So consider yourself warned…

Many people know that I am a huge fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser. I have watched it since the very first season and I have not missed an episode. It is one of the things that inspired me to put down the bowl of ice cream, get off of the couch, and change my lifestyle. I was borderline obese and I needed to do something. I had tried diets but it was time to change my life if I wanted to lose the weight, keep it off and live for a long time. I found that inspiration while watching The Biggest Loser.

In season 3 of The Biggest Loser I had a fellow youth pastor, that I knew through an online community (YMX), participate in the show as the representative for Maine. His name is Matthew McNutt and you can read his story on his website. This season there is another youth pastor that is participating on the show (and was sadly voted off this last week), whose name is Sean Algaier. It really got me to thinking, that in my limited view of the youth ministry world, there seems to be a lot of overweight youth pastors/workers out there.

I think that is a sad thing. Youth pastors are called to be an inspiration to the next generation and I think that we need to stop limiting that to only spiritual things. I believe that if we truly believe that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit then we need to practice that in how we take care of our bodies. I hope that in my current ministry that I am inspiring my teens to not only to live a godly life, but that I am also inspiring them to live a healthy and full life.

I am so grateful to Matthew and Sean for inspiring many youth pastors to start changing their lives and to start shedding their excess baggage, so that they can be their for their families and for their teenagers long term. I hope that this doesn’t just become a fad that ends up dying out, but I hope that youth pastors, pastor and Christ-followers everywhere take it upon themselves to push themselves and get healthy.

I love what Bob Harper of The Biggest Loser has to say about weight loss, “The key to becoming a big loser is mathematically very simple: Eat less, move more.” And if you need someone to get up in your face and push you, like Bob and Jillian do on the show, the find someone to do that. The most important thing is that you do it. I hope and pray that the Church in America can not only show the world that living for Christ is the best way to live, but I also hope that we can show them that being healthy is also important. And I hope that youth pastors everywhere will take the lead on this.