Pastor Reps: Four Ways to Prioritize Physical Health

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 TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS
FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH

THE BODY OF A PASTOR

11

FIRST STEPS FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH

18

THE REWARD FOR HARD WORK

29

WHAT NOW?

35
 THERE ARE
275 MILLION LOST PEOPLE
IN NORTH AMERICA.
Reach these communities today.

START NOW
INTRODUCTION

“There’s so much to do.”

As a pastor or church planter, there is so much to do. The work is

complicated. You are attending to all the common demands of pas-
toral ministry—leading, planning, preparing, counseling, caring—
but that’s not all. You are likely starting from scratch. This means
that there are all sorts of minutia that you must attend to—buying
equipment, finding a building, figuring out what to do with kids,
recruiting help, filing paperwork, and on and on the list could go.
Then, on top of all of that, many church planters are doing this for
the first time, which means they are learning how to be a pastor
and make decisions that they’ve never had to make before. It’s a
recipe for exhaustion.

That’s where I was. I had planted a healthy church, but I wasn’t

healthy. When I look back on my story, I see that the rigors of the
work caused me to take my eyes off some things that mattered.
I was stressed out, physically injured, overweight—the heaviest I
had ever been. I had an unhealthy diet, poor nutrition, little exer-
cise, and little rhythm for rest and recovery. I worked on overdrive
to get all the things done, while overlooking the physical engine
that was driving this activity—my body.

Thankfully, God got my attention.

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My story is not particularly unique, at least not the part about
exhaustion and burnout. Survey church planters and you are
unlikely to find many who would rank physical health at the top
of their priority list. In fact, many would not have physical health
on the list at all. My aim in these pages is to change that. I want to
convince you that your physical health is a priority if you want to
persevere over the long-haul in the good work that God has called
you to as a church planter. I want you to create sustainable pat-
terns for holistic health.

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B I B L I C A L F O U N D AT I O N S F O R
P H Y S I C A L H E A LT H

It’s no wonder that physical health doesn’t show up on the priority

list because it would seem that the Bible does not spend much time
addressing these themes. In fact, one could argue that the authors
downplay physical health. After all, Paul writes that “the training
of the body has limited benefit” (1 Tim. 4:8, CSB). We are prone to
dismiss something that has limited benefit when there is work to
do that is of lasting value, like sharing the gospel, making disciples,
and starting a church.

However, I don’t think Paul’s intention was to minimize physical

health so much as use it as an illustration to show the far surpassing
value of attending to spiritual matters. In the section that follows,
my aim is to show you that a healthy physical body isn’t an enemy
to the soul but that it is a means by which you are empowered and
effective in these spiritual good works.

Think back to creation. God forms His people and places them in a
Garden. In Genesis 1, we simply get the big picture of God’s activity,
but in Genesis 2 the author zooms in to capture the mechanism by
which God creates humans. In verse 7, we read: “Then the Lord
God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed
the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living
being” (Gen. 2:6-7, CSB). There are two actions here. First, God

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forms the physical body of Adam from the dust of the ground and
then, second, God breathes life into him. Theologians spend much
time discussing these aspects of the constitution of man. What
makes a person a person? How do we account for the later writing
that describes the heart, the soul, or even the spirit of man? Are
these distinct facets of humanity?

Let’s lay those questions aside for a moment and simply notice the
obvious point in Genesis 2. God puts people in bodies. Let’s assume
that the “breath of life” refers to the soul or immaterial compo-
nent of a person. Even that facet of humanity is embodied. We
are all embodied souls. While it may be helpful to distinguish the
various facets of humanity, the Bible presents them as intimately
interrelated. You simply can’t talk about the soul of a person with-
out talking about his or her body as well. Or, said another way,
God doesn’t create a world filled with disembodied souls floating
around doing good work in the world. No one has ever done good
work for God without a body. Now, there are certainly people who
have done great things for God without a healthy body, but even
then, the body is the means through which all people engage with
the world. There is no other way.

“NO ONE HAS EVER DONE GOOD

W O R K F O R G O D W I T H O U T A B O DY.”

Additionally, we know that God directs our attention to the fact that
these humans are made in His image, distinct from the rest of cre-
ation (Gen. 1:26-28). At least one implication of this claim is that all
people have worth and dignity. God loves the human form. In fact,

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He calls His creation very good. The psalmist recounts that God has
“fearfully and wonderfully” designed men and women (Ps. 139:14,
ESV). In other places the psalmist extols the glory of mankind: “You
made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and
honor” (Ps. 8:5, CSB). It should not be lost on us that a “little less
than God” is a stunning reality. God looks at these people—these
embodied souls—and speaks words of love and beauty. He does
not merely affirm their souls and degrade their bodies like many
ancient philosophical traditions have done. God is proud of peo-
ple—bodies and all.

It then goes without saying that God’s work in the world is accom-
plished through people in bodies who do good work in the world.
From Moses to Abraham to David and on, the story of God plays
out among real people with real bodies engaged in God’s mission.
These bodies are frail and often prone to waywardness, but this
should not minimize the significance of God’s work through people.

Paul captures this reality in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “Now we have this

treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be
from God and not from us” (CSB). First up, what is the treasure?
In context, the answer is the message of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:1-6).
The treasure is the beauty of what God has done to make His truth
known to us and transform us by the power of His grace. Then,
what are the jars of clay? Paul’s reference here is to people whom
God is transforming and those to whom He gives the message of
the gospel to declare to others. The picture is clear—we are frail,
easily broken, and common. God uses common jars of clay so that
it is clear that any good that comes is produced by God and not by
man (2 Cor. 4:7). This should both humble and excite us. It should
humble us to remember how fragile we are, but it should excite us
to know that God has always chosen to work out His work in the
world through common instruments like us.

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There is one final point that is worth noting in terms of a biblical
foundation for physical health, and it is found in Romans 12 where
Paul exhorts Christians to be transformed by the power of God, to
resist the pattern set for them by the world, and to give of themselves
as living sacrifices to God. It is the picture of the Old Testament
sacrificial system, when sinners would offer an animal to die in
their place. God would see their offering, and if it was done in the
manner He prescribed, He would look upon the sinner with favor
and forgive their sin. Here the sacrifice that is offered isn’t an animal
but the life of those who are seeking to honor God. Notice the exact
language that Paul uses to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice”
(Rom. 12:1, CSB). Why would Paul describe it this way? Simply put—
you can’t offer a sacrifice without your body. The only way you give
your life away for the good works that God has for you to do in this
world is to do so through your body (Eph. 2:10). You offer your body
because it is all you have to offer and, by offering your body, you are
offering your whole self to God—your mind, heart, soul, and spirit
(Mark 12:30).

Let’s attempt to summarize the ground we’ve covered so far:

• All people are created with a body.

• These bodies are an intentional part of God’s good design.

• Though we sin with our bodies, God continues to use the

physical beings of men and women to fulfill His work in the
world.

• God packages His good news message of Jesus in human

bodies.

• People then use these bodies to declare and demonstrate the

message of Jesus.

• As people use their bodies in these good ways, they are

offering a sacrifice to God with their bodies.

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T H E B O DY O F A PA S T O R

Let’s now turn our attention to the work of a pastor or church

planter and discuss five reasons why our bodies matter.

1 . PA S TO R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S H AV E
B E E N U N I Q U E LY S E T A PA R T

We’ve just read through verses that show how God works through
all people. Everyone whom He saves He also entrusts with the
most important message in the world—that Jesus Christ has done
for people what they cannot do for themselves and that, by faith
and repentance, anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord can
be brought from death to life and reconciled to right relationship
with God (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

Pastors and church planters do not have a unique message, nor

are they the only ones who declare this message, but they have
been uniquely set apart by God and by the church to lead out in
God’s mission (1 Tim. 3:1-7). They have the privilege of equipping
others for the work that God has given to all people (Eph. 4:11-16).
Many have chosen to devote their vocational lives to this work,
which often means that they will spend most of their waking hours
focused on this task.

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 “ PA S T O R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S
N E E D T O H AV E H E A LT H Y P H Y S I C A L
B O D I E S S O T H AT T H E Y C A N L E A D
O U T I N G O D ’ S M I S S I O N .”

As a result, pastors and church planters need to have healthy phys-

ical bodies so that they can attend to this important work. It’s easy
to think of the myriad of ways that a lack of health hinders effective
ministry—from chronic pain to obesity to an inability to function
due to exhaustion or weight-related maladies. It would be hum-
bling work to simply quantify the number of hours many pastors
squandered due to these health challenges that could have been
devoted to the work they were uniquely set apart to do.

2 . PA S TO R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S
CARRY SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT

Paul calls the church to bear the burdens of others (Gal. 6:1-10).
Specifically, he writes that those who are strong should bear the
burdens of the weak. Since we are talking about physical health, an
illustration from the gym might help. Imagine a novice weightlifter
getting under some real weight for the first time. Alone, that lifter is
not likely to succeed. The weight could crush him or her. So, there’s
a spotter present. Ideally, the spotter is a strong, seasoned athlete
who can get under the burden of the weight should it become too
much for the lifter. The same happens in the church. Those who
are spiritually strong get under the burdens of new Christians, bro-
ken and wounded Christians, or even those neighbors, coworkers,
or friends who are not yet Christians. And, as you well know, the
weight is heavy. In a world broken by sin, the people around us are
facing some heavy burdens.

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Pastors are strong. This doesn’t mean they are spiritually strong
all the time, but it does mean that God has called them to use their
strength to aid others in fighting sin, pursuing Jesus, and simply
dealing with the complexity of life in a messed-up world. We are
called to get under the burdens of others. Pastors and church
planters will do this over and over again, for decades.

The image of a spotter is again helpful here. Every time that spotter
engages in the burden of another lifter, there is a cost to the spotter.
The spotter expends energy. No, the spotter is not the one lifting
the weight, but as the spotter assumes the responsibility of lending
strength, he or she does so at a cost. There’s a price to pay when
you bear the burdens of others. Pastors know this full well. Church
planters also feel this weight alongside the demands of starting a
new church. And, as we said earlier, many times church planters
are relatively young and inexperienced at carrying the weight
of others. Burdens are always heavy, but when you are new to
carrying them, they feel excessively so.

3 . PA S TO R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S FAC E
A REAL ENEMY

The one who prowls “like a roaring lion” is on the attack (1 Pet. 5:8,
CSB). While these attacks are directed to all of God’s people, there is
danger facing those who are leading the church. Spiritual warfare
is common for church planters, many of whom are ill prepared to
deal with the physical, emotional, and mental toll that the work
can take. When faced with severe challenges, it is common to see
church leaders withdraw, overeat, or engage in frivolous hobbies
to escape the burdens they are facing. The implications for our
physical bodies are clear since the more passive and inactive we
become, the more our bodies suffer.

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The Enemy does not just get in our heads, he also attacks our
bodies. It is common to hear pastors, especially church planters,
recount odd health issues that develop at or around the time they
begin planting a church. Many times, these health issues become
chronic, leading to long-term care, treatment, or medicine. It is also
common to hear church planters whose families face similar phys-
ical ailments that seem to come unexpectedly.

Surely, a planter cannot stop all such ailments. We live in a fallen

world where cancer, chronic sickness, autoimmune disorders, and
a host of other maladies plague all people—believers and non-be-
lievers alike. However, since planters know the physical dangers
that are sure to come, it is imperative that they attend to their
health and control the variables that they can. It would be foolish
to throw in the towel and get sloppy simply because we know that
the Enemy might attack our bodies. Instead, we should expect this
attack and fight through proactive, healthy steps.

4 . PA S TO R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S FAC E
A LO N G J O U R N E Y

On the front end, it can seem like the church planting journey only
takes some three to five years. After all, by that time many church
plants have either crashed and burned or are moving toward long-
term stability. There’s so much that goes into the work in those first
few years that it can be easy to approach them as a sprint.

If you have ever worked out or have taken part in track and field
activities, then you know that pace is a big deal. If you start out too
fast—say trying to run a 400-meter split in record time or tackling
too many burpees in the first minute—you will flame out and have
nothing left at the end. Those who start with a more modest pace will
often catch, and pass, those who come out fast and fizzle at the end.

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Paul describes the entirety of the Christian life using the language
of a race (1 Cor. 9:24-27). The race is not a sprint. The race is a mar-
athon. There will certainly be times and places of immense joy and
victory, but the journey for the Christian is one that can rightly be
pictured as a long grind, a grueling race.

“AT T E N D T O YO U R H E A LT H N O W S O
T H AT YO U C A N L E V E R AG E YO U R 4 0 S ,
5 0 S , 6 0 S , A N D 7 0 S F O R FA I T H F U L
M I N I S T R Y.”

This journey is especially true for pastors and church planters. Not
only are there many years that you will spend on the work, but
the work itself will be difficult. If you are going to hold up under
pressure, you must take care of yourself along the way. This is
even more true for young pastors, who might assume that they
are invincible or that they can get around to health issues at some
point in the future. You, of all people, need to attend to your health
now so that you can leverage your 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s for faithful
ministry. Incidentally, it is often those later years when you have
the wisdom to lead, so it is a shame for many to have this wisdom
packed into bodies that are failing due to lack of care.

5 . PA S TO R S A N D C H U R C H P L A N T E R S A R E
HOLISTIC BEINGS

There is a direct link between physical health and mental, emo-

tional, and spiritual health. This makes sense since, as we have

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seen, people are holistic beings. We can’t separate what is going on
in our bodies from what takes place in our minds or hearts. It’s eas-
ier to think about this working from emotional health to physical
health. Maybe you’ve had a season in life when you were down,
when life seemed overwhelmingly dark. Life was bleak.

“ W E C A N ’ T S E PA R AT E W H AT I S
GOING ON IN OUR BODIES FROM
W H AT TA K E S P L AC E I N O U R M I N D S
O R H E A R T S .”

How did this emotional state affect your body? In almost every
case, there is a direct connection. You struggled to get out of bed or
to focus on your work. Maybe you found yourself consuming an
array of junk food in the hopes that it would act as a pick-me-up.
Even if you were exercising at the time, you probably didn’t want
to go to the gym and may have found it hard to exert yourself even
if you did. This process works in the opposite direction as well.
When your body is broken or hurting, it can be hard to find emo-
tional strength to engage in much of anything. A failing body often
makes minor inconveniences seem like a big deal. Even our time
with the Lord can be frustrating if we are hurting or if we poorly
slept the night before.

So far, we have processed this idea from the negative, but the same
relationship exists positively. When we are healthy—when our
bodies are whole and thriving—we often find that the clouds don’t
seem as dark nor the pressures as intense. We find that we have

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an extra skip in our step, which carries over into other areas of life.
This means that while it might feel like a waste of time to attend to
your body when there are so many other, more spiritual things to
do, it’s actually the case that caring for our bodies is one of the most
spiritual things we can do.

King Solomon makes a point that bears on the current discussion

when he challenges people to sharpen the ax rather than swing
harder (Eccl. 10:10). You can spend a ton of energy trying to cut
down a tree with a dull ax, but if you take the time to sharpen the
ax (which might feel wasteful) you make your work easier. Pastor,
if you want to be good at your work, one of the most important
things you can do is sharpen the ax.

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F I R S T S T E P S F O R P H Y S I C A L H E A LT H

Now that we have considered a biblical foundation for physical

health and benefits that come from being healthy as pastors, let’s
turn our attention to first steps that pastors and church planters
can take to be more intentional in physical health. Before we begin,
it is worth noting that everyone’s body is different and extenuating
circumstances shape what first steps are appropriate for each per-
son. There is often a need for medical professionals to map out a
specific plan for the various factors that shape your situation.

However, most people simply need to take a step in the right direc-
tion. While we can’t prescribe all the nuances, there are certain
things that everyone can do to start moving in the right direction.
In order to do that, I want to share with you some first steps to
re-think and re-arrange life in such a way that you can bring glory
to Christ through your physical health, in the midst of a what is
sure to be a stressful and strenuous pastoring or church planting
tenure.

R E G A I N F O C U S O N YO U R P H Y S I C A L H E A LT H

The first step really does start in your mind. This is where all
change starts. Remember Paul’s words from Romans 12 where he
encourages the church to be transformed by renewing their minds
(Rom. 12:1-2). A mindset shift is required for true transformation to

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happen. This is one key reason we spent so much time discussing
the biblical foundations and motives for healthy living. You must
come to believe these things to be true before you begin to notice
consistent changes in your health.

There are a few strategies that God uses to get our attention. The
first, and most common, is that we crash. For some, this crash
comes when we suffer a heart attack or step on the scales and
notice that we weigh our heaviest weight ever. There might be an
annual physical that reveals a looming crisis if we don’t intervene.
A medical professional might share the news that unless some-
thing changes, we will not live much longer. This is a tool God uses
to get our attention.

Also, God often uses the crash of others—sometime those we love.

This is my story. Just a few weeks after my relatively healthy father
had a heart attack, I sat in my doctor’s office and learned that I had
hereditary high cholesterol. I would need to be on medication the
rest of my life. But the more I researched the medication, there was
an even greater chance I could wind up sick because of it! So, I had to
make a choice. And that choice was shaped by a change in mindset.

It’s also common to hear pastors share that God got them started on
a health journey as the result of losing a loved one or fellow pastor.
In God’s grace, we often have front row seats to the outcome of bad
choices in the lives of others that then force us to take inventory of
where we are heading as well.

Recently, a co-laborer in Christ from my local area suffered a heart

attack and died at 44 years old. He left behind a wife, children, and
a ministry full of people that loved him. When I searched for his
funeral arrangements, I saw a recent picture of him ministering. I
hung my head in sadness. He was the heaviest he had ever been,

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and it was clear that he needed to make some major lifestyle shifts
before it was too late.

God can use the voices of those we love to prod us to engagement

here, too. Many times, a spouse is the first to notice a decline in
health, and she might call attention to some unhealthy patterns she
sees in our lives. This is delicate and risky for her, but it’s another
means God can use to help us see a blind spot that we might have
missed. For me, it was my kids. I love to be involved in my kids’
lives, and this often takes the form of coaching sports. The summer
before my shift happened, I couldn’t even teach the kids how to
run to first base because I was injured and out of shape. I realized
that if I wanted to be active and involved in the lives of my children
for years and years to come, something had to change.

Finally, God can use positive examples to motivate us to take a step

in the right direction. We might see a friend or fellow pastor who
is taking this area of life seriously and see the benefits that come
when our bodies are functioning well. Sometimes these friends can
even call us into patterns of life that are better for us by inviting us
over for a workout or a walk around the neighborhood.

“ W H AT A R E YO U I N DA N G E R O F
M I S S I N G O U T O N I F YO U D O N ’ T G E T
H E A LT H Y ? W H AT A R E YO U AT S TA K E
T O G A I N I F YO U D O ? ”

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Whatever the tool, the first right step is to figure out your “why.”
Why do you want to get healthy? Why must you get healthy? What
are you in danger of missing out on if you don’t? What are you
at stake to gain if you do? When I work with pastors who want
to get healthy, they often, through tears, tell me that they want to
be around to walk their daughters down the aisle, to celebrate 50
years of marriage with their wives, or to serve the Lord at their
best for decades to come. This practice of figuring out your “why”
can help you regain focus on your physical health and can help
you keep your focus on it as well. If you have read this far, you’re
probably thinking about making a change in your health for the
better. I pray these pages serve as another tool that God uses to help
you do just that.

R E -T H I N K T H E R E L AT I O N S H I P B E T W E E N
DIET AND EXERCISE

Next up, we should rethink the relationship between diet and exer-
cise. Both are critically important in the first steps of someone who
wants to take their physical body seriously. My guess is that many of
you have likely experienced seasons where you had spurts exercise
or perhaps you attempted one of the many diet options that seemed
popular at the time. Maybe you got a gym membership. Maybe you
bought a wearable. Often these approaches are short-lived.

A major issue that keeps people from making progress in their

health is the way people think about food. We tend to think that
food’s primary purpose is our joy. Then exercise becomes our
punishment when we’ve enjoyed this good gift just a little too
much. But who likes to punish themselves? We might do it for a
season, even justifying our poor choices today with the thought
that we’ll “work it off” tomorrow. But we’re not prone to regularly
or consistently do things that we think of as punishment.

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What if we shifted our focus on both food and exercise? First up,
food. Food’s primary purpose is to fuel your body. It is true that
God was creative and designed food with all sorts of flavors that
bring us joy, but we eat to get the fuel we need to power our bodies
through life. When we are full of fuel, we are able to do the good
works that bring God glory.

“ F O O D ’ S P R I M A RY P U R P O S E I S TO
F U E L YO U R B O DY.”

The work of pastoring and church planting is strenuous and multi-

faceted. It requires work in and among the community. It often
involves loading and unloading for service projects, setting up and
tearing down for worship services, and hitting the streets to pray
or share the good news. Neither pastoring nor church planting are
spectator sports. We need good fuel to sustain the engine of our
bodies for this work. Not all fuel is created equally. What you’ll find
is that you “feel” better when eating certain foods and avoiding
others. The problem is that the foods that don’t make us feel good
long-term typically make us feel good momentarily. And we’ve
fooled ourselves into believing that the short-term, fleeting feeling is
better than the long-term sustained sense of overall health.

Exercise is a means of strengthening those well-fueled bodies.

We know that exercise is good for us on many levels. It enhances
our main muscle, the heart, and strengthens our ability for labor
Exercise releases hormones that serve as natural pain relievers
that simulate a general sense of well-being. When we exercise, our

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joints stay healthy and we are able to bend and move to meet the
demands of caring for people and engaging in our homes. And,
done right, exercise increases our muscle mass, giving us the
strength to power us through life.

Ultimately, exercise is about enjoying life. God made our bodies

to be capable of doing amazing things. Running, jumping, throw-
ing, pushing, pulling; all of it was meant to bring God glory and
give us joy. No one likes to play a sport at which they stink. But if
you participate in a sport in which you’re well trained, then you
understand the deep sense of the word “enjoyment.” See, I believe
God meant for us to think of ourselves as athletes; those who are
proficient at sports or other forms of physical exercise. Made in the
image of God, our bodies allow us to bring God glory, so we should
train and fuel them for optimal performance.

“ E X E R C I S E C A N B E A T I M E TO
R E F L E C T, P R AY, A N D D E C O M P R E S S
F R O M T H E D E M A N D S O F M I N I S T R Y.”

Another benefit is worth noting. Many pastors find that exercise is a

necessary time for themselves to reflect, pray, and decompress from
the demands of ministry. We all need these types of healthy outlets
to redirect energy in appropriate ways. We can find this through
habits that are for our good, or we will give that energy to some-
thing unhealthy. Mindless scrolling on the internet or pornography
often fills in the gap for those who haven’t learned to direct energy
in a healthy direction. Since many pastors are also parents, exercise

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often provides a respite for them as the transition between ministry
and the home, and many men find that they are far better fathers
and husbands when they get time in the gym.

R E - E S TA B L I S H W H AT YO U T R U LY N E E D

We just demonstrated that food is a God-given gift to fuel your body.

If this is true, then you need to figure out how much fuel your body
needs. This makes sense for all of us who drive a car. We know that
our gas tank holds a certain amount of gas. Once the level reaches
capacity, the extra gas will simply spill over onto the ground. Our
bodies have certain thresholds as well, except when we eat too
much the extra fuel spills over in the form of weight gain. Every
time you eat, your food gets broken down into its basic building
blocks. It is either turns into energy in the form of blood sugar
(fats and carbohydrates) or is used for muscle building/rebuilding
(protein). Anytime you eat more calories than your body needs for
energy or muscle building/rebuilding, the excess travels to your
liver where it is transformed and stored as fat. Important note:
nobody “is” fat. Some of us just have more fat than we need stored
in and around our bodies.

It’s important, then, that we discover the level of fuel our bodies
need. This level will differ from person to person, depending on their
age, gender, height, and other factors. Calories are the foundational
measure for the fuel found in our food. Calories are energy. Energy
in, energy out. It’s simple math: your body will burn the amount of
energy it needs to power it through the day and the rest—the calo-
ries we consume that we don’t need—will be stored as fat.

One of the most enlightening moments for me was to research the

concept of basal metabolic rate (BMR). This number is simply the
number of calories that your body burns at rest, even if you do

24
nothing. Your BMR is the number of calories you burn if you stay in
bed all day. Each person’s BMR differs based on gender, age, height,
and current weight. It also serves as an average and provides a
foundational, meaningful assessment of how much fuel you need
to power you simply to live, much less to do any of the other life
tasks that you might undertake on a given day. Several websites
offer calculators to discover your BMR and figure out your ideal
caloric intake for any given day. All you must do is provide some
basic biometric numbers and you’ll have a really good idea of how
many calories you should be eating. Most online BMR calculators
also have the added benefit of automatically giving you levels
based on the “Harris-Benedict Equation.” This mathematical for-
mula adjusts your BMR based on your level of activity. (The hard
part of it is that you must be 100% honest!)

Once you know your BMR, you are well on your way to healthy
eating. Then your challenge is to limit yourself to the fuel you need.
To do this, you’ll have to work on portion control. Most of us simply
eat too much, too fast. When we eat fast, the signals that tell our
brain that we are full don’t get there in time and we overeat. Also
consider that most portions served in the average restaurant are
far more than we actually need. To combat this, we can make it a
habit of eating, or at least preparing ahead, most of our meals at
home. When we do this with the aid of a digital scale and sets of
measuring cups and spoons, we can accurately track how much
fuel we take in and the calories included.

The other challenge is that most of us eat the wrong things. We fill
our meals and snacks, which are often the size of meals, with foods
that are high in calories but low in the nutrients we need to thrive.
It’s important that we spend time thinking through not just how
much we should eat, but the kinds of foods that have been proven
to help humans thrive. Think “clean.” Clean foods are those with

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little to no processing. If it has a label, comes in a package, and
doesn’t have an expiration date, it’s probably not clean. Here’s the
way I like to think about it: if it is cleared by your doctor, you are
safe eating as much meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit that
fit within your caloric need. What you’ll find is that if you limit
starches, sugar, and saturated fats, you eat a lot more food than you
thought possible while eating “healthy.”

R E - I N V E S T I N YO U R S E L F

Everyone who answers the call to pastor or plant must acknowl-

edge that God has called him then be willing to invest in the process
of preparation, development, and execution for that calling. For
some, this process included seminary, residency, leaving a career,
moving across the country, or giving up what you otherwise had to
say yes to God’s call. And the call to prioritize your physical health
is more of the same. It’s an investment that we make in ourselves
that aids us in the work.

But most pastors must be convinced they not only can but should
invest in themselves and their personal health. They have no prob-
lem working long hours. They have no problem giving up breaks
and meals to have necessary church meetings or to spend time
counseling congregants. Pastors often work full workdays then fill
their evenings and weekends with additional meetings because
that’s the only time members of their church or community can
meet. They feel any “free time” that remains must be spent with
their family.

Family is of primary importance for a pastor. He should attend to

family needs, first and foremost. But I often remind pastors who I
work with that all the good work they are called to, even the care
and leadership of their family, will suffer if they aren’t healthy. If

26
they are sick or dead, they can’t do any of the things that God has
called them to do, let alone to the best of their ability.

“ T H E G O O D W O R K PA S T O R S A R E
C A L L E D TO D O W I L L S U F F E R I F T H E Y
A R E N ’ T H E A LT H Y.”

Unless you have an extensive history in sports or exercise, you may

not know where to start when it comes to getting in shape. Even if
you did, you aren’t as young as you used to be. Investing in a per-
sonal trainer, a nutritional coach, and/or a gym membership might
be exactly what you need to get started and kickstart your health in
the right direction. Many pastors get “sticker shock” when they see
the price tags for these things. Sure, you could scour the internet
and read books for hours to decide what you need to do. But with
all these investments, you are not just paying for knowledge, you
are paying for time.

As you get in shape, you’ll not only be able to get more work done
faster, but you’ll also have an endurance that pays dividends. Like-
wise, as we get older, we come to realize that we can either spend
money on medical bills as they pile up to steal the consequences of
poor diet and exercise or we can invest the money in our health.
We may end up breaking even financially, but you can’t put a price
tag on feeling well.

External motivation is what most of us need to get moving. Many

people believe that if they want to see health changes, then they

27
must change their diet and exercise. That’s only mostly right. For
most people, diet and exercise is something that changes easily and
in both directions. So, if we are going to see real, lasting change, we
need to change a third element. We need to change our discipline.
We are not good at self-control in these areas or else we would
have found mastery over these areas of life already. It can be a
source of motivation to have a class to attend, an app to log in to,
or a coach or nutritionist to meet with for a while as you start out.
Again, none of this will be free, but you shouldn’t see this as an
optional extra. Money spent here is a valuable tool to making, and
keeping, you healthy.

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T H E R E WA R D F O R H A R D W O R K

People are motivated by reward. There’s nothing to be ashamed of

here. Even the Bible speaks about the eternal reward that awaits
believers who preserve in the faith (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:8). We can
go astray if we pursue the wrong types of rewards, but healthy,
God-honoring rewards are carrots that cause us to take good
steps forward. If you start taking some of these steps, what type of
reward might you find?

YO U ’ L L B E A B L E TO TA K E M O R E S T E P S

Little steps in the right direction, over a long period of time, result
in significant change. It is easy to think that these little steps we’ve
suggested don’t matter much. After all, it often takes a while to see
any real change in our weight or ability in the gym. The reward
doesn’t have to be that you hit your weight goals tomorrow or
that you beat your squat max from senior year in high school. The
reward for work is that you are prepared to tackle more work in
the future.

Weightlifting is a good picture here. Let’s imagine that you can bench
press 200 pounds for one repetition. No one in their right mind is
walking into the gym and trying to bench 250 pounds the next week.
It’s too big of a jump. Instead, we work hard to add weight gradually
or to add a single rep here or there. Over the course of a year, those

29
little 5-pound plates or single reps here or there add up, and we find
that we are far stronger than we once were.

When I started on my fitness journey, I could only do three band-as-

sisted pull-ups (with three bands!). As I trained, I got stronger. I
moved from three to two bands, then two bands to one. I did all
sorts of other back exercises: ring rows, renegade rows, bent-over
rows with bands, dumbbells, and barbells. Today, it is not uncom-
mon for me to do a workout with 100 pull-ups, often while wearing
a weighted vest.

The process we’ve outlined throughout these pages works the same
way. You know where you are. You know what a 200-pound bench
press or band-assisted pull-up represents for you. And you know
what a small step would look like for you. Take that step and look
forward to the rewards that you will be able to take a bigger step at
some point in the future.

YO U ’ L L H AV E M O R E C O N F I D E N C E

Health breeds confidence, and what pastor doesn’t need more

confidence when he stands before groups to preach each week,
leads meeting after meeting, or goes out in the community to build
relationships and share the gospel? Confidence comes in two ways.
First, we find confidence when we take steps that we know we
should take. Especially if we’ve put something off for a long-time,
there can be this nagging sense of shame and guilt we feel because
we can’t seem to get our act together. Once we move, however, we
begin to find some wind at our back which reminds us that we can
change.

Also, we get confidence when we start to look and feel better. This
won’t happen overnight, but you will be surprised at how quickly

30
you will start to see changes in your body and your energy levels
when you begin to take physical health seriously. You’ll see confi-
dence rise when you begin to carry around a few less pounds and
are able to fit into clothes that you’d given up on. People will notice
and make encouraging comments. And that encouragement fills
you with courage to keep going.

But it’s not just about looking better. It’s also about stepping out
in all your gifts. During my early days of planting, when I began
putting on weight, I became a wallflower. Once the life of the party,
ready and eager to engage with people, I found myself introverted
beyond my normal personality levels. I hung back instead of step-
ping out, not taking the opportunities God was placing in front of
me because I wasn’t comfortable with how I felt or looked. As crazy
as it might sound, even my personality type assessments shifted
for several years. But when I shed the pounds, it was more than
just physical weight. The emotional, mental, and spiritual baggage
I was carrying around got thrown off too. And as it did, I became a
better version of myself all around.

YO U ’ L L S L E E P B E T T E R

Sleep is a big deal, especially for pastors and church planters.

We have many thoughts in our brains all the time. That looming
meeting or hard conversation. The person who just left the church
blames us. The big decision to make about finances and facilities.
It can be tough to get the RPMs of your mind to slow down enough
at night to rest. Some even find themselves cutting corners to save
time by staying up far too late or getting up too early, leaving little
time in the middle for sleep. This challenge is compounded by the
“ever on” nature of pastoring. You simply never know when a call
will come in that you need to attend to, and this reality can make
you anxious throughout the night.

31
Diet and exercise help sleep tremendously. When you exert your-
self through the day, your body finds it more natural to unplug at
night. When you aren’t bloated from overeating, you tend to sleep
without as many interruptions.

This is either a vicious cycle or a glorious one. If you don’t eat well
or exercise, then your sleep is broken and you don’t want to eat
well or exercise the next day. But if you do eat well and exercise,
then your sleep improves, which empowers you with a mentality
that wants to engage again the next day. Ask any professional in
this area and they will tell you sleep has more to say about our
physical health habits than we often admit.

YO U ’ L L H AV E G R E AT E R C A PAC I T Y F O R
H A R D WO R K

Pastoral work is hard. You are simply never going to hit a time
when it feels like you hit cruising altitude and you can just sit back
and take a nap. Pastors and church planters, especially, are often
built with an innate drive for more. So even when things seem
established, they are prone to blow something up for the sake of a
new challenge.

You need broad shoulders to sustain this work. Pastors need sharp
minds to know how to help people, communicate truth effectively,
and think clearly. It’s hard to pastor when you live in a perpetual
mental fog.

Diet and exercise are steps to broaden your shoulders. For some,
their shoulders will literally get big, but that’s not what we’re really
driving home here. Regardless of your muscle mass, you will find
that when you intentionally give of yourself to tackle something
hard, like a 30-minute exercise class, you come out the other side

32
of that work motivated to win in other areas of life as well. And,
as pastors get older, this intentionality becomes all the more nec-
essary. As you age and your body declines, you’ll need this extra
jolt of energy in order to sustain the level of hard work you put in
when you were in your 20s or 30s.

YO U ’ L L H AV E WAY S TO I N V I T E OT H E R S TO
J O I N YO U

Finally, healthy living is a communal project. Fitness groups have

made their mark by creating pseudo-church communities built
around exercise. There is something powerful about a group of
people tackling something hard together and cheering one another
along as you do. People from diverse walks of life and backgrounds
often unite around a shared goal to get healthy.

“ H E A LT H Y L I V I N G I S A
C O M M U N A L P R O J E C T.”

Church planters can leverage this in numerous ways. First, they can
join a gym or a workout group in town where they are a nobody and
simply must do the work to build relationships. It’s amazing how
sweat can forge bonds and open conversations with people about
big, important life issues. Planters can also use their homes for this.
Many planters find this to be a valuable inroad to get to know their
neighbors. If they can create a simple conversation about health,
then it becomes much easier to invite someone to go for a run with
you or to join you in the garage for an evening workout.

33
These relationships are fertile soil for gospel conversations. You
have a ready-made chance to share with someone else why health
matters to you. Topics of work and your role as a pastor are sure
to come up. And, for many the only mental image they have of
a pastor is the obese middle-aged man who overeats and never
exercises. Simply by being around you they are given a chance to
reshape that stereotype.

Finally, pastors often find this to be a family project. Many men see
that they’ve neglected their physical health far too long and want
to help their children avoid such a fate. Rather than binge-watch-
ing the latest streaming hit series, what better way to form bonds
with your son or daughter than to get them in the gym and exercise
together. Particularly as children move into the teenage years, it
can become a real value add to get a win with them through work-
ing out together.

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W H AT N O W ?

Over the last several pages, we have attempted to answer four

questions:

1. Why does the Bible suggest that physical health matters?

2. Why should pastors and church planters get healthy?

3. What are some first steps they can take?

4. What rewards should they expect from the work?

We want to see healthy and whole pastors. We hope that something

has stirred you and you want to get moving in the right direction.

So, what now? In the testimonials that follow, you can learn from
other pastors as you consider what steps you can take to prioritize
your physical health. Again, remember that no two individuals are
alike, and a medical professional can help assess what’s best for
you. Don’t go at it alone! Seek accountability and encouragement
to create sustainable patterns for holistic health.

35
“I had reached rock bottom. I was the heaviest in my life at 339 pounds
and knew I had to make a change. I couldn’t even give my kids a bath
because it hurt so bad to get on my knees. I was a mess and needed help.

I worked with an online personal trainer who became one of my dear-

est friends. He encouraged, challenged, and even gave me tough talks. I
wouldn’t trade it for the world. I am in a much healthier place now. We
still talk weekly, and I know had God not placed him in my life at that
divine moment, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m forever grateful.”

Bryan Ayer, Lead Pastor of Holmes Avenue Baptist Church

“When I joined the staff of our church, I felt a nagging concern that
I wasn’t above reproach because of my health. I knew I needed to
change, and three keys made it happen. I needed examples to help me
believe it was possible to lose weight and get in shape, I needed help
crafting an eating plan that was sustainable long-term, and I needed to
find an exercise I didn’t hate. With these three keys in place, I lost 45
pounds, have kept it off for 4 years, and have never felt better.”

Vince Bissey, Lead Pastor of Requiem Church

“Throughout my adult life, I remained active doing short triathlons and

half Ironman races. In my late 40s, my weight began to increase no
matter how much cardio I did. I needed to make a change.

Over Christmas break in 2014, I went to a CrossFit gym, tried it for two
weeks, and was hooked. It’s perfect for my personality. I go to the gym,
and they tell me what to do. And I do it with other people, which makes
me work harder.

I also focused on my diet and followed a simple plan where I counted

my macros and adjusted the number of calories as I lost weight. It was
slow and steady. I have kept most of the weight off and know what to
do when I need to shed a few extra pounds.

36
Lastly, I have a group of guys who keep me accountable. We text each
other almost every day about what we did at the gym and how it’s
going. I’m finding that is a sustainable plan I will be able to carry out as
long as God has me here on this earth.”

Charles Campbell, Co-Director of Regional Equipper Team,

North American Mission Board

“In 2018, I was the unhealthiest I had ever been. I had experienced a
difficult season of ministry. I was stressed out, emotionally exhausted,
discouraged, and overweight. I wanted to change, but I couldn’t seem
to muster up the strength to get started.

I found help, encouragement, coaching, and accountability through a

Christian fitness coaching ministry. The group sessions were incredibly
informative. The meal plans were based on my own preferences and
patterns. And the people in my cohort became family who encouraged
me and who received my encouragement.

I lost 25 pounds, and, when things began changing physically for me,
I discovered that they also began changing emotionally, mentally, and
spiritually as well. My encouragement would be to find the process
that works for you and find friends who will be constant sources of
encouragement for the journey.”

Rayden Hollis, Lead Pastor of Red Hill Church

“A few years back, I realized the need to invest in my physical health.

I have always been an active guy, but my wife, my kids, and pastoring
were taking a toll on my body. Or perhaps better said, I had begun
ignoring my physical health. So, I decided to act.

I know how important accountability and encouragement is in our

Christian walks, so I sought out something similar for my physical
health. I joined a PastorFit Cohort to jumpstart my fitness journey.

37
This program laid out both diet and exercise plans catered specifically
to me and provided health education and accountability. I liked it so
much that I signed up for personal training for the rest of that year to
continue to implement the habits and change I was hoping for. All this
was huge for me in losing 50 pounds as well as having more energy for
my family and the church for the long haul.”

John DeLuca, Executive Pastor of Ministries of Harmony Bible

Church

“I weighed over 300 pounds and was diagnosed with diabetes. I had
low energy and felt unhappy with my appearance and frustrated that
I could not enjoy activities with my kids because I was out of shape. I
knew my weight was impacting my witness.

I prayed and cried out to God for help. Some church planting friends
introduced me to Greg Oraham and PastorFit. Greg became my coach
and provided me with a customized and sustainable nutrition and
training plan based on my goals and preferences. I followed the plan,
lost 80 pounds, and the diabetes diagnosis was reversed. MyFitnessPal
was instrumental in keeping on task with nutrition, and I also found
Breaking the Stronghold of Food by Michael Brown and Fit For the
Kingdom by Charles Brown to be helpful reads.

Becoming fit made everything in my life better. But in transparency, I

continue to struggle with the temptation to overeat. I am in a holding
pattern, not continuing to gain, but not losing any weight either. I am
confident I will turn a corner again soon and be back on track.”

Rusty Gunn, Pastor of Church That Matters

“My journey to a healthy lifestyle was influenced in large part by the

book The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran. Previously, I attempted to
set annual goals. At the start of a new year or on my birthday, I would
say things like, ‘I’m going to lose weight this year,’ or, ‘This is the year

38
that I’m going to start working out.’ Because I had an entire year to
accomplish my goal, I didn’t work with much intensity.

The challenge of The 12 Week Year is to set short-term goals that

you attack with greater urgency because of the shorter timeline. Three
months before my 50th birthday, I committed to working up to a 5-mile
run and losing 28 pounds. On my birthday, I weighed 25 pounds lighter
and ran 6 miles. To keep excelling, I committed to running a half mar-
athon. I’m on pace to accomplish that goal, and I’m now considering
what my next goal will be. I’ve found that very specific short-term
goals keep me focused on long-term health.”

Matt Marrs, Send Network Midwest Regional Director, North

American Mission Board

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