Our Pastor Health Luncheon this week was POWERFUL!
Spirits were convicted, hearts were inspired, and God’s temples are ready to be transformed!
Mission accomplished!
We’re en route to our “500 in 5” goal!
Our Pastor Health Luncheon this week was Powerful. MissionFiT’s vision is to impact 500 Christian leaders across the city of Charlotte with wellness in 5 years. Lofty goal but a much needed goal. This past Tuesday, we had the opportunity to meet with some Christian leaders across the city of Charlotte in regards to wellness. One point that was actually brought up by a Pastor in the audience was that “too often Pastors just push their health and wellness aside, moreover, they avoid ministries coming into their church because it’s intimidating and convicting when they as a leader and example they’re not stewarding their temples themselves.” Leaders in the seats tossed in even more devastating Pastoral health stats to what we shared, so they are highly aware of the need. A few you should know:
Over 250 pastors left the ministry every month last year!
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75% are “extremely stressed”.
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54% find the role “completely overwhelming”.
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35% are battling depression.
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The pastoral profession has one of the top 3 suicide rates of any profession.
Only 1 out of every 10 will make it to retirement.
2 Timothy 4:7
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
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A special thanks to Pastor John at Church of the Nazarene for opening up his church to us and hosting us so thoughtfully and thoroughly. We are so grateful.
As usual, Dale Fletcher, of Faith and Health Connection, powerfully opened us up with the deep “Connection between Faith and Health”.
Dale’s over-arching theme is the “WHY” in all of this. Why should we steward our temples well? What are the ramifications if we don’t? What does the Word call us to? Are Pastors exempt from that command? Not at all. Dale brought it home with these three big points:
“Each time I meet with pastors, I’m reminded of the impact that poor health has on them as individuals and on the kingdom of God. Their personal health will impact hugely on the overall health of their congregation.”
Then came ‘THE HOW’, from MissionFiT Founder, Kelsey Elmore.
“Pastors are called to be shepherds to their flocks, but if the shepherd isn’t healthy what will happen to his flock?
What happens if you’re sick?
If you’re tired?
If you’re overly stressed?
If you’re taking time off over and over again for doctor appointments?
Are you really serving to your fullest?
BUT…
What if every shepherd was healthy, vibrant, and thriving in life?
What if every pastor was operating at their best?
What if every Pastor was serving to their full potential?
What would that do for YOU…
YOUR FAMILY….
YOUR CHURCH….
OUR CITY….
HIS KINGDOM!”
MissionFiT focuses on 3 main endeavors – Revive, Restart, Restore.
Kelsey went into sharing about MissionFiT’s intro to wellness program, called “ReStart Your Heart”.
“ReStart Your Heart” is a wellness program built specifically for Christian leaders, a program built to help build them up to be able to withstand the demands and stressors of the job. Interestingly enough, the 2 lead reasons for pastors not pursuing wellness are 1)cost and 2)convenience, so these are two items that were heavily taken into consideration when building this program.
The ReStart program consists of two 60 minute sessions per week for 8 weeks brought to the leader. Key words here “brought to”. We travel to our leaders rather than asking them to travel and stress their day out even more. The program covers a gamut of knowledge, training and support:
- Connection between Faith and Health training
- Assessments
- Goal Setting
- Goal Planning
- Personalized Care Plan
- Nutrition and Wellness Education
- 1 month Meal Plan
- Food tastings
- 80 page Fuel Manual Resource
- Fitness tool for home use, books, and other wellness tools
- Weekly Planning and Accountability
- Physical Training sessions for all levels
- Post Care Planning
After hearing about the details of the program, Pastor Brent Watts of Abundant Life Church shared a short testimonial on his experience through the program.
Pastor Brent opened up with a little chuckle, sharing that he is now a “recovering sugar-addict” thanks to the ReStart Your Heart program. Sounds a little silly but Brent made leaps and bounds of improvement in the nutrition department. He’s also, “according to his new apple watch, completed over 60 days straight of exercise post program and his sleep quality is at 99%”. The reason he decided to jump into this program was a quote that’s stuck with him over the ages:
“When weariness walks in faith walks out.”
Our team closed with a Q&A round table luncheon that was incredibly uplifting and powerful for everyone at the table. The Christian leaders that attended walked away inspired and ready for change and we couldn’t be more joyed. We are continuing the conversations and getting them set to launch the next round of “ReStart Your Heart” in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for our next luncheon, which will be held in South Charlotte in the 2nd quarter.
