Churches Fighting Fat

Pastor Steve Reynolds has lost a lot, and he's happy about it. He proclaims, "I'm Pastor Steve Reynolds, and I'm proud to be a loser." A loser of weight, that is. "I've lost 70 pounds over the past 14 months," Reynolds said. Obesity is now the number one health threat facing Americans, and the faith community has not been immune. A new study has found that Christians are actually fatter than the rest of society. Many churches are now fighting back with the tools of faith and fitness. Once morbidly obese and a yo-yo dieter, Reynolds -- pastor of Capital Baptist Church just outside Washington, D.C. -- says his life changed when he turned away from the fridge and ran to God for help with his weight problem. "I asked God to lead me to a passage in the Bible that I could use to help me get going and stay motivated," Reynolds explained, "and God directed me to Matthew 16, verses 24, 25, 26 -- that portion of Scripture where Jesus said that if you want to live, you have deny yourself, take up the cross and follow Jesus." And follow he did. Reynolds said, "I needed to give up some things that maybe I wanted to eat, and not wanting to exercise." After losing the weight, Reynolds wanted to share his "losing to live" message with his flock and the community. This rally was held to kick off a 22 week blitz to help others achieve what he calls a "Bod 4 God." "We've come up with what we call a "live it" plan, and people are having to come up with an eating and exercise plan, and so people are making individual choices in those areas," Reynolds explained. The other part of the program involves spiritual application. Church member Rindy Dowdy said, "This program is allowing me personally to see what areas I'm weak in, particularly with my faith in God. So that as I'm leaning more on God, I'm leaning less on food." The church sent out 25,000 fliers advertising the "Biggest Loser" program. And not only did people come, many signed on -- as evidenced by the number of people donning "Losing to Live" t-shirts. It's happening down in southern Virginia, too. A crowd turned out for a health seminar at Greenbrier Church in Chesapeake, where getting their bodies moving was part of the overall message of the conference. Associate Pastor Curtis Williams recently began working out, as part of a challenge issued by his pastor. "I wasn't working out nearly as much as I should have been," said Williams, "and probably picked up about 20 pounds or so. So I needed to lose that and just wanted to be physically fit for my kids and my wife -- and as a leader in the church, I thought it was my responsibility." Some have another motivation. One Greenbrier church member said, "The doctor put me on medication and said, 'If you can get your blood pressure down with diet and exercise, I'll take you off the medication, and you'll be back to normal.'" In just a few months, Williams has already seen some pretty dramatic results in his life. He said, "I noticed about six months ago that my breathing was a little bit out of wack. I'd go upstairs and didn't quite feel right. And so definitely over the past three months, dropping a little bit of weight and from the additional energy you get from working out, I definitely feel much better." But despite all the good these faith-based fitness programs seem to be doing, recent studies question whether diets based on religious beliefs really work. To that Pastor Reynolds says, "It's a matter of being consistent in what you choose to do…for me, I needed God to help me, and so what I'm doing is faith based and faith oriented." But everybody knows about those wonderful, high-fat church socials. They're tradition. So how can the church break that habit and start practicing what it preaches about healthy eating? Weight loss therapist Dr. Linda Mintle has spent the past 20 years helping people with weight issues. She says it all comes down to a change in focus. "We could start bringing in healthy snacks of fruits and vegetables; I know it doesn't sound as sizzily to people," Mintle admits, "But if you start substituting the doughnuts for healthier muffins, whole-wheat kinds of things and you start gradually introducing that, you can make a difference in your church and people are still going to eat that food." Mintle believes that with Americans becoming more and more supersized, the climate is just right for the church to address the problem of obesity. "It's so important for the church to be relevant to people's lives. We're talking about an obesity epidemic not only in adults but in children as well," Mintle said. Meanwhile, Pastor Reynolds' goal is to lose even more weight -- for a total of 100 pounds. He's well on his way. And he's not alone. Reynolds said, "It's a growing movement to try to deal with that in the church, and in the community. And I believe God is doing something among His people to get us more healthy." In the end, while most churches pray that their memberships increase, in this case they're hoping their members will get smaller and smaller.