JOSH SCOTT

Lead Pastor

Josh (he/him) has been a pastor for more than two decades. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor at GracePointe Church in Nashville. The focus of his work is reimagining, reframing, and reclaiming faith through a Progressive Christian lens. He is the author of three books, “Bible Stories for Grown-Ups: Reading Scripture with New Eyes,” “Context: Putting Scripture in Its Place,” and “Parables: Putting Jesus’s Stories in Their Place.” You can read his latest thoughts at joshscott.online. He lives near Nashville with his wife, Carla, and five kids. 

Tiffany Dowdy

Director of Children & Youth

Tiffany (they/she) joins GracePointe with over 12 years of ministry experience working with kids and youth. The majority of their work has been focused around helping students align their head, heart, and hands to more fully live out their faith. They are passionate about social justice and leading within the church and community. Outside of ministry, Tiffany can be found coaching soccer, enjoying a hike, embracing their creative side, or spending time with their two dogs, Rue and Emerson.

BRIAN GILLELAND

Brian has lived in Middle Tennessee since before the turn of the century (mid 80’s) and has seen a lot of changes. Gratefully many of those changes are in how he sees the world around him. Born and raised in a traditional and loving evangelical Christian family, he struggled with the fact that tradition often outweighed loving.

He and his wife, Kathi, live in Nashville and operate a landscape design business which feeds his love of both nature and art. They have a collective of five adult children and two grandchildren that he considers tangible proof of God’s grace.

Traveling to new places is a passion he shares with Kathi. Currently just a few states short of having been to all 50 states together, they have also visited Peru and Uganda.

Being a part of the GracePointe community since 2015 is a vital part of his spiritual journey, and he is thankful for the opportunity to serve.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

ANDREW BROWN, Secretary

Andrew (he/him) was born in small-town Mississippi, attending Mississippi State for his undergraduate degree and pursuing his MBA at The University of Alabama. After graduating, he moved to Pennsylvania, beginning his career in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. This is where he met his beautiful, now wife, Lindsey. They have lived in Nashville for over 4 years and continue to grow their roots in the community that they call home. Andrew now runs a recruiting company with a close friend, partnering with companies across the nation to find talent for their organizations.

Growing up in a faithful and loving evangelical Christian (Southern Baptist) family, as he began to explore more of the world, he encountered new worldviews and cultures, expanding his perspective, realizing not all things still fit from his religious upbringing. Having stepped away from church for a time, he found GracePointe by happenstance in 2019 after moving to Nashville, and it created a refreshing common ground of learning and growth for he and Lindsey. Both coming from different religious backgrounds themselves, Southern Baptist and Catholicism respectively, GracePointe allowed for a wonderful community of openness and love that they were both seeking. 

Discovering GracePoint was a defining moment in Andrew's spiritual walk, and he is honored at the opportunity to serve.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

CRAIG AMMON, TReasurer

Craig came to Gracepointe in the summer of 2015, not realizing it was in the middle of deconstructing their faith. Craig is grateful to Gracepointe for guiding them on this path of reconstruction. Craig loves to spend their free time hanging with their very active adult kids and grandson, or taking ballroom dance lessons and traveling with their partner, Peter. Craig anticipates moving in the next year due to Peter’s job, and will become a faithful member of the online community. While serving on the LC, Craig would love to help spread the message of GracePointe beyond Nashville (because EVERYONE needs to hear it!), and foster a sense of belonging among our growing online community.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

JEFF CLARK, Chair

Jeff is a Professor of Information Systems and Analytics at MTSU, CEO / Producer of Wild Goose Festival, Executive Director of MBAA International, and former Managing Partner of McLean~Clark, LLC with years of experience in political consulting, media, strategic leadership, and over five decades of hands-on social justice work.As a strategic thinker who loves the creative and the technical sides of things, Jeff hopes to bring his passion for both creativity and execution, grounded in a PhD in Systems and a DMin, to help create a safer, more just way of living. When not at MTSU or Wild Goose or in a group discussion, you might find Jeeff indulging in ice cream, dancing the night away, or going on a road bike trip.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

murphy gill

Born & raised in Nashville, Murphy and his high school sweetheart Michelle spent 30+ years in pastoral ministry with most of that time in MI. After several years of theological questioning and wrestling with the many inconsistent positions his conservative denomination held on important social issues, particularly full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ folks into the life and work of the church, he resigned from his church. Murphy & Michelle then moved back home to Nashville where he now sells residential Real Estate and is a passionate advocate and ally for the LGBTQIA+ community. Murphy & Michelle found a home at GracePointe shortly after returning to Nashville in 2018. They have an adult son named Daniel, a female cat named Bill and they live in Goodlettsville on the northeast side of town. My FaceBook bio describes me well “Nashville REALTOR®, Coffee Snob, Football Fan, Cyclist, LGBTQIA+ Advocate, Pastor, Husband and Dad". 

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

TROY NALL

Troy (he/him) grew up in a small town in rural south Alabama. Later, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama for college and graduate school where he studied health informatics and information management and began his career with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He relocated to New Haven, Connecticut in 2010 to manage an administrative department for the VA healthcare system. He moved to Nashville in 2019 to be nearer to family after beginning a remote position with the Veterans Health Administration’s headquarters. 

Troy was raised by a loving family in the Southern Baptist church and departed from it in young adulthood after accepting his identify as a gay man. GracePointe has provided a spiritual home and supporting community for Troy since early 2022 where he has found space for exploration and acceptance of his understanding of the Divine, reclaiming many concepts from his childhood faith in a profound way. He is honored to be part of GracePointe’s work towards supporting others in their spiritual journeys as it has supported him.

Troy lives in Nashville with his husband, Jordan. They are foster parents and enjoy time with one another and their two beagles, Gabby and Gus.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

Christine Fruin

Christine (she/her) has lived in nearly every part of Illinois, but calls Chicago home. She and her husband Bill moved to Nashville at the end of 2021 and began attending Gracepointe shortly thereafter following a search for an affirming and progressive Christian church in their new hometown. Combining her background in copyright law and academic librarianship, she has built a 20 year career around scholarly publishing and currently serves as the Director of Publications for the American Counseling Association, working remotely from their home in Old Hickory with regular travel to the ACA headquarters in the DC Metro area.

Christine loves reading a wide variety of books, drinking good coffee, watching prestige streaming television, and writing lists! She also enjoys walks in the many area parks with Bill and their two dogs and spending quality time with her daughter, a high school English teacher who recently relocated to Nashville. 

Christine greatly values the mission and purpose of Gracepointe and is grateful for the impact it has had on her own spiritual journey away from Catholicism and into a more mindful and boundless experience of the Divine. She helps lead Gracepointe's Salt and Pepper group and looks forward to spending more time with the seasoned members of our community making fun memories and giving back to those in need.

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.

Lori McGinty

Lori’s journey into Progressive Christianity began around 2013, but at the time she didn’t realize she was deconstructing her faith. She just knew the faith she had inherited no longer worked for her. She no longer fit into the conservative Christian world. New wine is really uncomfortable in old wine skins, so uncomfortable that it will burst out of them. 

Between experiencing the all inclusive climate of the roller derby world, to being educated by some of the most incredible people on the planet who just happened to be Queer, her mind began to slip sideways around certain things the church taught were scriptural truth. 

So, she steped back from church and began “sabbathing” on Sundays instead. In that process she really missed being part of a faith community.

Enter GracePointe.

For the first time in many years she feels like she’s getting to experience the world in color—all the colors. She never dreamed life could feel this congruent - that she could live like she thinks and believes, that her insides and outsides could match. It feels so good to be home.  

Please email lc@gracepointe.net.