By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
Cornerstone Church is one of Rowan County’s fastest growing, bringing together whites, blacks and Hispanics for lively services.
But come the first Sunday of February, the pastoral staff wants to see considerably less of Cornerstone’s congregation.
A whopping 1,000 pounds less, actually.
This past Sunday, the church kicked off its “Biggest Loser” campaign. Through the end of January, congregation members will be working to lose a collective 1,000 pounds.
Every Sunday morning, four members of the congregation will be weighed at the 9 a.m. service and another four will be weighed at the 11 a.m. service.
The groups will be competing with one another to see who can lose the most weight.
But it’s not just those eight who will be working to lose. Every member of the congregation is encouraged to diet.
When they turn in their offering envelopes each Sunday, they’re instructed to write the number of pounds they’ve lost on the back, then circle the number.
At the front of the church’s sanctuary, a gauge resembling a thermometer is tracking the congregation’s success at losing weight.
This past Sunday, the Rev. Bill Godair, Cornerstone’s senior pastor, reminded members of the congregation that in order to keep pace with the goal of a 1,000-pound weight loss, members need to lose 250 pounds a week.
“We can’t get behind,” he said. “We don’t want any week where we’ve got to lose 500 pounds.”
Sunday’s “Biggest Loser” campaign kicked off with much fanfare.
The podium at the front of Cornerstone’s sanctuary was outfitted with weights and a weight bench. Godair was wearing a blue workout suit.
“One thousand pounds has got to go!” he shouted to his congregation.
As four who are getting weighed stepped to the podium, “Eye of the Tiger” blasted from the ministry’s loudspeakers. Members of the congregation cheered.
The enthusiasm was so fever pitch that one almost expected to see Rocky sprint through the sanctuary.
Godair reminded members of the congregation that their bodies are the temples of God and losing weight is a means of honoring the Lord.
“God wants you to prosper when it comes to your finances and your health,” Godair said.
He said shaking their lives up through a new diet or exercise regime was a good thing, and said he’s a prime example of a Christian who’s packed on a few too many pounds over the years.
“If I keep on doing what I’ve always done, I’m going to keep on getting what I’ve always gotten,” Godair said. “You can change. I can change.”
Just before the four who agreed to be guinea pigs for the 9 a.m. weigh-in stepped to the scales, Godair announced that their weights wouldn’t be reported to the congregation’s other members.
“I debated that,” Godair said of reading the weights aloud. “Then I thought, ‘No, these women will kill me.’ ”
And then Godair and everyone in the congregation laughed aloud.
“Everything starts right here,” Godair said of Sunday’s weigh-in. “We’re going to be better physically fit and spiritually fit.
Godair said he’d be among the four who volunteered to be weighed at the 11 a.m. service.
He reminded those weighing at 9 a.m. that their weights would be recorded through February and a competition would involve them and their 11 a.m. cohorts.
Godair said he planned to win that competition.
“I don’t like to be second in anything,” he said.
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Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.