church//gym: entry02

for awhile I was doing tae-bo videos in my living room
to work up a sweat.
I thought that I was pretty good at them.
one night I was at the gym and saw that there was a tae bo class going on in one of the studios. I peeked through the window in the door, but I was too nervous to go in. it looked like a lot of fun. they were all watching a video and there was a leader in the front of the room calling out encouragements just like billy blanks.
one of the gym workers saw me peeking through the window and he said, “go inside!”
I said, “aww- no thanks…”
he opened the door and shouted “LLOYD! YOU GOT ANOTHER ONE!”
and tried to shove me in.
I ran away afraid. I felt like a middle school boy that was too afraid to go to youth group, even though he really wanted to.


I went next week- Lloyd the instructor had his sparkle lit brightly.
he was like, “GOOD EVENING!
IS IT GOOD TO BE IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD TONIGHT?!
“let’s open with a word of prayer.”
and he prayed with joy- and He thanked God for the joy of being together and healthy.
then he had us all introduce ourselves-
and he remembered all of our names.
while we were working out with the tape,
he walked up to me and said, "you know what you're doing don't you?"
I just grinned.
before and after the tae-bo dvd, we stretched and did aerobics to funky dance music.
it was so much fun-


I went for weeks and weeks. I was like a middle school boy who idolized him middle school pastor and just wanted attention from him. I just wanted to be around Lloyd- his enthusiasm was rubbing off on me. there were a lot of nights where I was too tired to go to the gym, but my wife would ask, ‘aren’t you going to go see Lloyd tonight?” and I’d hop out of my chair and into my gym clothes.
he was always glad to see me and always remembered my name.
and of course, I was always glad to see him.
every now and then he would announce that he was having a sub in the coming weeks- I didn't go on those days- the class was just as much about being with Lloyd as it was being with billy blanks.


so what does this teach me about church?
its always appropriate to be happy to see someone.
its always appropriate to be full of joy and enthusiasm.
as a leader of a group, your demeanor rubs off- and your demeanor and attention can be enough to get someone to decide to come to church.
its important to remember names! and say them!
and its ok to have fun and laugh while you’re leading-
what are you like when you lead- or when you’re at church?
are you down? depressed? emo?
light up your sparkle- and you’ll light up the whole room!


“continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
-philippians 2