Pastor-Power: The Fuel For Fitness Ministry

LIVING WELL FITNESS CENTER, Kalamazoo, Michigan –

Like so much in life most problems have a solution, you just have to find it and embrace it. For many local populations a major problem affecting them is poor health. The solution that whole communities are discovering, is found in church-developed fitness ministries. However, before entire neighborhoods and cities can experience vitality and health through these comprehensive fitness facilities, someone else has to first recognize the need and identify the solution. That person is the church pastor. A pastor’s leadership fuels a fitness ministry from inception, through development and into long-term community impact.

One of the most evident examples of this leadership by a Christian church pastor is found in the Southwest Michigan City of Kalamazoo. Pastor Addis Moore of Mt. Zion Baptist Church recounts how he, like other pastors first caught a vision for this ministry. He says, “I noticed the health condition of our congregation was needy. Members had kidney failure, high blood pressure and more. I was doing funerals regularly and came to the conclusion that through exercise and proper diet many of these health conditions could be positively affected. To me it was obvious that the Bible gives clear instruction to take care of the total body. So, I told my congregation that we were going to do everything we could.”

That “everything” started with a simple yet powerfully uniting group activity. Moore shares, “We organized a Prayer & Health Walk. We decided on Wednesday nights we would have prayer specifically for health. Then, to really give our faith feet, we would walk three miles. We wanted to demonstrate that in addition to simply being faithful to pray we could also embrace God’s plan for us to be actively engaged.” Most church leaders would be skeptical that a three-mile walk would be something many church members would want to do – especially if those members are dealing with health concerns. However, a pastor that works hard to listen to God and without reservation demonstrates obedience with passion, finds that God’s faithfulness is nothing short of amazing. The pastor recalls, “We had eight-hundred attend that first time. It showed me they were ready to do something.”

What did it take for this congregation to change from their physical inactivity that placed them at high risk for poor health and even death? They needed to catch a genuine vision that was embraced by the highest level of their church leadership – the pastor. For Addis Moore he wanted to be totally open, “I had to be transparent about my own health needs and condition. I wanted to become actively involved in fitness myself. We are a life-application church. So from that perspective I knew we could bring that kind of spirit to this work. As we did, other church leaders became involved and rallied around me.”

A pastor’s level of involvement will change as a fitness ministry develops. Moore recalls, “In the beginning, to keep momentum going we had the Prayer & Health Walk every week. We started that in August and then in February – six months later we had the facility open. We had a blowout opening inviting the mayor, city officials and media. After the opening I committed to exercising in the gym weekly for that entire first year. They saw the need, since it is a community center, to have community involvement. So they have fitness center boards that involve community members.

Ultimately Pastor Moore has found that their fitness ministry has become much more than a solution to the health needs of his congregation. He says, “We are really about becoming what God wants us to become. We believe this is one of our first ministries to spring off of our church and provide a benefit to the community including employment to individuals. It gives us a broader look at what ministry really is. This moves us into the application of why we do church. If we really want to live out the teachings of Christ the way He intended it has to be beyond the church walls and with the power of God.”

The power of a pastor to fuel a fitness ministry is created by bringing strong leadership and passionate vision to a church congregation. Moore states, “My job is to take members to places they would not normally go. We made this ministry a spiritual matter. I concentrate on building individuals and then releasing them to serve.”