Launching Faith and Fitness Program
I have started and am continuing to run a program at my local church called “Faith and Fitness,” where along with my wife (Bodyspace: judimax) we work to help educate people on what is needed to lose weight and to achieve a higher degree of fitness so that they can enjoy a much better quality of life, especially as they get older. We teach about of the need for proper nutrition and what and how it pertains to a achieving and maintaining a healthy body, weightlifting and the positive effects for both men and women and about cardio and how aerobic exercise helps and should be done.
In the course we also talk about what the bible has to say regarding our health and fitness, and where in the bible to find those teachings and how they are still applicable even in these modern times. Hence the name, “Faith and Fitness.”
The program has been receiving amazing reviews not only by the participants, but also by the Senior Pastor who has sat in on a number of the sessions. These reviews have lead people to ask us to put the entire course on DVD along with the accompanying workbooks, so that they can be implemented in and by as many churches and organizations that wish to employ the course themselves.
Both my wife and myself feel truly honoured as well as being incredibly humbled that our course has been received so well and that so many people of all age groups, which run the gamut from 16 to 82, have seen fit to attend the course and to offer up such positive and at times emotionally stirring reviews.
Our church has honoured us by including Faith and Fitness as part of their non-profit foundation (The Trinity Foundation,) which means that now when people donate to help us further this cause they can and will receive a charitable contribution, tax-deductible receipt, which we feel will go along way toward helping us take this program to as many churches and organizations as possible, hopefully right across North America. There will of course need to be funds raised, but the amount is not staggering and we believe that with the Lord’s help we will be able to raise enough to be able to start moving forward, hopefully before the end of the summer.
Ever since loosing my leg, coming back from the brink of suicide and finding renewed life through the help of the Lord I have been searching for a way to help others, especially folks who like me have been frustrated, even to the point of deep and dark depression at not being able to lose weight and get into better shape and I am incredibly excited that I may now have found a way to assist them in that endeavour.
I am writing this blog to share my excitement with my Bodybuilding.com friends because without Bodybuilding.com and a lot of the support I received through my bodyspace I would not have had the courage to even try, let along to go forward with this program.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this program and any suggestions you might have will be warmly welcomed.
Thank you Bodybuilding.com folks.
Since I first wrote this I have been contacted by a few Bodybuilding.com members who said that just in case people wanted to support the Faith and Fitness program, I should at least put up where they can send their donations.
I have included the address of my church and the name of the foundation and
I thank everyone for his or her wonderful support and may the Lord bless you all.
Mailing Address:
Trinity Foundation
c/o Trinity Baptist Church
1905 Springfield Road
Kelowna, BC, Canada
V1Y 7V7
Make cheques or money orders out to:
Trinity Foundation
Re: The Faith and Fitness Program
March 14, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Kudos to you & your wife. A great way to share your passion & help others at the same time. We hinder our own abililty to serve Him & live a life well lived, by not treating our body as the holy temple that scripture says it is.
It can be easy to turn this fitness thing into an idol. But when kept in proper perspective, to use it to enrich our lives, it’s a great resource to a better & more fulfilling life.
March 15, 2009 at 8:18 am
Capt, if you could post a way to contribute, I think several of us would be interested in doing so to help you create the program. It’s a program I would certainly like to introduce to my church and I don’t know of a more inspirational example to lead such a program than you and your wife.
March 15, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Check out the first part of Deuteronomy, Chapter 4, Verse 9, which says in part, " … take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously…." Modern biblical commentators suggest that this verse declares that smoking and unhealthy eating violate the laws of the Bible. I must admit, however, that the classical reading of this verse does not relate it to good physical health, except to say that one should take care of his soul as much as he does his body. This verse is not one of the 613 commandments God in the first 5 books of the Bible says Jews must follow. Nonetheless, you may want to consider adding this verse to your list.