Nashville, Tennessee, is known as the home of country music, but in recent years, it has become just as popular with Christians and Christian ministries.
Kelsey Cooke and Chris Guerra were both born and raised in California. They fell in love on stage while pursuing their acting careers, got married and never dreamed they'd one day leave Hollywood.
"So, I was one of the artistic directors at the Groundlings Theater in Hollywood. That's where Will Ferrell started, Kristin Wigg, all those things. Kelsey has a ton of improv and sketch background also," Guerra recalled.
During the Pandemic, when everything shut down, they visited a friend in Franklin, a popular suburb outside of Nashville. Even as Christians, they couldn't believe what happened.
"We had people praying over us in downtown Franklin. Literally, we were walking in downtown Franklin, going into a shop, and just the owner going, 'Hey, I need to pray for you guys right now.' We don't even know who she is, and she was like, 'Lord, whatever they're going through, they have big decisions to make.' We just were like, what is happening? What is going on? We were just along for the ride," they recalled.
After trying to make it work in both L.A. and Franklin, they decided to put both feet in Tennessee. They started Oddity Improv, a clean comedy theater and training center at the Franklin theater.
They even opened recently for one of the hottest Christian comics on the planet, Nate Bargatze.
"We have worked more than ever in our industry here than we ever did in L.A., and I've had an agent since I was seven years old," Cooke said.
"We pray before shows, which is unheard of. You wouldn't do that in L.A.," Guerra added. "People wanted to rub crystals on me in LA and they're like, is this, okay? But if I pray over this group, it's not okay. But the crystals are okay. Anyway, so yeah, it's Oddity Improv. We used to call it 'cleanish comedy,' we thought, oh, we need to appeal to both sides. And then we had enough people go, 'Well, why don't you just call it clean comedy again?' Both feet in, both feet in," Guerra said.
Long-time Nashville realtor Kellie Seboa with eXp Realty told CBN News the trend of more Christians and Christian ministries feeling called to Nashville and the surrounding areas is real.
"I heard, I think it was Kirk Cameron the other day, he said three things I thought were real important for people to consider anywhere a conservative state is faith, family, and freedom. And I said, Wow, that's really the theme of a lot of transfers here," Seboa said.
According to recent census data, more than 130,000 new residents have moved to the Nashville area since 2020, bringing the total greater metro population to over 2 million. In 2024, the region grew by 6.4% compared to the U.S. growth rate of about 3%. And although international migration plays a part, most are moving here from other states.
"We're seeing a huge increase of Californians, and we're seeing Pennsylvania, we're seeing Ohio, New York, got some great friends coming from New York, good people, and they're looking for land too. Our affordability here, we don't have state income tax. So, we do see businesses like HSA and Tech, like Amazon, Oracle. They've opened up businesses here because of the affordability," Seboa noted.
Christians are moving to Nashville for a variety of reasons, and some aren't sure why they're here but many sense this city will play a big part in what God is getting ready to do.
"I believe He (God) has a target on Nashville. The Holy Spirit does that. I believe this is going to be ground zero for revival," said Barbara Ann Jeter of the Kings Hill House of Prayer.
Jeter, who runs the Kings Hill House of Prayer overlooking Nashville and is also a realtor, says God is calling His people here for a strategic purpose.
"This is what the Lord showed me that there will be day and night prayer from this strategic high place (Kings Hill House of Prayer sits at 777 feet above sea level) that we have an opportunity to take back Nashville from the prince of the air. That really could be that white hot worship that burns, fans flames of revival into our city, but then through the nation. I believe that's possible," Jeter said.
She says there are practical reasons people are moving as well.
"People love people here. We love you. Come, the water's warm. Come to Nashville... we welcome people with open arms. We connect them with people when they move here, and we want them to feel like family. That's a big part of what we are doing here. We call them family because we are part of the family of God," Jeter said.
Long-time missionary, author, and President of CityTable Jon Peterson and his wife Mindy moved to Nashville from Colorado three years ago for one reason.
"Friendship. The Kingdom operates on friendship. It moves at the speed of friendship. So, I've been coming in since the nineties to Nashville, have dear friends here, and about three years ago, four years ago, stuff started shifting here. You could feel it; you could feel the move. People were moving, as you know, and had no clue why they were coming. I had absolutely no clue, but they knew God had called them," said Peterson.
Peterson believes the migration also has to do with prayers prayed years or even centuries ago.
"Yes, prayers were prayed, covenants were made, people were brought by God, and they were high-impact people, and they loved Jesus. But we need to say we can't move forward until we go backwards and reclaim the roots that God birthed. So, He's (God) always somewhere first. And He puts His thumbprint in the land and then He says, realign with what my intention for this area was," Peterson said.
For most people, though, it comes down to the freedom to be who they are as Believers in Christ.
"I think God brought us here for us to get closer to Him. I don't think it has anything to do with the film industry or improv or any of that stuff," Guerra said.
"And I don't think He's really revealed the greater purpose right now," Cooke said. "I don't think we've really seen that. But we're grabbing people going, oh my gosh, you're here for the exact same reason. Oh my gosh, your story is exactly the same as mine. That's so weird. And we're all kind of gravitating towards each other. And so, I've just been saying it's kind of a gathering of the light. We don't all know why we're here, but we know we're supposed to be working together," Cooke said.
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