By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Since the restructuring of her dental office that included hiring members of a religious ministry, Dr. Tina Marshall D.D.S. said her practice is running much smoother.
‘Business is good. I mean, since all the media I’m sure there are some people who are nervous because they choose to believe what they saw instead of what’s real,? she said of the dentist practice at 2951 S. Baldwin.?
Media coverage kicked in after chiropractor Dr. Craig Stasio of Centerline offered his business expertise in revamping the dentist office, including terminating employees? contracts and organizing internal departments.
Last summer, The Review’published two stories on Marshall and Stasio titled, ‘Dentist office loses employees after ‘Prophet? steps in,? and, ‘Failed business to business consulting, is Stasio misunderstood??
Fox 2 News has also aired several stories on Stasio in 2014 and one on November 23, 2015 claiming he is a cult leader, that he is ripping families apart, and most recently, that he is trying to groom teens, or recruit them, to a Christian ministry.
In addition to the media coverage, Marshall and Stasio are also the defendants in a pending lawsuit alleging religious discrimination of previous employees.
The lawsuit highlighted several allegations, including that Marshall ‘demanded religious music be played at all times in the office? against the plaintiffs? wills, and that ‘Tina Marshall responded by stating that they needed to ‘plant the seed? with those patients that followed a different religion.?
Stasio and Marshall deny the claims. Marshall, with more than 20 years of experience as a dentist, is now making other moves.
She recently purchased a two-floor laser tag facility in Clinton Township.
‘We [people of her religious ministry] have been playing two, three times a week for years, and the owner had been toying with selling it for a while. The price seemed right and as much as all of us were spending playing, it just seemed to make sense to buy it,? she said.
The Marshalls changed the name from Laser Edge to Laser Tag of Clinton Township, and hired Stasio to manage the business.
After several updates to the facility, Marshall is happy to report the recent purchase as a success, and can see anywhere from 60 to 100 customers per day.
Like in her dentist office in Lake Orion, Christian music plays in the background as kids, teenagers and adults play laser tag, redeem game tickets for prizes, and have birthday parties.
‘It’s a family place, and that’s what we wanted,? she said. ‘I haven’t heard too many comments [about the music] myself. There may have been some of the kids. But we play all kinds, there’s rap Christian music, and rock and roll.?
Marshall laughed when asked if it was a recruitment center for teenagers to enter Stasio’s religious ministry.
‘No, this is just a business. We just want to serve people, and hopefully make it a fun, family atmosphere.?
A little background
Marshall is happy to say her whole family, including her husband and three daughters, are all born-again Christians and spirit filled.
According to Marshall, her husband Jim had been ‘born again and spiritual? for years before meeting Stasio at a bible study in the Marshall’s basement.
After Stasio spoke to Tina and her two youngest daughters they were born again, or experienced a spiritual rebirth of the Christian Holy Spirit.
For the oldest daughter Brittany Marshall, it took a little bit more time.?
‘Jimmy wanted me to power minister her, I wouldn’t even speak to her [Brittany],? Stasio said. ‘I wouldn’t even acknowledge her. I said ‘hi, nice to meet you,? but that’s all she’d get out of me.?
Brittany, 25, now works at her mother’s dentist office.
Before being born again, she was enrolled in law school in Chicago, and according to Stasio, was headed down the wrong track.
‘But she pretended to be the nicey, nicey, goody-two-shoes, happy go lucky girl, but her real life was headed to death, destruction, depravity. You don’t even know where she was headed,? he said.
Like many of Stasio’s followers who are now in the ministry, he claimed she Brittany was wrapped up in alcohol and other predicaments, and like other followers, Brittany was looking for ‘the truth.?
And, like many of Stasio’s other followers, one day Brittany got a call.
‘So one day I’m minding my own business with my wife, and the Holy Spirit tells me, call that Brittany girl, and say this. I’m like, ‘oh, another one of those?. She wasn’t even gonna know who I am,? Stasio said. ?
He explained his many convictions to reach out to people in need were led by God, and convictions from the Holy Spirit to deliver a message or encourage somebody.
‘It’s out of nowhere. It’s like I hear it inside of me,? he said.
He called Brittany and told her she had a Bible in her school bag. Go to Romans III and read these verses, he said.
‘I didn’t even know I had a Bible, no idea,? Brittany said, who left class to answer the no-name cell phone call. ‘So I go in this random study room, and I read it, and long story short, it says no one is good not even one. And I felt so like, oh my gosh, this means me. I know this means me. So I called him back and I was, where do I go from here??
Brittany was invited to go talk to Stasio about God and the scripture anytime she wanted.
She left immediately, arriving to Stasio’s house in Center Line around midnight.
‘I was like I have to know the truth. We stayed up for hours and hours, teaching me, preaching to me, and I’m like, I have to know, and then at?6 a.m.’in the morning I got born again and met God.?
Brittany said now she has purpose in her life knowing that Jesus is real.? She quit law school, separated from her fianc?, and moved into a house with two other ministry members, both women in their 20s, a few houses down from Stasio’s in Center Line.
Her roommates, Natasha Wartell, 21, and Jessie Chapman, 28, agreed that Stasio did not push any of his religious beliefs on them, but instead that the girls sought them out.
Like Brittany, Chapman and Wartell were both heading down the wrong track, using drugs, binge drinking, and being promiscuous, Stasio said.
Chapman, who occasionally works at the dentist office, first met Stasio at an internship at one of his businesses, Agape Massage Therapy & Chiropractic in Clinton Township. It was there she would overhear him talking about God, the Bible, exorcisms and other spiritual things.
‘I knew that Craig had truth. I didn’t understand why, but every time he was talking to everyone else I’m like, this guy knows God. I know that something is different about him,? Chapman said. ‘And he wouldn’t talk to me. I was there six months before I actually met God, I was so frustrated, I was like, why wouldn’t he talk to me, I want to know.?
Stasio said he wouldn’t talk to Chapman because it wasn’t time.
‘I wasn’t supposed to, because I prayed about her all the time. Like, God if you want me to speak to her I’ll speak to her. He’s like no, I’m like ok. Ill wait till the time is right,? Stasio said. ‘So this ideology that we’re pushing everything on everybody, enforcing it-I ran away from her.?
Wartell confirmed. One day she was fellowshipping with the ministry, prior to meeting Stasio, when he randomly appeared with a Bible verse for her too.
‘He looked away, he never even looked me in the eye. He just put his finger on the verse,? she said.
After reading Romans IV-V, Wartell broke down crying.
‘She started bawling her eyes out, we prayed for her, she got born again on the spot. The radical power of God. She got baptized in the Holy Spirit, broke out speaking in tongues, and I left. I didn’t talk to her I just took off. And that’s a common occurrence,? Stasio said.
Both Wartell and Chapman claimed they had radical, supernatural experiences with God or Satan before finding Stasio, and now that they are born again, have realized the deeper meanings and parallels in their own lives.
Chapman explained being born again, which is common in many fundamentalist churches.
When one is first born, they are born under the curse of Adam and Eve, and live in Satan’s kingdom. After being born again, the soul is rebirthed in the Holy Spirit, renewed and untainted by the original curse, Chapman said.
‘The best way to describe it, was my whole life I had rose colored glasses on. I didn’t know it. I was looking through windows that were shady, and all of a sudden I could actually see. I could see why people were mean and evil, I could see why some people were good. I just understood it. I had a revelation about what this whole thing is about, because I was finally free from all of it.?
Like many of the younger members of the ministry, communication with the family has been tough, and even lacking.
For Wartell, who said her parents more or less kicked her out when she started doing drugs, the lack of communication was expected.
For Chapman, the lack of communication was a result of her parents not making the effort to meet and understand Stasio or his wife Danielle, she said, and worsened after her parents secretly spoke about her on Fox 2 News.
‘Honestly they seemed ok with it, until I started to make the changes in my life and then they got concerned I guess,? Chapman said. ‘But never in that time did they take the time to come and meet anybody, I invited both of them to our ministry meetings, I invited them to come and meet Craig and Danielle, because these people are very important to me. I could print out every email. It’s ridiculous how many times I’ve asked them to meet Craig and Danielle, and they won’t.?
She continued.
‘The first news report put a really big riff between us. That was a tough one. Because I did feel betrayed by them.?
In the report her parents expressed their concerns for their daughter giving up her life, and not contacting them for over a month, when they had been talking several times a week or daily.
Stasio said he has always been open to meeting anyone’s parents, but many don’t understand their children’s radical conversion to Christianity. ?
‘They [Chapman’s parents] drove out to Grand Rapids and her sister flew in from Arizona to concoct this whole story to destroy me,? he said, referring to the Fox 2 report.
Chapman had been an Irish dancer for 18 years, and an instructor for 10, and felt a calling to give it all up. She also stopped talking to her parents as much as she had been, and began studying the Bible and attending the fellowships.
‘As much as I wanted to be able to support these kids and continue to love them, I knew that it was taking up so much of my time, that I knew that I needed to be a full time Christian. I felt like this pull to 24/7, as soon as you wake up, as soon as u go to bed, to go and do God’s will,? Chapman said.
‘Slowly but surely I started to see the things in my life that I originally cared about, and had a lot of passion for, how they didn’t really line up with what God created me to do, and that’s when I started making what a lot of people thought were very drastic changes in my life,? she said.
‘But’I knew that God had other plans for me. And I’m like, I just met You, You’re real, this is awesome, I can follow You with everything I have. As much as I want to do all these things, and I love doing these things, they’re not God, they’re not what God wants me to do. I want to follow Him.?
Stasio stressed he is not isolating any of the ministry members from their families, nor is he adamantly trying to recruit, which he was accused of with the new laser tag facility.
‘One of the biggest things is this ideology that we are ripping families apart, and we tell kids not to talk to their parents. They’re not kids, there 30,? Stasio said. ‘The truth of the matter is, a lot of people that I’ve encountered that have a spiritual conversion to Christianity, they have a radical lifestyle change. It’s shell-shocking to people to try and understand. And they’ve tried to integrate that into their families, they’ve pleaded and begged their parents to come and meet their friends, but they refuse, and they are still refusing.?