Overweight Pastors – Pastors Gone Wild (Part 4)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A few years ago I was visiting another church, and once the worship began I was struck by an odd sight. The worship singers, ranging in age from their 20’s to 50’s, were all significantly overweight. Now I really don't care about a person's weight personally, and never have, but it did seem a little odd to me.

The whole time I couldn’t focus on the words to the songs as these three people squeezed together on the tiny stage to lead us in worship. I looked around to see if anyone else was tilting their head to the side, puzzled at what they saw on the stage. Finally I leaned over to my friend that had invited me to that church and jokingly asked, as a struggling and proud member of Weight Watchers myself, “Did your Weight Watchers support group check in for your worship team?”

What happens when the staff members on your stage are overweight?

1. It affects non-Christians who attend
Sure, Christians are trained not to judge people, but when someone on the stage can’t control their diet and lifestyle, it makes people checking out the church wonder if they can trust what else these people have to say.

2. It affects the Christians in the church
Overweight people on the stage send a signal that the leaders of this church have no self-control. I’m fairly certain that it implicitly gives people permission to do the same. I know this is the case because when I’m around churches where people on the stage are physically fit, it inspires me to do likewise. I assume it works in reverse.

Pastors, we have to understand that the image we ourselves project as church leaders is just as important as the programming itself. Churches that do evangelism right spend countless man hours and dollars creating compelling services – lights, stage, video, drama, experiential elements, etc. What we pastors often fail to realize is that we are part of that presentation. Shouldn’t we put the same amount of planning and intensity into our own presentation as well as the other elements?

Here’s the sad part of all of this: I know all this and I’m still 25 pounds overweight. I know this to be true because (1) I weighed myself the other day and (2) while I’m shaving my daughters will come up behind me, grab my chest and jokingly yell “moobies!” (a.k.a. – “man boobies”).

I’ve hung around pastors for years now, and unfortunately carrying a few extra pounds is common for those behind the pulpit, and it’s not because we’re lazy.

Why are so many pastors overweight?

1. Like so many with corporate jobs, we work long hard hours.
I work on average 65-70 hours a week, every week. Our main problem is there’s always one more thing to do, one more person to help, so given the choice, we so often sacrifice time for taking care of ourselves for helping other people.

2. At least 25 hours a week of what we do is sedentary.
We spend countless hours behind the computer monitor doing sermon writing and Bible-study creating kinda work. And what do we do to keep the energy flowing while we’re thinking and typing? You guessed it. We eat.

3. We’re flippin stressed out.
If you want to know who’s most likely to go postal in your community, just look at that guy behind the pulpit. Problems. Complainers. The giving is down. Attendance is low. This family has this problem. That family is saying this about you. These people are unhappy. The nutty fundamentalist pastor down the street is talking smack about your church again. It’s unbearable at times. So what do we do to reduce the stress? We eat, or at least I do.

No wonder so many pastors I know are overweight.

So pastors, let’s make a commitment to one another that we’re going to change this. Let’s trust that by taking the time to take care of ourselves, God will pick up the slack.

And let’s trust the people we serve, that when they see us in the gym they’ll understand the importance of what we’re doing and support us in our efforts to stay fit and healthy for life.

We can do this.

(An afterthought: please understand I am only talking to pastors on this post. And I am in no way referring to pastors who have thyroid problems, etc., and medically have problems losing weight. I have a good friend who is in this situation and he explains to his congregation, "This is my cross" and they love him because of his honesty. The last thing I want to do is add more guilt to anyone. I'm talking specifically to pastors who can and should lose weight by exchanging their sedentary and workaholic lifestyle for one of proper nutrition and exercise).


Read other posts in this series:
Pastors Gone Wild – New Series Begins Today
Why Pastors Yield To Sexual Temptation (Part 1)
Does Your Pastor Really Believe In Hell? (Part 2)
Effeminate Pastors (Part 3)
Overweight Pastors (Part 4)
People Pleasing Pastors (Part 5)