[12] Lara founded the Weigh Down Workshop, a weight-loss program with no food restrictions, exercise regimens, weigh-ins, or calorie-counting in 1986.

[13][14][15][16] Some experts expressed concern because the program eliminated exercise and guidance on food selection as recommended by the American Dietetic Association.

[13] In 1996, Weigh Down Workshop had a staff of 40 and built a headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, and Lara began hosting an annual summer convention, Desert Oasis, in the Nashville area.

One reporter noted the irony of this, mentioning that less than four weeks before her death, Shamblin had made a video in which she warned others about greed: Most of the world has abandoned true religion and are now converts to building up their own pocket books.

In response, some evangelical churches dropped her program, Thomas Nelson Publishers canceled the publication of her next book, she was removed from the Women of Faith website, and some employees left her staff.

These accusations include claims that Lara promoted corporal punishment as a means for parents to keep their children obedient and submissive.

Sonya and Joseph routinely disciplined Josef by beating him with foot-long glue sticks,[42] belts, and heated coat hangers; locking him in confined spaces for extended periods of time; and tying his hands with rope.

The police reported that the Smiths locked Josef in his room to pray to a picture of Jesus on the ceiling and in a closet for days and even weeks.

County medical examiners concluded that eight-year-old Josef Smith died as a result of "acute and chronic" abuse.

The Smiths were sentenced on March 27, 2007, to life plus 30 years in prison (the maximum punishment) by Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford.

[40] In 2023, a Lifetime TV film directed by John L'Ecuyer written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small was released with Shamblin portrayed by Jennifer Grey and starring Vincent Walsh and Alain Goulem.

[46][47] Gwen Lara was killed together with her husband Joe, her son-in-law Brandon Hannah, and two other couples from the Remnant Fellowship Church when the Laras' 1982 Cessna Citation 501 private jet crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna, Tennessee, shortly after takeoff on May 29, 2021.

[48][49] The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash was a result of pilot Joe Lara's "loss of airplane control during climb due to spatial disorientation.