Ryan Knudson

Even though Amy hadn't gone to the church since her great-grandfather's funeral, she often saw it when she played concerts downtown.

Why did you feel like it was something worth fighting for?

But Amy and the Burton family had found a way to fight for control of the church.

That's next.

When A.M.

Burton set up the Central Church of Christ back in 1925, it, like all buildings, had a deed to go with it.

But this deed had a rather unusual line in it.

Here's my colleague Cam again.

Remember, the church had stopped offering services in the building after Mathis took over.

So Amy and her family thought they could use that provision in the original deed to try and regain control of the church.

It's amazing that your great-grandfather had put that line in the deed in the first place.

Yeah, it's crazy.

In 2019, the Burton family hired a lawyer and prepared to fight for ownership of the building.

But before they made their move, the Nashville Church of Christ, under Mathis, sued Amy and the Burtons.

In a statement, Mathis' lawyer said that attempts to take control of the building and oust Mathis are motivated by the church's rising property value.

For seven years, the church was stuck in legal limbo.

There's actually a term for the kind of hostile takeover that Mathis has been accused of, steeplejacking.

Steeplejacking is happening all around the country, especially in the Midwest and South.

And because steeplejacking most often seems to happen to these independent churches, it's a problem that's hard to track.

After years of fighting, in October, the Burtons and the Nashville Church of Christ settled.