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A workout for body and soul

Several congregants meet weekly at CrossPointe Church in Wesley Chapel to flex their muscles and study the Bible. "You have to work those spiritual muscles," one participant says.

By MINDY RUBENSTEIN
Published October 16, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - Pastor Bruce Moore and several congregants stretched to the sounds of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl on Tuesday evening. One of a dozen small prayer groups offered by CrossPointe Church in Wesley Chapel, this one mixes exercise and prayer.

"The Bible is big on developing the whole person," said Moore, who leads the 2-year-old church off Old Pasco Road. "I think one has a connection to the other," he said of prayer and exercise.

The group includes about eight people ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s who meet for an hour. Typically, the first half of the meeting includes a guided Bible study session and discussion. The second half of the class includes aerobic exercise led by Warner Roberts, a congregant who works for Corporate Fitness Works.

The church, which falls under the Baptist umbrella but considers itself "multidenominational," offers a preschool. There is child care during the evening class.

Called "hometeams," other small prayer groups meet in members' homes throughout Pasco County, including neighborhoods such as Stagecoach Village and Lexington Oaks, as well as in local restaurants.

The fitness hometeam meets on Tuesdays at the church, as does the financial hometeam, which mixes Bible study with budgeting help, offering the "Bible's view of financial fitness."

Of the exercise class, Moore said, "We all internally are praying for help from God to make it through."

Javier Lugo enjoys the small group format because it gives him a chance to ask questions and learn from others. Tuesday is his day off from work, so he attended the fitness Bible study class, though he came in jeans, thinking he would just catch the prayer portion.

"I get a chance to learn from everybody else," he said. "I can raise my hand and say, 'I have a question about this.' "

Lugo, 35, works for Progressive Insurance and also has a business drawing caricatures.

"It calms me down," he said. "It just makes me feel better."

Heather Moore, the pastor's wife, attends the fitness prayer group and also leads a hometeam for women.

"I really think that there are a lot of similarities between spiritual exercise and physical exercise," she said. People do physical exercise to maintain their weight and a healthy heart, she said, and "you have to work those spiritual muscles."

"When you combine the two together in one hometeam, you get the best of both worlds."

[Last modified October 15, 2006, 20:10:56]