As he stood in the parking lot of New Prospect Baptist Church #2, Centre, Pastor Greg Locklear overheard a conversation that would change his life.
“He sure can preach,” Locklear heard one man say. “Yeah. But he sure is fat,” another said.
At 6 feet and 360 pounds, Locklear realized he was known as much for his size as for the fire in his sermons. After a lifetime of struggling with his weight, he had become “the fat preacher.”
That was three years ago. Since then, the 42-year-old has dropped 140 pounds. “Last week, I jumped on the trampoline with my two daughters,” Locklear said.
In August, he started Body 4 Believers, a free health ministry based in Fort Payne, with fellow pastor Danny Flora.
Flora, who also battled his weight, retired from 30 years of pastoral work to help run the ministry. Body 4 Believers is based on the biblical teaching that our bodies are the temple of God, Locklear said.
Body 4 Believers classes are held for an hour and a half one night a week in churches across the state. In four weeks, participants learn everything they need to know about losing weight without sacrificing nutrition. The program stresses a healthy combination of lean proteins, fats, high fiber and basic carbohydrates.
Each class also provides a clear-cut gospel message.
Heather Tierce took the class at Centre’s Grace Pointe Church of God in October. Since then, the self-described “big steak eater” has lost 54 pounds. “I feel better now than I’ve felt in years,” she said.
Tierce, who said she’s done “every diet out there,” had lost 73 pounds before she started Body 4 Believers, but in the classes, she learned she was cutting too many calories because eating right is about energy, not deprivation.
Now Tierce knows how and what to eat and plans to never diet again.
“I don’t see me ever doing anything else,” she said.
Flora, who also teaches Body 4 Believers classes, calls the program “nutritional evangelism.”
Not long ago, he weighed 211 pounds and suffered from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and acid reflux disease.
Within 13 weeks of following the program, Flora, 57, was down to 157 pounds. His blood pressure and cholesterol were under control, and his acid reflux was gone. “I have an energy level that reminds me of back when I was 20,” he said.
Locklear and Flora’s wish is that Christians would take seriously their physical and spiritual health so that nonbelievers will look at them and want the life they have.
“God’s presence is inside our bodies,” Locklear said. “We are the church.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Body-4-Believers/180324178672325.
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