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[Mike Abendroth]

Prof tries to help Baptists improve health 




Posted on Jul 18, 2007 | by Connie Davis Bushey/Tennessee Baptist &
Reflector

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (BP)--Southern Baptists are 30 times more likely to be
obese than non-Christians and are the most obese of any denomination studied
in the United States, according to a study released by Purdue University in
2006. 

Jim Florence is aware of this study. He keeps up with academic studies
through his work at East Tennessee State University, where he is associate
professor of public health. 

But he is more concerned about the trends reflected by this and other
studies because he himself is a Southern Baptist and feels called by God "to
help Baptists improve their health," he said. 

Florence began his own study of the health of Southern Baptist ministers in
California with his doctoral dissertation 26 years ago. 

One way he tries to help his fellow Southern Baptists is by working with the
Holston Baptist Association (headquartered in Johnson City, Tenn.) to help
the roughly 100 ministers in the association assess their health. His wife,
Annette, who also holds a doctorate in public health, assists him. They are
members of Calvary Baptist Church in Erwin, Tenn. 

Too many Southern Baptists and especially ministers are "exhausted,
overweight, and sometimes smoking," he said. 

Florence is passionate about this subject for several reasons, including a
personal one. His brother died of a heart attack at age 37. The death was
one of the motivating factors for Florence to enter public health. 

"My heart is for Baptists to be healthy and live out our full number of days
... and be good stewards of what God's given us," he said.

Seventy-five percent of health problems that lead to premature death are the
result of lifestyle, he said. 

"If we know that then we ought to be able to slow down a lot of the
premature death in our country," he said. 

Southern food -- particularly fried food -- is a factor, since most Southern
Baptists live in the South. Southern cuisine has been a problem for the
region for years. Pentecostals at one time were the most obese denomination,
and that is partly related to the fact that most Pentecostals live in the
South, he said. 

Tennessee is 47th in ranking of the 50 states in terms of the health status
of its citizens, according to the United Health Care Foundation, Florence
said. 

"Our pastors are serving people with the greatest needs," he said. That
means that as Florence helps Southern Baptist ministers, he is helping those
who are helping the most needy," he added.

Ministers, he said, have lives "which are very demanding in the best of
times," he noted. "The health demands on their own personal bodies are often
set aside for the demands of the body of Christ," he said, referring to the
congregation. 

Florence encourages people to try some healthy approaches to life, "even if
you live in the South, even if you like biscuits and gravy. 

"I want to challenge God's people to take seriously the call to Romans
12:1," which calls Christians "to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God." The Bible describes the human body as the
temple of the Holy Spirit, he noted. 

The body produces 10 milligrams of cholesterol for every excess pound, he
said. Cholesterol, of course, leads to heart problems. 

For about 75 percent of people, he added, simply losing weight can lead to a
reduction in blood cholesterol and the elimination of blood pressure
medicine.

Exercise, he said, can play a significant role in health. For every hour of
aerobic exercise, he said, a person can expect to add two hours to their
life expectancy. 

"We do it to ourselves," he said of poor health. "These are the things that
ought not to be." 
--30--
This story first appeared in the Baptist & Reflector, online at
www.tnbaptist.org/BRNews.asp.

 

 

Thanks.

 

For the King's honor,

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

 <http://www.bbcchurch.org> www.bbcchurch.org

 

Ephesians 3:21 auvtw/| h` do,xa evn th/| evkklhsi,a| 

 

2 Tim 1:2b  "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord."

 

"Faith is not our physician; it only brings us to the Physician ... Faith is
not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on
Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us;
that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for
our sins.  It is a sin-bearer that we need, and our faith cannot be a
sin-bearer. Faith can expiate no guilt; can accomplish no propitiation; can
pay no penalty; can wash away no stain; can provide no righteousness. It
brings us to the cross, . but in itself it has no merit and no virtue.
Faith is not Christ, nor the cross of Christ. Faith is not the blood, nor
the sacrifice; . Our faith does not divide the work of salvation between
itself and the cross. It is the acknowledgment that the cross alone saves,
and that it saves alone. Faith adds nothing to the cross, nor to its healing
virtue. It owns the fulness, and sufficiency, and suitableness of the work
done there, and bids the toiling spirit cease from its labours and enter
into rest. Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything. It comes to see
the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion
without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It listens to the "It is finished!"
of the Sin-bearer, and says, "Amen."   

NOT FAITH, BUT CHRIST 

by Horatius Bonar 
(1808-1889) 

 

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