NASHVILLE, Tenn.--A Bible camp run by the Priest Lake Community Baptist Church in the Antioch area may be shut down by the Tennessee Department of Human Services after members of the government agency toured the sight using a court order.
According to WTVF News Channel 5 and the Associated Press, government workers had been tipped off by a fire official making a routine inspection that dozens of children were on the premises and there was no license to run a day care center.
The Human Services workers brought metro police and sheriff's department officers with them for the inspection. They told the church that all day cares must be licensed by the state and comply with day care regulations on facilities, food preparation, safety and hiring practices. Certified day care staff must also be screened with criminal background checks and trained.
Wednesday morning, workers from the Tennessee Department of Human Services used a court order to tour a Nashville church's self-proclaimed bible camp to determine if the camp was actually an unlicensed day care. Following the tour, a spokesman for the state said they would seek a court order to stop the church's program because they determined it to be a day care.
Church representatives say their program is a Bible camp and state day care regulations do not apply. The church said matters of hiring and programming are better left to the congregation -- not state employees.





