BODY (of Christ) BUILDING

I want to share with you all this morning about an aspect of our ministry that has really been doing well. About 2 weeks into the semester, one of our students expressed a desire to go to the gym more often. For some reason, it was proposed that we meet early in the morning, so no one had anything going on, to begin our day together training our bodies. It began with myself, Raul, and one of Raul's disciples, Tony. We immediately recognized that it could become a great tool to connect with guys.

A brief word: our one on one discipleships are good, but sometimes for men it is difficult to just sit down face to face and talk about our spiritual lives. FOCUS and other men's ministries have discovered that it is necessary for men to sometimes do things shoulder to shoulder, as men going to battle. Sports, or working out together is a great vehicle for this.

We've been inviting more young men to commit to the gym with us, 7:30am Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There are now 5 of us who are there pretty much every time, then about 5 others who are there every so often. We meet outside the gym and pray together offering our lifts for specific intentions. Then as we lift we spot each other, holding one another accountable to the work we've dedicated ourselves to and supporting each other through encouragement. Disciplining ourselves alongside these men, Raul and I have built up great relationships with them. One of the guys, a sophomore named Vince, has impressed me with his drive and response to challenge. He is in Bible study with John Junghans, my disciple. Because of my relationship built up through working out with Vince, I've noticed his potential for greatness. John and I have been talking about inviting him into discipleship, to complete John's quota of 2 disciples: I disciple John, and he disciples a guy named Nick, and potentially Vince, thus spiritually multiplying.

I was excited yesterday when John (who has been immovable when I try to get him to wake up for workout) saw a great opportunity to invest in Vince by coming to morning workouts. So this Friday John has decided to sacrifice his morning of sleep to come lift, out of love for Vince. He'll be learning discipline by training his own body, but will also be communicating discipleship through his loving sacrifice for Vince's relationship with Jesus.

Another great result of this activity is our visibility to the greater community. The people who work out early are dedicated, usually there very regularly. We've gotten to know several of these people, including the students who work in the rec center. We are able to chat with all these people, and witness to Christ in our lives by our joyful and motivated attitudes. There are a few with whom we've connected well. Andrew and Camillo are grad students who are Catholic and sometimes, if we get to the gym at the same time as us, will pray with us before workout. A good looking, buff stud named Kevin we also found out is Catholic, and we've been inviting him to lots of activities. Now we see him at mass and our Wednesday night dinners alot! It's cool how working out has given us these opportunities to reach out.

In honor of a faithful member of my support team, we've adopted this moto: 1 Cor 6:19: "Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?"...Tone your temple!