Union Hill Baptist Church, Oneonta, is still sitting on the same soil it was in January.
But that hasn’t stopped it from covering miles and miles of ground this year.
Ever since the church started its “All to Jesus 2015 Spirit-Soul-Body” emphasis Jan. 1, its people have walked, run, biked and swam a cumulative total of more than 26,000 miles — more than the distance of the circumference of the earth.
And it’s rocked their world, Pastor Bill Barnett said.
“It’s been remarkable,” he said. “We started last January and our goal was to do three things — have the Lord impact our church physically, spiritually and in our relationships.”
Personal testimonies
All three of those things have happened, he said. “If you could see the testimonials people write each quarter when we write down on cards what this journey has meant to them.”
One person who struggled with health issues had lost weight and had gone five weeks without seizures. Another wrote that the emphasis had fostered more dependence on the Lord than ever before.
And more people than ever walked their way into the aisles, pews and classrooms of the church.
“One of our commitments has been to participate more faithfully in worship and Sunday School attendance,” Barnett said. “Back in September, August and July, we were in double-digit growth for both of those. It’s had a lot of really good impact.”
And setting measurable goals has spurred them further than they ever thought they’d go, he said.
First they set a goal of walking to Jerusalem by Easter — roughly 6,500 miles, Barnett said. “And we decided to keep going.”
By September they made it to Hawaii, studying and praying for some of the countries they were “walking through” along the way.
And on Nov. 15, the church celebrated “Around the World Sunday,” the day they finally made it back home.
Sanctified together
“It started out as encouragement to go deeper spiritually, exercise and eat well, and it turned out to be something more than we ever imagined,” Barnett said.
They started with 1 Thessalonians 5:23 as their base — “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Those three parts — spirit, soul and body — all need to be sanctified together, Barnett said.
“Two years ago I was part of a ministers’ health emphasis at the hospital, and they encouraged a group of 20 ministers to participate to get ourselves in
a regimen and routine of health,” he said.
“I really wanted to pass that on to the church family.”
And folks committed to join him.
It’s been great, he said.
“And we’re going to continue — it’s been too healthy and too good for us (to stop),” he said.
From youth to senior adults, church members have taken their fitness to heart, both spiritually and physically, Barnett said.
While setting physical goals and a church attendance challenge, they’ve been memorizing Scripture together as a church.
“And other great things have happened too,” he said. “For example some of our ladies have started some low-impact aerobics and a Beth Moore study on Tuesday mornings. And we want to keep that going.”
Viva Sligh, who leads the aerobics class, agreed.
“This emphasis has been a very good thing for our whole church, and I hope we can keep doing it,” she said.
“It’s been good for everybody. We’ve been studying the Bible and getting healthier. It’s not that we’ve all lost a lot of weight — it’s that we’ve all become more conscious about what we’re doing and how we’re taking care of ourselves.”
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