When Dundee power couple Dean and Janine Wallace started up Relight Church, they knew it would cause a stir in the city.
Known in the business world as the founder and CEO of beauty empire BrowJam (Janine) and in the entertainment world as a footballer, podcast host and life coach (Dean), the pair both had big reputations cemented in their hometown.
So when they posted a video on social media of themselves being baptised in the River Tay on Broughty Ferry beach in November 2023, it took many of their friends and associates by surprise.
“People knew us before, how we partied and things like that. Or knew us through our business,” explains Dean, 40. “But nobody knew we’d been on this journey of admitting our life to Christ.”
“This was our public declaration,” adds Janine, 39. “And I knew there would be people saying things.
“It’s a big thing to start a church in your hometown,” she continues.
“People are usually missionaries because they’re not listened to at home, so we’re carrying a big burden. But we love Dundee.
“And that day in the Tay was the most liberating, incredible – but freezing! – experience.”
So how exactly did the Wallaces go from two of Dundee’s most well-known rat racers to devout followers of Christ?
Moreover, why start a church of your own? And is it worth the allegations that you’re “a plant of an American cult”?
I sat down with Dean and Janine in a city Starbucks one Friday afternoon to get the full story.
‘We’re not religious’
Growing up in the same Dryburgh estate, neither Dean nor Janine previously considered themselves religious.
Janine was “very badly damaged” by the Catholic church in her youth.
Meanwhile for Dean, religion “never resonated” but it always fascinated him.
“I always remember watching top boxers or sports stars winning and saying: ‘I just want to start by thanking God.’
“I would think: What are they talking about? Why are they saying that?”
But during lockdown in 2020, Dean and Janine each found faith after their “fast paced” lives stretched them to breaking point.
Couple’s identities were lost in work
“We used to live life really fast-paced,” explains Dean. “It was all about earning, working, partying every weekend.
“Then lockdown hit, everything came to a standstill. And I suddenly was like: ‘When I’m not working, who am I?'”
Janine also says she had a “proper breakdown” after realising her “whole identity was attached to being in BrowJam“.
“I was really struggling to be around my family,” the mum-of-four shares candidly. “I was so used to being out grafting. Everything I knew didn’t make sense anymore.”
The pair’s personal struggles had led to them facing challenges within their marriage.
“There was loads of love there, but it was a train wreck at times,” chuckles Dean. “In lockdown, I started searching for answers.”
Through LinkedIn, Dean connected with American author and chemical engineer John Lenhart, whose book, Modelling God, claims to outline a “non-contradictory interpretation of God and salvation”.
The controversial book suggests a “true” model for “who God is” and offers guidance on how interpreting the Bible through this model can help people to “flow” in their lives.
John, who offers self-help coaching through his organisation Flowcess, took Dean under his wing and coached him without charging.
“It completely changed my life,” enthuses Dean. “Our marriage was getting better, I had so much energy. I was learning that we’re all unique beings, that we gain and lose energy, and learning to deal with my patterns and triggers.
“I asked John where everything he’d taught me had come from. And he was like: ‘It’s from the Bible’.”
Lenhart ‘didn’t push God on us’
For Dean and Janine, this was the lightbulb moment.
“John didn’t push God on us,” clarifies Janine. “He just helped us as people. The transformation was so remarkable that it cleared all the noise, and I believe that’s when God could then come through.
“It was very easy for us to make the connection between feeling so good, loving each other and then loving God.”
The pair then began counselling other couples for a number of months, but felt “something was missing” in their approach.
“It was because we knew about God, and they didn’t,” Janine explains.
And it was because of this that Dean says he felt “called” to be a pastor, and the couple founded Relight Church.
Dispelling rumours of £2k baptisms
On February 25 2024, the couple held their first Relight Sunday service, at Janine’s BrowJam premises on West Henderson’s Wynd.
Since then, they’ve held a service every Sunday and they say that those who have joined have managed to “stop addictions”, “forgive people in their lives” and become more settled.
“It’s not a drug problem Dundee’s got,” explains Dean. “It’s a self-esteem problem.”
The church has naturally garnered attention both online through social media and in town through the grapevine – some good, and some less so.
“Lots of people don’t know how to talk to me about it,” Janine admits. “We’re having very superficial conversations. I think maybe they’re scared or just don’t know what to say.
“We’ve heard some insane rumours too,” she laughs. “That we’re charging £2,000 for a baptism and things like that.
“People can’t get their head around the fact that we want to help others for free, but when you’re a Christian, it’s about spiritual value.
“We’re set up as a charity, so people will be able to donate, but you don’t have to pay to come.”
What’s it like attending Relight church?
To give me the full picture, Dean and Janine invite me to come along to their next Sunday service.
When I arrive, I don’t know what to expect. My own childhood experiences of ‘church’ involved draughty chapels, heavy incense and a splash of disapproval with my holy water genuflecting.
So Janine’s brightly-lit brow studio in an industrial unit, adorned with pampas grass chandeliers, and fold-out tables filled with healthy snacks is a change of pace.
I count 22 people including Dean and Janine’s children, Janine’s mother, adults on their own, couples, and families with little ones. Another 20 or so join online, mainly from the US.
The whole operation is tech-savvy, with QR codes on the walls for people to scan for ‘membership’, ‘book club’, ‘worship’ and more.
Relight ‘helped pull me out of a hole’ says member
Kicking off at 9.30am sharp, the first half hour is spent on ‘fellowship’ – essentially a coffee morning, where members of the congregation catch up and get to know one another over soft drinks and snacks.
Here I speak to Lisa Brown, who has been involved with Relight since its inception.
“I reached out to Dean for coaching 2.5 years ago,” says Lisa. “I had been in a co-dependent relationship for 9 years. It ended very suddenly and totally broke me.
“I was lost.”
Lisa shares that she was battling with self-esteem issues, an addiction to validation from online dating and obsession with her appearance when she finally “crashed” and sought help from Dean.
“It helped pull me out of the hole I was in,” she explains. “I then joined and completed the Modelling God book club, which has helped me realise that the information Dean was using to help me came from the Bible.
“I am now continuing to learn how to be a vessel for God to flow through me and guide me when I am helping other people.”
Dundee PT says trad churches ‘won’t work’
After fellowship, the congregation is seated, and the service starts in earnest.
Dean takes the floor, starting off with some call-and-response crowd interaction before giving a sermon which considers the role of men and masculinity in a modern Dundee, within the context of the city’s ‘kettle boiler’ history.
Next, 23-year-old personal trainer Ben Russell stands up to deliver a moving testimony on how his peers in Dundee have reacted to his newfound faith in God, referring to what Relight calls the ‘crab spirit’, where people try to drag down those who have been ‘relit’ like crabs in a barrel.
He tells me afterwards that traditional Christian churches “aren’t going to work” for his generation, and a new approach must be embraced.
Before communion – wafers and juice served in disposable shot glasses – Dean speaks again, this time about the importance of definitions, and having the ‘correct’ definitions for concepts like justice, mercy, forgiveness and love.
Is Relight ‘a plant of an American cult’?
After communion, Janine leads the ‘worship’ section of the service.
There are three songs, none of which I recognise, all centred on ideas of trusting your life to God. I find out later they are written by Jonathan Fries, a consultant at Flowcess.
The congregation sings loudly, earnestly and joyfully.
The service closes with 10 minutes of silent reflection, during which members of the congregation are welcome to seek guidance privately from pastors.
At 11.15am, members start filing out, looking happy and refreshed, and sharing warm words.
The service has all the touchstones of a traditional church – sermons, communion, singing, Bible verses – presented in an upbeat, digitally literate format designed to appeal to the Instagram generation.
But the day after the service, one attendee who did not wish to be named contacts me with concerns about the stateside roots of Relight.
“The rest of yesterday, I felt very flat and unwell in my spirit which is not usually the case after church,” they say.
“I do really love Dean, Janine and their family. However, I am very sceptical of the influence of this John Lenhart on their lives. I believe he is dangerous and exploiting vulnerable people.
“Lenhart is a charlatan in the make [sic] with his Modelling God business, basically appropriating elements of Christianity for his own ends. The only book folk need if converting to Christianity is the Bible.
“I am torn as I really hope Relight pulls people who would never set foot in a church towards a genuine transformation and relationship with God. Dundee definitely needs a new church.
“Still, I do not believe it is a spirit-led authentic church, but an American plant of a cult based on ‘Modeletics’. I won’t be calling it church.”
Lenhart: ‘It’s literally the opposite of a cult’
Relight is not the only church set up in response to Lenhart’s Modelling God.
There are three churches in the US, including Music of Life church in Appleton, Wisconsin, which the Relight community is connected with.
In addition, there are several of what Lenhart calls ‘generative communities’ inspired by his book.
But when I speak to John Lenhart myself, via Zoom a few days after the service, he refutes the idea that his book has in any way spawned a cult.
“It’s literally the opposite of a cult,” says the 61-year-old Miami-based consultant. “A cult tries to control people’s behaviour, information, thoughts and emotions.
“It tries to make everybody the same. What I want is for everybody to be more unique, more themselves.
“I’d say this is more self-help than religion.”
‘Hypocrites end up in hell’
And in response to claims that they are being “exploited”, Dean encouraged sceptics to speak directly to himself or John Lenhart.
“At Relight Church we encourage people to go directly to the person they have an issue with and seek to understand as this prevents any kind of gossiping going on,” he says.
“If the person with these concerns was truly ‘spirit-led’ then they would’ve have brought these concerns to myself or John Lenhart.
“If they haven’t done this, then the person with the concern is committing the sin of whispering according to the Bible. Worse, they are a hypocrite and Jesus said hypocrites end up in hell.
“I invite anyone with concerns to please contact me directly as I would love to chat and understand their perspective.”
For Dean and Janine, God remains at the centre of what they are doing.
“Faith has 100% helped me,” concludes Janine. “The word ‘church’ just means community.
“Through understanding God, and having that community, I’ve discovered just how good life can be.”
Relight Church can be contacted via Instagram.
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