That type of grace is what pulls Christ out of us and we can be healthy. The Transforming the Church Podcast is a part of the Church Leaders Podcast Network, which is dedicated to resourcing church leaders in order to help them face the complexities of ministry. Church Leaders Podcast Network supports pastors and ministry leaders by challenging assumptions, providing insights, and offering practical steps that will help church leaders navigate a variety of cultures and contexts. Learn more@churchleaders.com podcast network what I wish I would have known effective ways to stay healthy is you want to have mentors, peers and mentees. My mentor used to tell me this.
His name is Alan Bacon. He passed away recently and I miss that man dearly. But he’s still with me because I hear his words all the time. Every time I get up to preach, I hear him saying, derwin, give him the word. Be ready in season and out of season.
People ask me, man, how is it that you can come up with a sermon so fast? And I hear his voice saying, be ready in season and out of season to preach the word when you ready, you ain’t got to get ready, so stay ready. Where do I get that from? I get that from him. So what you want to have is you want to have a Paul in your life.
You want to have wiser, more mature mentors who can pour into you, right? You want people with wisdom and with experience. Let me please, please hear what I’m about to say. Particularly if you’re a Gen Z and millennials. We live in a time where it is so easy to create content about things you are actually not doing.
It’s called clout chasing. So be careful about getting advice from people who actually aren’t doing the things they’re giving advice to. They’re trying to get followers and clicks. So make sure you find some people, some mentors with some battle scars who’ve been through the battle. Make sure you find some people who go, listen, my kids are 40, and let me tell you what it was like when they were teenagers.
Let me tell you. It was like when I was betrayed at my church and there was a church coup. Like, you want to find wise mentors to pour into you, but you also want to have peers. So you want to have a Paul and you want to have a Barnabas. Barnabas.
You want to have a peer, someone in the same stage of life that you can talk about things with and encourage each other and challenge each other and invite each other deeper into the beautiful mystery of God’s heart revealed in Jesus. And then you want to have mentees. Who are the people that you are pouring into? And what this discipleship cycle does is you become a constant river of flowing water. Wiser people pouring into you, you sharing what you’re learning with your peers, and then giving away to your mentees.
So who’s your Paul? Who’s your Barnabas? And who is your Timothy that has aided me so much throughout the years. Do not be too proud to ask for help. Okay?
That’s a sign of strength, is knowing we all need help. Effective Ways to Stay Healthy. Part three in the series, “What I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Became a Pastor.” Now, this one, you’re going to go, yeah, duh. You’re a former NFL player.
The last one is stay physically fit. Stay physically fit. And some of you go, well, Pastor Derwin, you look like you’re fairly physically fit. You’ve never had a problem with that, and in some ways you’re correct. But let me give you the backstory.
So from about age 14 to age 26. So that’s 12 years of high-intensity training. So when I retired from the NFL, became a follower of Christ, the last thing I wanted to do was work out. So literally for two years, from 26 to 28, I did not work out. I did not pick up a weight.
I was just tired. And then God moves us into ministry. I start getting speaking engagements, I develop a hunger and a passion for theology, start going to seminary. So I’m going to seminary, I’m traveling and speaking. I’m a husband, I’m a dad, and I’m like, I’ll work out if I want to.
But what I began to notice about 2007, 2008, 2009, even around 2010, when we began to Plant Transformation Church, I began to think, wow, I don’t feel as good as I used to, man. I think I got like a low grade depression going on. So understand this, okay? Physical fitness is not just about muscles. It’s not about abs, not about your traps and your delts and your pecs.
Physical fitness, particularly resistant weight training is for your mental health. When you lift weights, all these great chemicals God gave us, dopamine and serotonin, all this stuff floods our bodies. And for men, when you get over the age of 30, your testosterone levels begin to drop and that affects your mood as well on multiple levels. So physical fitness, resistance, weight training is a good thing. So twice a week, my wife and I, we lift weights together, which is pretty cool because we met in a weight room at BYU back in the day.
So you know what they say, couples that pray together stay together. Well, here’s another one. Couples that lift weights together stay together. Anyway, that’s the Derwin Gray philosophical point. But anyway, we work out together, so it gives us a oneness.
But also physically, it affects us. We feel better, we feel stronger. Matter of fact, at 53 years old, I feel better than I felt at 45 years old. So you want to take care of the temple God has given you. And ultimately, I know at 53, I’m just getting started.
I believe God has so much for me and God has so much for you. And it’s important for us to take care of ourselves. Now. Don’t go crazy and try to do crazy stuff, right? Do something that is sustainable and that is consistent and that you enjoy what you put into your body.
Think of it as fuel. You want to fuel your body for the glory of God. And so when we are overweight, it actually makes the volume in our brains smaller, right? So God has given you a body, take care of it. Just like the body of Christ.
Take care of your physical body. Don’t compare yourself to anybody else. Just be the best version of you can. One day at a time, One step at a time. As a act of worship.
What is it that I wish I would have known? What are the things I wish I would have known? Before I became a pastor, in the subsection of the three part series, I learned that effective ways to stay healthy. Have a sabbatical weekly. Have a summer sabbatical Study break.
If you can. Have mentors, peers and mentees. And stay physically fit. Listen, God has so much for you. I believe in you.
God is in you. May we be healthy for his glory. Hey, this is Pastor Derwin. When the church is transformed, the world will be transformed.
