After the Thrill is Gone As important as measuring progress is for newcomers, it’s even more important for CrossFit and Church veterans. Consider this scenario: Hank shows up at the Wooly-Mammoth Church for the first time knowing he needs to make some serious changes in his life. After attending for a few months he buys […]

In this series of posts, I’ve been drawing on my experience from Crossfit to suggest some ways that churches can become more effective in helping people improve their spiritual fitness. You can find all the posts I’ve written related this topic in the Ready for Anything category of this blog. Today’s post is a continuation […]

Many Christians busy themselves with church-related activities that don’t necessarily help them get in better spiritual shape. Week after week, they show up at gatherings, attend small groups, and serve in ministries. Some do it out of habit, and others duty. Many do it for a long time and burn out. One of the reasons […]

One of the reasons CrossFit works is because it makes it easy to define success and chart progress. When you start CrossFit you step on a scale, get your body fat measured, and do a baseline workout to give you a starting point for improvement. The results of these tests are sobering and humbling. Many […]

My wife and I recently enjoyed a week in Spain. We turned our dietary consciences off and ate everything we wanted to, taking full advantage of the exchange rate between American and European calories. We ate more bread, rice, and chocolate in one week than we had in the previous year combined. On our return, […]

In these posts I’ve been applying what I’ve learned about physical fitness from CrossFit to the pursuit of spiritual fitness. Specifically, the need to have a clear and functional definition of (spiritual) fitness. Read Part One Read Part Two Beyond the specific spiritual domains and accompanying exercises, there could be an even simpler, and more […]

The Goal of Spiritual Fitness Most churches have done an excellent job of describing the kind of the church they want to be: open, inviting, relaxed, contemporary, grace-filled, seeker-sensitive, diverse, and kid-friendly. But how many churches have taken the time to describe the kind of disciples they hope to form? CrossFit is not so much […]

The Goal of Physical Fitness One Sunday morning, my nine year old son and I were sitting in the large auditorium of a church building where I was about to speak. As he looked up at the impressive architecture he asked, “What would you do if all of this stuff starting falling down on us?” […]

I saw Mark almost everyday at Starbucks. We sat across from each other in the comfy blue chairs in the corner of the store. We worked on our laptops, cracked jokes, and asked each other ponderous questions. Once a week I’d ask him how much weight he had lost. Each week the number would change: […]