KANSAS: 'Pump 'n' pray' community prays and sweats together

Trinity church program offers up 'good Christian sweat,' help for the hungry

By Pat McCaughan, March 12, 2009 [Episcopal News Service] Three times weekly, John Emerson "works up a good Christian sweat" pumping iron during a half-hour power walk with other men from Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas.

But first, they pray.

"It's inspirational," said Emerson, 80, a semi-retired trust and estate attorney who, before joining "Pump 'n' Pray," had never lifted weights or participated in a community quite like this one.

"Being a born back-slider, this keeps me going back," he chuckled. "I am like a lot of Christians. I need some organized prayer and this has provided that. I get busy and I don't think about praying, but this has changed my life for sure."

For Micah Seybold, 30, a vestry member, the program has had other unexpected benefits. "I pray every night with my kids, but this is different," said the geographic information systems coordinator for the city of Lawrence, a community of about 90,000 located 45 miles west of Kansas City. "This is much more praying for others, for those in need, people who are sick."

He's noticed other changes. "I'm up to [lifting] eight pounds now. I didn't think I'd ever make it there, but I did. You start at two pounds and it's easy to lift the weights once or twice, but there are about 75 repetitions. It adds up. You get tired at the end, you're not lifting [your arms] as high."

Also, "my health has improved. I'm more muscle-toned and stuff," he said laughingly. "The other aspect of it is, I like getting together with guys from the church and seeing them on a more regular basis than just Sunday. You really get to know them."

For creator Dr. Stephen Segebrecht the Pump 'n' Pray program is good stewardship.

"Our faith states that the body is the temple for the Holy Spirit," said Segebrecht, a surgeon and ordained Episcopal deacon. "As a physician as well as a person of faith, I believe that we need to take care of ourselves. I thought that it would be nice to start something at our church that would be a way to improve one's health."

He also wanted to offer a men's program: "I wanted to create a program for men, to create a sense of community, to get to know one another."

Now the health-conscious group has come up with another healthy goal -- to help feed the hungry.

'GIFT' program supplements local food pantry
Last Thanksgiving, Segebrecht, a long-time participant in a Lawrence-area fitness program for walkers, borrowed the concept and incorporated the faith dimension. He created a pilot program, approaching a few church members like Emerson and Seybold. The response was enthusiastic and in January 2009 he publicized it to the entire church.

Now as many as 14 men gather at 6 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and some Fridays at the University of Kansas field house for a 30-minute workout that includes a brisk walk and weight-lifting. During inclement weather, they use a local super-size grocery store or other indoor facilities, he said.

The low-impact workout "strengthens inner core muscles, posture, the abdominal wall, builds upper body strength, exercises the legs and offers a cardiovascular workout," Segebrecht added.

"At the beginning of each session, we take prayer requests that are sent via email to me or to Fr. Paul McClain," Trinity's assisting priest, he said. "We invite people to pray for their families, friends, neighbors" and other concerns.

The power walk includes lifting, for starters, two-pound weights, and gradually increasing the weight, up to eight pounds. Members walk in pairs and do 25 repetitions of various arm lifts, including lateral moves as well as over the shoulder and head exercises. "You can usually get in about two miles with the fast walk," he said.

On Fridays, Segebrecht adds "a short vignette on health." Topics have included information on prostrate cancer, diet, exercise, and others. Other Fridays, usually about every six weeks, the group meets at "a super-sized grocery store" for a post-workout breakfast and more in-depth health message.

Members have reported alleviation from back fatigue, feeling stronger and firmer, better posture, and an easier time carrying luggage. "When taking vacations they don't get back strain from the luggage," Segerbrecht said.

McClain said the prayer component of the group has deepened community and spiritual fellowship. "The men share prayers about the things going on in their lives, the people they love, even the economy, jobs, any issues on their minds. It gets the whole day centered in God."

It has also focused the group on a service project. The program, called Grocery Income for Trinity, or GIFT, aims to help erase a $20,000 budget deficit at the 150-year-old downtown congregation and to help feed the hungry at the same time.

Pump 'n' Pray members sell gift cards in varying denominations from Lawrence's four main supermarkets, McClain said. The church receives a six-cent rebate for every dollar spent, as part of an agreement with the supermarkets, which advance the cards.
The money helps fund the Trinity Interfaith food pantry, which is supported by numerous local congregations and denominations and has experienced an increase in requests for food.

"We serve thousands of people over the course of a year," McClain said. "We provide food to any family who is need. We try to restrict that to one time a month, but we've seen more activity in these distressed economic times," he said.

Open Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, "it's been phenomenal the need the food pantry has met," he added.

GIFT, is one more reason to celebrate the Pump 'n' Pray group, said Segebrecht, 53, a 25-year member of the church who estimated the food pantry feeds about 500 monthly. He described Lawrence as a highly educated college town "but we do have people hurting from the economy. Last Sunday, we sold about $5,000 in gift cards."

Another unexpected side effect of the group is: "The men are enthusiastic about doing things," he said. Participants also include a high school football coach, University of Kansas library science department chair, a chamber of commerce employee, an architect and a cable network employee among others.

"It's a good group of people," he said. Many didn't know each other until they started working out together, but now it means connection. "Some of them have to leave early to get to work, but they come faithfully," he added.

"I even had one man's wife come to me and thank me for getting her husband back to church and involved again. She told me, 'he has actually been to church twice today, in just one day."

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for Provinces VII and VIII and the House of Bishops. She is based in Los Angeles.

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