MY EPH 4:16 STORY

A few months ago, my son looked me in the eye and told me, “Dad, it’s time you start going to the gym.” He wasn’t joking. He explained that as we age, building muscle isn’t just about looking good - it’s about staying healthy, preventing falls, supporting weaker joints, and slowing down physical deterioration. He made sense, but I hesitated.

My wife, however, was quicker to act. In the middle of her intense dissertation writing, she signed up first, knowing she needed a way to get out from behind her study desk. After seeing some of the benefits she was experiencing - better energy, mental clarity, and improved sleep - I finally gave in and joined a month later.

And so began our discipline of “paying to work out.” We carved out small windows in our week - three times, at least an hour each - to exercise. At first, it was tough and a little dull. Repeating sets, reps, movements… it felt mechanical. But as time went on, I noticed something: my strength increased. My sleep improved. My thoughts were clearer. And surprisingly, I started to enjoy the rhythm.

One day, during a break between sets, I began to memorize a verse that had been stirring in my heart:

“From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  - Ephesians 4:16

It took me two sessions- over two hours - to memorize this short verse. But I didn’t just memorize it - I internalized it. In those silent, sweaty moments between reps, I began to see something more profound than muscle gain.

I saw the body of Christ.

I saw you and me - connected like muscles and ligaments, each playing our part. The hand needs the shoulder. The foot depends on the knee. When one part is weak, another supports it. When one part suffers, the others compensate. We are not spiritual individuals walking alone - we are the body, joined and held together by Christ.

Just as my physical muscles needed discipline, rest, resistance, and time to grow, so does the church. And just like in the gym, growth doesn’t happen accidentally. It takes rhythm. It takes commitment. And yes - it takes showing up, even when it’s boring, repetitive, or hard.

I overheard someone in the gym say that during COVID, he felt lost because the gym had been his life. “Shaping my body has become my goal,” he confessed.

And I understand why. When you visibly see your body change, your energy rise, and your strength increase, it’s easy to get hooked.

But what if that same energy was poured into the body of Christ?

What if we longed to see spiritual muscles growing - through serving one another, bearing one another’s burdens, forgiving, encouraging, and building each other up?

What if we saw our church not as a spiritual gym where a few come to “train,” but as a missional community where everyone is vital, everyone contributes, and everyone grows in love?

This is the heart of Vision 2026: Building His Missional Community. It’s a call not to individual greatness, but to shared growth - where we see ourselves as one body, held together by Christ, building one another up in love.

And just like my gym sessions, the spiritual work can feel slow at first. But over time, you begin to notice change. And if we stick with it - not only individually, but together - there’s no telling what kind of spiritual strength God will form in us for His mission.

So, let’s keep going. Let’s keep showing up. Let’s keep growing- together.

Building His Missional Community,

Pastor Forest

P.S. This was written in July 2025, two months after I signed up for the gym.