plane crash divorced his wife, Erin, no longer appears among the church’s leaders. Elizabeth Hannah, along with many others, is still listed.
ChurchLeaders reached out to Remnant Fellowship for comment on this story. The church responded with the following statement:
There have been so many absurd, false accusations against Gwen Lara and our Church. But, the Remnant Fellowship adamantly denies the label of being a “cult”. We follow the teachings of the Holy Bible, and we would never worship a human being. The center of our attention is on God and Jesus Christ. We open our arms to anyone to come visit— or to leave if they choose to do so. We do not discriminate or judge others, but rather, we look inward and take personal responsibility. We have over 35 Shepherds and almost 100 Leaders of different ministries. Please go to our website, RemnantFellowship.org or visit us in person for more truth about the Remnant Fellowship Church.
Phil Williams, who did a story about the controversy on the day of the plane crash, shared he received a lot of pushback for doing so. “There were so many people saying, ‘You should not speak ill of the dead,’” he said. “But I think there’s a real danger in not remembering the lessons of this story.”
Pittman, who still misses what was good about the church, especially the community, shared that after she left Remnant, there were several times when she almost took her own life. She says would not not be alive today without her family’s support. “You have to wonder,” said Pittman, “if there’s young people trying to take their lives after leaving your church, don’t you think you’re doing something wrong?”
