Ministry Monday: You Aren't Too Young For Ministry

Welcome to the very first Ministry Monday here at Farr Functional Fitness!

If you have been reading our blog for a while or if you follow our Facebook or Pinterest pages you will know that Farr Fitness is a Christian gym ministry. Farr Fitness is run entirely out of our home. We have taken the lower story of our home and dedicated it to Christian ministry. As I said in the Ministry Monday Introduction, the "gym" portion of our ministry is just a means of getting people in the door so that we can love on them the way Christ has loved on us. Yes, we memorize Bible verses. Yes, we pray. Yes, we fellowship together as the body of Christ. Because at the end of the day we want people to see the light of Christ shinning through our lives and actions, the burpees are just a bonus. With that being said, lets jump in to today's Ministry Monday!

When we started our garage gym fitness ministry, we were brand newly married and very young. In fact, Brian was 25 and I was just 24 years old. Brian had had the gym long before we were married, but up until that point it was just friends working out together. It didn't take the form of a real ministry until about six months before we left Fort Hood. We suddenly had an influx of young soldiers looking for information on how to train their bodies and how to live life as godly Christian men. 

Brian and I spoke with our mentors, did careful research, and prayed a lot during this time. 

God opened doors left and right. 

Then we PCSed to North Carolina.

When we got to Fort Bragg our ministry blew up. In the 2.5 years that we have been here we have had over 350 people come through our gym. 350 people have been in our home at least one time. Many have stayed for months. Some have stayed for years. 

All of these people have been brought to us by God in one way or another and yet somehow we often have people tell us that we are "doing it wrong". We often have people tell us that we are too young for ministry. More than once we have had people tell us that we are too young to have an in home ministry and that we need to be taking this time to focus on building up our family. I won't lie to you, a couple of times we faltered, thinking that maybe they were right. Maybe we are too young for this, and we should just raise our family until our kids are grown and THEN we can "do ministry".  

However, every single time that we have been tempted by this thought God has brought a person or an event in to our lives that reminds us of our purpose. Most recently my friend Carrie quoted 1 Timothy 4:22 when I was struggling with feeling under-qualified to minister to someone older than me. It says, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." This has been on my heart heavily the last few weeks. 

If God has called you to do something, do it.  Period, end of story. It doesn't matter what the opposition says, it doesn't matter if you don't fit the "normal" standard. (My mother-in-law would tell you that normal is just a setting on the dryer!) Behave in a way that makes others ask how you do it. If God has called you to something HE WILL OPEN DOORS that you simply cannot imagine. If God wants you to be somewhere or do something He will provide a way for you to do it. Your age, race, social standing, education... none of it matters to the creator of the universe. 

If God is calling you, yes even the young, go and do what He has asked. 

Ministry Monday: Get Yourself a Mentor

Welcome to the very first Ministry Monday here at Farr Functional Fitness!

If you have been reading our blog for a while or if you follow our Facebook or Pinterest pages you will know that Farr Fitness is a Christian gym ministry. Farr Fitness is run entirely out of our home. We have taken the lower story of our home and dedicated it to Christian ministry. As I said in the Ministry Monday Introduction, the "gym" portion of our ministry is just a means of getting people in the door so that we can love on them the way Christ has loved on us. Yes, we memorize Bible verses. Yes, we pray. Yes, we fellowship together as the body of Christ. Because at the end of the day we want people to see the light of Christ shinning through our lives and actions, the burpees are just a bonus. With that being said, lets jump in to today's Ministry Monday!

Today I want to talk to you about mentorship. 

To begin we need to first address what a mentor is, since it is a word that is thrown around often in today's society. Google defines a mentor as, 

... a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee.

For once, I agree with google! I think that this is a great definition. But enough with the vocabulary lesson, what does mentoring have to do with ministry?

I believe that you cannot be in Christian ministry without mentorship. Sure you can try, but you will quickly fail. The Christian walk is incredibly difficult, especially in today's society. Even Paul, author of 14 books in the New Testament and arguably one of the greatest men of faith in Christian history,   had a mentor. His name was Barnabas and you can read more about their mentor relationship in Acts 9:26-30. 

So what does this have to do with us?
Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." So, it seems to me that we are told to follow in the path of those who have been here before us. 

Ministry isn't new. It has been done before. 

Maybe you are doing ministry in a new and different way (like having a garage gym ministry for military service-members and their families) but ultimately the goal is the same. It doesn't matter if you are trying to build wells in Africa or teaching the squat clean at Fort Bragg, the goal is to bring people to Christ and help them reach spiritual maturity. 

(Want to know more about spiritual maturity? Check out what the Navigators say here.)

So reach out. 

If you are ready to do ministry, reach out to someone that you respect and ask them how they do it. Learn from them. Put yourself under their authority. Learn from their wisdom and their mistakes. Listen to their critique and criticism with humility and grace. We have enough to fight in our society and culture without trying to reinvent the wheel while trying to serve Christ. 

We have been given Titus 2 men and women that can help us in our journey, we just need to be brave enough to ask. But be ready to go in search of them. Great mentors are not walking around looking for mentees. Great mentors are often incredibly busy... DOING WHAT GOD CALLED THEM TO DO! 

So go ask.

Find a wise woman in your church and ask if you can come clean house with her and discuss how to improve your ministry. Go with the guy who is rebuilding his elderly neighbor's fence and offer your free labor as you ask him about balancing ministry and family. 

Get out there, get in the game. Time is wasting and you don't have to waste anymore of it trying to redo what has already been done. Find your mentors and get to know them, build the relationships.

We are called to be fishers of men, so get fishing. 

Ministry Monday: Introduction

Welcome to the very first Ministry Monday here at Farr Functional Fitness!

If you have been reading our blog for a while or if you follow our Facebook or Pinterest pages you will know that Farr Fitness is a Christian gym ministry. Farr Fitness is run entirely out of our home. We have taken the lower story of our home and dedicated it to Christian ministry.

Ministry is a word that is thrown around often in church circles, but many people do not understand what exactly it means. The word "ministry" actually comes from the Greek word diakoneo which means to serve. We are provided with an excellent example of Christian ministry in the New Testament through the works of Jesus Christ and His followers, who served in His name. The 2003 Encyclopedia of Christianity defines ministry as carrying forth Christ's mission in the world, it also states that it is conferred on each Christian in baptism.

So just to be clear, all Christians are to have a ministry of some sort (it will vary depending on the skills/giftings/opportunities that God gives you). It can be hard to figure out how and what to do to better serve the kingdom of God. As such, we have decided to use our blog to show a little bit more of what exactly that looks like.

We will be using this new segment of our blog each week to:

• encourage others in ministry,
• explain about why ministry is important
• show how we organize ministry/life
• hold us accountable for being more than just a gym  

Rich Mullins said it best when he stated the following: 

“I would like to encourage you to stop thinking of what you're doing as ministry. Start realizing that your ministry is how much of a tip you leave when you eat in a restaurant; when you leave a hotel room whether you leave it all messed up or not; whether you flush your own toilet or not. Your ministry is the way that you love people. And you love people when you write something that is encouraging to them, something challenging. You love people when you call your wife and say, 'I'm going to be late for dinner,' instead of letting her burn the meal. You love people when maybe you cook a meal for your wife sometime, because you know she's really tired. Loving people - being respectful toward them - is much more important than writing or doing music.” 

The "gym" portion of our ministry is just a means of getting people in the door so that we can love on them the way Christ has loved on us. Yes, we memorize Bible verses. Yes, we pray. Yes, we fellowship together as the body of Christ. Because at the end of the day we want people to see the light of Christ shinning through our lives and actions, the burpees are just a bonus. 

C-Section Saturday: Be Ready For What It Looks Like

Welcome to the Farr Fitness' C-Section Saturdays. 

As I have mentioned before I will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery for athletes. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. With that being said lets jump in! 

Today I want to talk about expectations and reality. Things tend to go one of two ways with postpartum expectations. They usually end up being something like this:

"oh my gosh, my body is going to bounce right back and it is going to be wonderful" 

or 

"I hate everything I am going to fall face first in a box of doughnuts since I'm eating for two now anyways."  

And neither of these are good. 

The reality is, your body won't bounce right back. It takes time to heal from the trauma of pregnancy, let alone birth or worse, a C-Section. Your body will not look the way it did originally, no matter what magazines, advertisements, and fitness gurus tell you. You pushed a human being (or had one pulled) out of you, that changes a body. 

The other option of "I'm nursing so now I can finally eat for two" is not right either. You have to take care of your body. This is not the time to give up on yourself. Take the extra step, make the extra effort to eat real and healthy food. Get up and move your body as soon as the doctor clears you to do so. You can't take care of a precious newborn baby with zero energy. 

In reality your body will be different, and you need to be ready for that. In fact, I remember thinking that I was marred for life when I first saw my incision. I cried alone in the bathroom at the hospital nine hours after my first son was born. If you want to see what a C-section body looks like you can see those images here. Be prepared, it isn't always pretty at first. If you don't like where your body is after your C-Section, get up, and change it. 

Put one foot in front of the other. 

Don't quit, don't stop. 

You can do this. 

Psalm 139;19 says that "God knit me together in my mother's womb". Isn't it amazing to be a part of the miracle of birth? Isn't it amazing what God made our bodies to do? Your body will look different. Your body will feel different. But your body is incredible and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise.

C:Section Saturday: Make a Plan and Stick With It!

Welcome to the Farr Fitness' C-Section Saturdays. 

As I have mentioned before I will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery for athletes. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. With that being said lets jump in!

Today I want to talk about the number one question I get as a gym owner. Do you want to guess what it is? Here are a few runners up:

Should I buy a treadmill? 

Maybe I should build my own garage gym? 

Should I see a dietitian? 

Would paying a personal trainer be best? 

Should I sign up for a workout subscription? 

But, the NUMBER ONE QUESTION that I get asked is: how do I get fit? 

Here is the trick... there is no trick. 

You simply have to choose/make a plan and stick to it. 

People get so caught up in the idea that they have to have the exact perfect plan and if you don't then your whole fitness effort is in vain. That simply isn't true! That, to me, is like the people that can only start eating healthy on a Monday. If they miss the Monday start time they have to wait an ENTIRE WEEK to start again. 

I have written recently about my various successes in the gym and with my body composition. You can read about those topics here and here. If you want to get fit and healthy, start like I did, simply.  Fitness really isn't that complicated! Pick there manageable goals and go from there. 

My manageable goals were: 

• move my body as often as possible. 
• eat real food
• sleep as much as I can

That was my simple plan. After a couple of weeks of success with this plan I then added to it. 

"Move my body as much as possible" became walking on the elliptical, then running on the elliptical, and now I am running my mile for time, 

"Eat real food" started with cutting out Dr. Pepper, then it moved to eating more meat and vegetables, now I am doing a Whole30. 

"Sleep as I can" is hard since I have a four month old. This originally looked like the traditional, "sleep when baby sleeps", then I put Henry on a schedule, and now he is sleeping through the night and I am back to using sleep cycles to get the best rest possible. 

Do not stress yourself out, post C-section mamas (or anybody for that matter!) the process is much more simple than the magazines would have you believe. You don't need a ton of equipment and you don't need super expensive supplements and meal plans. What you need is to make a simple plan and stick with it. Don't believe my story? Check out the stories of my friends Denise and Rachel. 

Need help coming up with a plan? Contact us at FarrFunctionalFitness@gmail.com and we can help make a personalized plan to fit your goals. 

At the end of the day you are a child of God and you are incredible. Get out there and move your body. Take care of the gift that God has given you.