In America, pastors and church leaders often ask congregants to invite friends and family to church. It’s basic outreach in line with the Biblical mandate to go and make disciples of Jesus. (Matthew 28:16-20) Churches have special events during Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter when people may be more inclined to attend a church service. The “Easter Weekend” is known as the “Super Bowl” time for churches to reach people. Some churches get creative and offer sunrise services in outdoor environments. It’s a word-of-mouth approach for church growth versus other forms of marketing media and outreach techniques.

While the approach mentioned above may seem to be an effective church growth strategy in reaching the lost, there is a growing body of evidence in North America that says this strategy is not working as well as once thought. In particular, Dr. Rice Brooks, a pastor and evangelist to college campuses
around the world writes in his doctoral dissertation “The Evangelist” the following:

“It became clear to me that the church-at-large in North America was losing the ability to reach lost people and that much of what was called “church growth” was in reality “transfer growth” or a migration of Christians from one church to the next.” He also writes “Many church growth strategies seem to paint outreach as merely reaching out to people as potential customers by providing a better church experience than the church down the street, rather than focusing on the biblical mandate to “make disciples” through new converts.” (The Evangelist, Dr. Rice Brooks, pg. 17)

In my 18 years of being a Christian, I have seen what Dr. Brooks states above to be true both in churches I have visited around America and with Christian para-church ministries designed to reach out to unique demographics. While churches and ministries say they want to reach all people in theory, in practice, the focus, unfortunately, becomes a “circle the wagon mentality” of exclusively recruiting Christians who are moving into the geographical area as others move out in terms of either growing or maintaining church and Christian fellowship numbers.

My experience as well has been that Christian individuals inside of these circles often do not regularly attempt to share their faith with friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are not Christians. This is unfortunate because it has been seen in practice that most people come to faith either as children from the example of their parents or through a genuine relationship with a Christian friend or relative. One church growth research found that “75-90% of people come to faith in Christ through a friend or relative.” (Gary McIntosh, “What Person Led You to Faith in Christ”, October 29, 2014) It stands to reason then that the problem so many churches are not growing from evangelism efforts is that churches have not equipped everyday people to share their faith and be part of the Great Commission where they work, live, and play.

Exploring the reason why everyday Christian people struggle to share their faith with those who are not of the Christian faith, especially in North America, is based on a lot of sub-cultural thinking patterns or beliefs that are unwritten but often publicly stated even where there is a political practice of the freedom of speech and public religious expression and worship without direct government interference which may be the case in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

One of those thinking patterns an everyday Christian can struggle with is to be perceived as “shoving their religion down another’s throat” with co-workers, friends, and family members if they invite somebody to a Christian message, prayer meeting, concert/worship service, or speak about their faith in public forums whether in social media, social settings, or in official events. It is often seen in North American culture today that to talk about religious convictions with people of another faith group or none at all is impolite conversation.

Church training in this matter often doesn’t help either because outreach efforts for the Christian faith are typically focused on strangers during overseas mission trips, local visitations, street/beach evangelism, homeless outreach, or community events. Here Christians find it easier to share their faith boldly without fear of rejection because they are often talking to complete strangers they likely never have to see again and don’t have to worry about offending because the practical relational consequences are minimal.

Conversely, talking to friends, family, co-workers, bosses, and other members of your regular professional and personal life whom you share a practical and emotional social need for a long-term relationship with makes these exchanges harder. If as a Christian you are rejected socially for what you believe when you share your faith, it is likely you feel awkward around these individuals in the future. As a consequence of this real or imagined fear of being seen as an outsider socially in whatever circle that may be, many Christians opt out of participating in sharing their faith where they live, work, and play which as I stated before is ironically where they have the most influence and statistical opportunity to help fellow human beings come into an intimate relationship with their Creator who is poised to meet all of their needs physically, spiritually, and socially.

Garage Gym Church: Missional Culture for Everyday People

Garage Gym Church is a place where fitness-oriented individuals who are Christian believers can intentionally create a setting of social community through intentional physical activity among neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family right inside their own homes. Inviting somebody you know to participate in a physical fitness activity, especially in a home is logistically easy (you own the garage or somebody else does!) and invites a sense of warmth and genuine relationship vs. a sense of a forced agenda that could come from inviting somebody to an overtly religious setting such as a Sunday church service. It also allows for a regular time of bonding through physical training and suffering with a natural time, especially after the workout for a deeper conversation with openness of spirit because your mind and body are tired with the natural tendency to want to rest and bond for a little bit before moving on to the next activity of the day. So how does a Christian fitness enthusiast practically create a regular fitness group out of their home garage that offers the opportunity for a missional church model? Here’s how:

Step 1: Physical Training Session Design

Come up with a workout that can be done logistically with the equipment you already have. Bodyweight workouts can be very effective if you don’t have bumper plates, barbells, sandbags, etc. Furthermore, you will want to create a workout that allows for participants to rotate in and out of equipment stations in various areas of your garage or driveway which can include partner or team workouts that split repetitions and sets. One place I like to go for workouts that are challenging but lead to a team-building spirit is CrossFit Hero Workouts of the Day which uses both equipment and bodyweight and is done in honor of military, police, and firefighters who have died in the line of duty. Reading off the citation of who the workout is done in honor of with symbolism given to the repetitions, sets, and exercises sets the table mentally and spiritually to remind oneself of the importance of living for a greater cause in service of others and being willing to lay down one’s life for one’s friends as Jesus mentioned before He Himself gave His life up (John 15:13). Typically given time constraints for the vast majority of people while also considering that most people are not dedicated athletes, you will want to keep the total fitness training time for starters to 45 minutes including a 15 minute warmup period to allow for “church” time.

Step 2: Initiate Comraderie

To initiate camaraderie, invite a Christian friend who is interested in fitness to come join you in your garage to work out and bond with a stated opportunity for Christian growth leveraging prayer and relevant curriculum content for discussion after the workout. Furthermore, have you and your friend plan to invite 1-2 friends each who may or may not be Christians to join you for the workout at a minimum with the opportunity to join you both afterward for the content discussion centered around a relevant life topic the Bible addresses. You will want to also come up with a music playlist that is fun to train too while also setting the stage for future conversations about God such as Christian rock/metal/rap such as Skillet through a Bluetooth speaker while not coming across as too churchy with worship music. The speaker I like to use that has clear sound quality, is relatively inexpensive, dummy proof to use, lightweight, waterproof, and can be linked with other speakers is the JBL Charge 5.

It is generally difficult to have more than 6 people in this type of session if you include the use of a driveway with typical numbers being 2-4 people especially when you will want to just use the garage on colder or rainy days. We’ll discuss in a future blog how to create more “Garage Gym Church” sessions out of your garage and others, but for now, start small with inviting at least one other Christian friend and both of you choosing to invite a friend. This is a very easy model that sets the stage for keeping the group together in the long haul as people tend to want to spend time with others they naturally know and like. It also demonstrates for the future how easy it is a repeatable format to create their own group.

Lastly, in terms of camaraderie, I have found that allowing space for talking during quick breaks while one person is training is helpful for forming a positive social atmosphere that guys especially will want to come back to again and again.

Step 3: Fireteam Prayer

Prior to any fitness training, have yourself and your Christian friend pray at least 15 minutes prior to the workout warmup starting using the “Fireteam Prayer” concept previously mentioned in another blog on Faith & Fitness Magazine. Having regular prayer sessions for 15-30 minutes is a great way to connect the hearts of the participants to God and create an atmosphere where God moves in the hearts of the community you are with along with your own life!

Step 4: The “Opt-In” Opening to Related Biblical/Christian Content and Discussion

At the conclusion of the fitness training session, the leader will mention something to the effect of, “I’m really glad you came and would love it if you come to train with us the next week (or day). As a supplemental part of this training session, if you would like to stick around, I am going to be having a deeper conversation with [state the name of your Christian friend] to dive deeper into [topic](or another one that is relevant that would be of interest) from a Christian faith perspective”.

Ideally, here you will also incentivize this session by offering coffee, water, food, etc. that will make the person want to stick around. This is a simple but effective component to the overall Garage Gym Church experience as it is hard to turn these down while also allowing a sense of focus on the content being watched or discussed without participants literally thinking about their need to get breakfast, lunch, or dinner for that matter.

What is amazing about this is that nobody feels forced to stay, but rather incentivized through a sense of camaraderie with individuals they just bonded with along with potential food! They also may be interested in the topic and feel this is a good time to learn in an organic setting. At the same time, if they turn you down, there is no real sense of awkwardness because at a minimum those who wanted to participate in the follow-up study will do so as pre-planned and anybody is welcome to continue with a general workout training session as a part of habitual relationship building. It may be multiple sessions for non-Christians to decide to participate in a follow-up discussion let alone be convinced to follow Christ and His teachings, but at least they are now in a setting where they feel they have been befriended and do not feel some sort of bait and switch in terms of a “church experience”.

From a content selection purpose, it should be short and to the point typically with videos no more than 20 minutes with 10-15 minute discussion on relevant life application.  I have seen that without food, people tend to lose interest after about 10-15 minutes of watching or listening to some sort of audiovisual content post-workout, especially in the morning before the workday. You will want to typically play the content from a YouTube video or other audiovisual source through the Bluetooth speaker with a follow-up discussion. Good content sources are Above Inspiration, Lion of Judah, March or Die (a military version of Christian leadership content), and Elevation Church. Another option is a series that presents in a systematic format the principles of the Christian faith called Alpha.

The purpose here is to make it clear that the workout content, discussions, and individuals present will be focusing on becoming stronger in their faith. From a Christian life group perspective, especially for men, this is a much more attractive option vs. the traditional “let’s do a Bible study” which comes across as boring to a lot of guys no matter the branding spin a church’s men’s group puts on it.

Bringing it All Together

If you like what you have read here and would like to get a Garage Gym Church going of your own, please pray about the points above and start thinking of starting your own Garage Gym Church session. Consider friends and co-workers whom you can invite, think about their felt needs, come up with content that they would be interested in along with yourself, and then figure out a fitness training plan. Then start inviting people and getting it going! Don’t worry if the numbers are small at first because the model is designed to scale through multiplication meaning eventually the goal is to get your friends, co-workers, and neighbors to do the same thing in their own garage or training space down the road! That is a topic for a future article as well. Consider 30, 60, and 90-day training plans that involve a particular schedule of curriculum, and feel free to share this ahead of time along with the workouts. Also, encourage the participants to bring their friends along too! Furthermore, feel free to email me directly and/or watch a short video on the concept with the link in my signature line below!

Fit for the Fight and Life,

Chris Reardon

Founder/Executive Director

Freedom Fitness America

Email: chris@freedomfitnessamerica.org

Concept Originator of Garage Gym Church

The post Garage Gym Church: Missional Culture for Everyday People appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.

In October of 2022, my longtime friend Thomas Bush; a man with 2+ decades of Christian prayer ministry experience through his work with the National Day of Prayer Network, Prayer Assist Ministries, and Promise Keepers; proposed to me a radical new game-changing idea of corporate prayer called “Fire Team Prayer” with a specific emphasis for revitalizing the concept of men in taking up a greater leadership role in coming together to pray corporately as espoused by the early and infamous champion of the Christian faith Paul in the following statement to his protege Timothy:

"Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God."
(1 Timothy 2:8 MSG)

The concept was inspired by the Marine Corps infantry organizational construct of a four person "fire team" which is the smallest organizational element of this elite fighting organization that lives and fights together to gain victory on physical battlefields. This team is generally filled by young college aged Americans that who typically live in barracks rooms or field environments close together, train together in all exercises, are led by a veteran Marine typically with three to four years of active service, and are part of a greater "squad" composed of three fire teams led by a "squad leader" of the rank of Sergeant who leverages each fire team as a maneuver force in ground combat. 

The fire team is typically manned with a rifleman with a mission of scouting out an objective, a light automatic weapons professional, an assistant automatic weapons leader, and the fire team leader carrying a grenade launcher who directs "buddy rushes" in combat where generally two Marines shoot downrange at the enemy while the other two quickly run forward while the enemy has their heads down until they can start shooting followed by the other two rushing.  To understand this concept more, please take a minute to watch this epic video of real life Marines telling in their own words what a fire team is: 

Thomas’ study of the Marine Corps infantry organization and in particular the fire team came about as he discovered that in American churches, men in particular, do not readily step up to the plate to be part of corporate prayer gatherings. Of course, the vast majority of pastors are men and they lead prayer, but unfortunately, the men in the congregation, especially young professional men with or without families, are not to be found as a rule of thumb in corporate prayer gatherings of local churches. As he pondered this and conducted research aside from his years of experience, he found the two main reasons for this are as follows:

Men follow men. While men as boys grow up with moms, sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmothers to be influenced by (as was Timothy in the New Testament as seen in 2 Timothy 1:5) or later go into a workplace setting where they may or may not have peers or leaders as women, it is a deep male need and desire to follow the path of other men they can relate to. However, there are generally not a lot of men leading the way in many church settings as it is often the older women in the congregation, “moms”, “aunts”, and “grandmothers” who are leading the charge of corporate prayer in local churches. This is good and our churches certainly need our women to keep praying fervently, but there is a desperate need for the men of the congregation to be right there in lockstep as BOTH men and women lift up the Lord in fervent prayer and praise.

Pervasive Male Attitudes Toward Prayer: Men by nature are wired to be active physically and mentally in creating in the world around them or by being protectors of others. This can be seen in the worlds of business, fitness, sports, or martial professions such as in military/law enforcement settings where men as a rule of thumb tend to find most of their lives spent outside of the home and religious roles and responsibilities. Unfortunately, many men in churches today however do not seem to equate both individual and group prayer as “going on the offensive” against spiritual darkness that threatens those they hold dear or as part of partnering with God to create and build greater works in the earth.

Watch the Fire of Heaven Come Down When Men Pray Together

As I talked these issues over with Thomas and pondered them, I realized that in the past I had succumbed to these issues myself and needed a new model of corporate prayer life with other men. I also felt convicted that I had relied too heavily on my moms and grandmothers in the Lord to pray for me and my endeavors in difficult times. In my heart excused myself as “not an intercessor like them” and therefore let myself and other brothers in the Lord in particular off the hook for advancing the kingdom of God in prayer.

Requirement for Small Teams to Run Heavenly Fire Missions

In my day job with the Marine Corps, I currently am involved with developing the “kill chain” and “counter kill chain” which in simple terms means the integration of intelligence sensors, headquarters staff processes, communications, and various munition firepower delivery to deliver havoc against enemy weapons of war while protecting friendly units against the enemy’s desire to do the same against us. This is a team sport and requires a lot of people coming together to get the right targeting data, process that data, and deliver it quickly to appropriate firing units. It also requires a team to carefully consider how to defend ourselves against similar attacks.

In particular, there are small teams of professionals within the military known as Joint Tactical Air Controllers, Fire Support Coordinators, Artillery Spotters, Forward Air Controllers, Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies, etc. whose job is to:

1) Understand the capabilities and limitations of long-range weapon systems such as aircraft, ships, ground-based missiles/artillery systems, cyber, space, and electronic warfare capabilities that can bring steel and fire on the enemy in order to stop their assaults while enabling friendly maneuvers against the enemy.

2) Push to receive target data from intelligence sensors and teams.

3) Come up with a game plan with appropriate friendly units to bring multiple weapon systems to bear in a combined arms attack, and finally

4) Communicate the appropriate plan to the right units that have appropriate firepower delivery systems.

In a spiritual sense as Christians, we are told:

"Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart." 
(1 Peter 5:8 TLB)

In the military, If you are by yourself, you are likely to get your position overwhelmed because you have no ability to watch your “six” on your own or face attacks for long in multiple directions. The military has known this for a long time which is why it sends even the most elite military professionals out into dangerous territory with other professionals with other teams in support or overwatch of them. That is where one of the secrets to victory lies…the power of highly trained diverse teams who operate together in harmony to achieve a common objective. As it is written:

"It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there’s no one to help, tough! Two in a bed warm each other. Alone, you shiver all night. By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped." 
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there." 
(Matthew 18:18-20 MSG)

Thus, the first important principle of fireteam prayer is to have at a minimum 2 Christian individuals but ideally up to 4-6 come together to pray on a regular basis either in person or via Zoom/telephone for at least 30 min prior to a workout 1 x week. In this context, it is possible to have larger networked prayer events with more men using Zoom breakout rooms or potentially doing larger in person gatherings, but these will take more time. I have seen a standard of time of about 1.5 hours in San Diego where groups of men in a "platoon" like formation of 20-50 men pray together where there is a lot of sharing done.  Even so, there always is the small group format to allow for intimate prayer expression.

Next, we try to keep the prayer event to 30 min and time it before a workout especially in the morning timeframe to allow for a 60-minute workout session before breaking contact to spend time with family on a weekend or get to work.

The Playbook

There are 4 essential parts to Fireteam Prayer that allow for a time of intimate and intense connection to God involving the following:

1. Individual “God Stories”
2. Corporate Praise or Focused Quiet Time Listening to God
3. Corporate Prayer
4. Individual Prayer

Given a segment of 4 guys, each part will take approximately 7 minutes to complete (28 minutes total) with a 2-minute prayer close out. It is important here to start and end on time. The facilitator of the Garage Gym Church running this format can use a Gym Timer to mark off “rounds” and keep an eye on the time.

God Stories

“God stories” are individual praise reports that should take no more than 90 seconds. The facilitator can set a timer much like a WOD (GymNext Flex Timer is a good one that is free that can be used on a cell phone) that gives a countdown with a volunteer or designated person to give a God story in the allotted time with a 10-second warning prior to starting. The facilitator will keep an eye on the time and give a 30-second, 15-second, and finally, there the timer will give 3-second countdown to finishing at which everybody will clap once. Immediately following this the next person will go in the same format. For 4 people, this will take 6 minutes with a 1-minute buffer. That 1-minute buffer is used to introduce the instructions at first and then allow for transition time to include setting up the next phase with audible instructions.

Corporate Praise or Listening to Holy Spirit

An essential part of the prayer period is focusing on the object of our prayer…God. It is easy to just focus on ourselves…our problems…even think about potential solutions that we or God might take in the future. I have been guilty of this for sure. An antitode to this, singing praise to God and/or taking time to be quiet and listen for the still small but powerful voice of God (1 Kings 19:12) is crucial. For this portion, the group will either sing a praise hymn using words such as Amazing Grace, easily searchable on a cell phone or a YouTube video with captions enabled will be played. Ideally, the song should be a praise song that has a “fight” aspect to it. An example is the latest Elevation Worship song “Lion“, Bethel Worship’s “Ain’t No Grave“, or Sean Feucht’s “Liberty Bells“. The point here is to lift God in worship, but get in an offensive spiritual warfare mindset to “do battle” against the gates of hell prior to the next phase. This portion should take no more than 6 minutes allowing for 1 minute of transition time to set up the next phase to ask various people to pray for different issues called out based on the leading of the Holy Spirit by the facilitator. If any of the members of the group felt led that particular issues should be mentioned, they should be brought up to the prayer facilitator ahead of time or during that session and prayed for on the spot.

As an alternative as led by the Holy Spirit through the facilitator, this time can also be a time of quiet reflection where the men in the group focus on trying to listen to what God is saying in their hearts and mind to share in the corporate and individual prayer sessions.

Corporate Prayer

In a similar fashion as the praise reports to include time, the facilitator will assign “prayer targets” as led by the Holy Spirit or will allow the group members to pray for something that they felt led to during the time of previous reflection. These prayers include praying for the specific Garage Gym Church outreach and discipleship efforts to include specific individuals being reached out to; prayer for local churches or community/state/national ministries affiliated with members of the Garage Gym Church, prayer for the local government and community business leaders, prayer for a cultural community/state/national issue such as high rates of suicide, and finally, prayer for some type of missions effort whether locally or internationally. The facilitator can ask the team ahead of time via text the general targets and see if anybody feels that the Holy Spirit has put on their heart the need to pray for a specific topic ahead of time as well.

Each individual will pray for their specific target ideally calling out promises in scripture as applicable to include thanking God for answering the prayer. This should take about 90 seconds for each person with rapid succession around a circle.

Individual Prayer

Now we move to the last part of the prayer session where guys will take turns sharing their hearts and asking their brothers to go to war in the spirit for them by praying in faith for each others’ concerns while also sharing a word of encouragement or loving correction. Last year, I felt this intense desire to be able to be completely transparent about my personal needs with other men who wouldn’t judge me and try to turn my prayer request into a lecture. Instead, they would simply be there to pray for me which has and certainly does include hearing from the Holy Spirit a word for me. The way this prayer session works is as follows:

One guy will volunteer to go first and ask for prayer in a specific area(s) of life. They will then quickly pray for themselves and each man in turn will pray for that person or share a word of encouragement for their brother. Once this concludes, the next guy will do the same and the cycle will repeat. This will continue until everybody has prayed for each other. The focus is to try to stay on time here as well, but there is a two-minute buffer and in more extreme emergency cases where it is clear more time in prayer or encouragement is needed, there might be some follow on work right there and then or at a later time after the workout.

Moving Forward Into The Battle…Into the Next Dimension of Life

For the men out there who are looking to take their spiritual power to see a radical change in the lives of their families, friends, workplace, churches, and communities, getting together with other men in small bands of brothers is a game changer, especially when using the relational leverage of tying a group workout to this evolution. I have heard a lot of guys I know talk about the physical measures they’ll take to defend their homes and themselves including arming themselves with concealed weapons. Nothing wrong with this, but I have found in my regular life the greatest enemies threatening me and all those I hold dear cannot be fought with physical weapons although spiritual warfare is manifested and certainly must be completed with natural actions according to the situation.

I will tell you that when I started praying together on a weekly basis with other men in a bold offensive way of warfare, I have seen God show up in ways I didn’t before. I feel God’s presence in a new way and feel an inconquerable sense of hope and peace that drives out discouragement and fear even in the midst of the darkest circumstances. I even now take this prayer concept with my blood relative brother who is a Christian as we pray to take back our extended family to come under God’s authority and blessing. I can’t see us doing that without prayer.

If you would like to participate in a demonstration live streaming training of Garage Gym Church on Zoom, please register here for Good Friday, April 7, 2023, at 3-4:30 pm PST/6-7:30 pm EST for a Garage Gym Church Demo with Fire Team Prayer with recordings sent out via email to those who register but can’t attend. We’ll also be recording this for YouTube which you can subscribe to ahead of time at Shoot Move Communicate.

With that being said, my hope and prayers are for Christian men out there to join me in being part of a new wave of taking back a key offensive weapon in their lives to advance against the darkness and expand the kingdom of light in their world.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense (DoD) or the US Government. Furthermore, the appearance of U.S. DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

The post Garage Gym Church and Fire Team Prayer: A Band of Brothers Who Train and Fight Together appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.

It was August 2021. I had just returned from a 13-month unaccompanied overseas tour in the Middle East with the US Marine Corps to reunite with my wife and son in San Diego, CA. We were in the midst of multiple major transitions and challenges as a family on multiple levels. One of the biggest ones was my reintegration as a military spouse/parent returning from an extended time away from my family based on my tour.

Going back to less time at work was nice and seeing my family was also nice not to mention now having weekends generally off aside from the occasional duty obligation, business trip, or training exercise. However, in my off-duty time, I now had a family to tend to at home where free time overseas was spent hanging out with friends, working out, reading, or working on a special personal project. I certainly had lost a sense of the daily rhythm of day-to-day family routines, especially in terms of raising a small child and handling the emotional ups and downs of a spouse in everyday life from the positives of fun recreation to the negatives of something getting broken in the house or in the car for example. On the other hand, my wife and son had gotten used to me not being there and had their own routines which were now disrupted having to take into account my presence as well. As you can imagine, reunification was a stressful time that took a lot of time, work, and empathy.

Obstacles to Personal Physical and Social Wellness

On top of reunification from my time overseas, we as a family were in the midst of moving into a new home and faced a series of health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic where we had to limit exposure of our immediate family members to the virus because of high risk for hospitalization and death at the time to a nearby grandfather diagnosed with cancer and a pre-school aged boy with upper respiratory complications. As a result, in order to minimize the risk of being exposed to the virus and bring it home to susceptible family members at the time I started working out with a sandbag and doorway pull-up bar as the only equipment in my garage. Over the next few months, I added a box jump, bumper plates, and a barbell.

The Birth of the Garage Gym Church Concept

I have always enjoyed working out as a way of relieving stress and while I was less than happy about being confined to the garage to workout by myself during that season of life, God used that time to work in me a new vision of what Christian outreach and discipleship could look like out of a chaotic and stressful time in my life where I was also very lonely due to the dual realities of trying to build a new support structure in the midst of moving to an entirely new job, physical location, and not being able to meet other people, especially Christian brothers and sisters in physical church settings. Over time I was able to rebuild this network as the situation with my family changed. That being said, much like an oyster is able to build a pearl with secretions of fluid over a sand particle irritation in its soft flesh, God birthed in me a new concept of growing spiritually individually, and corporately during my times alone working out in the garage with a concept I dubbed “Garage Gym Church”.

Satisfactory Physical Fitness But Not Enough Time for Spiritual Fitness

When I started working out in my garage gym I faced a dilemma regarding the amount of time I had fitting in my personal devotional time in the morning, quality time working out in the garage, showering and changing for work, walking the dog, and my morning commute to get a parking spot on the military base I worked at before it filled up forcing me to walk a much further distance. Trying to do a personal devotional or working out in the afternoon/evening was almost a non-starter with a young kid clamoring for my attention after work and a harried spouse who was glad to offload my son on me once I got home! I hate to admit it, but when forced to choose where I would take the cut between staying in physical shape and spending alone time with God, I started cutting corners in my alone time with God. Maybe you can relate. On weekends when I didn’t have to go to work, I still needed to get devotional and fitness time in before my now 5-year-old son woke up typically by 7 am. Sometimes I didn’t get even that and would be surprised to see my wife open the door between the kitchen and the garage to let my son wander in to join me in my workout while she either went to take a shower or stay in bed.

I found that integrating my morning commute of 20-30 minutes with devotional time either through prayer or listening to an audio Bible was a pretty good way for me to get my devotional time in while also snacking on a light breakfast of apples and boiled eggs while driving. That being said, I started to consider that maybe I could integrate motivational and educational content I have amassed over the past few years since 2017 that has been focused on my work with total force fitness in the military community. I decided though to try listening to content during my workouts in my garage that were both secular and Christian in nature to help me develop my mental and spiritual toughness along with my physical toughness first in the morning.

Integrated Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Fitness Training Sessions in the Garage

I discovered that playing educational audio content whether watching it on a TV or listening to it during workouts was challenging because my mind would get caught up in counting reps, thinking through my next workout steps, or losing focus on the content due to difficulty in exercise technique or sheer difficulties in the workout scheme as I was gasping for air during challenging sets. However, I discovered that listening to high-energy “life trainers” such as retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Pastor John Hagee, Pastor Steven Furtick, Joyce Meyer, and other motivational thought leaders both secular and Christian especially integrated with background music typically found in the adventure and war scenes of epic movies was a powerful physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience!

Using motivational content during the workout I for one was able to concentrate on the content for some reason I feel because it was somehow being psychologically tied to my mindset during and after the workout. Two, it literally pushed me harder as I felt the emotional uplift in the content give me literal physical strength and energy I previously didn’t have. Three, I was able to immediately tie the content in my mind not only with the physical challenges I was putting myself through in my garage but also the challenges I was having at home, work, and in my ministry. Four, the challenges of thought leaders such as Joyce Meyer talking about the importance of applying principles in life such as the command to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 forced me to remember to think and speak positively vs. negatively which had an emotional uplifting shift. Just try thinking and speaking thoughts and words of negativity or complaining and consider how you feel. Now do the opposite to think and speak words of gratitude, courage, positivity, etc. and you will literally start to feel happier. Thoughts shape our feelings which shape our words, behaviors, and habits. I have learned to discipline my thinking both during physical exercise and in life in general. In a previous post, I speak on the importance of positive self-talk to physically get you through challenges which you can find here: Officers Don’t Fall Out of a Hike…Ever.

Difficult Fitness Experience Opens Up Heart and Mind to Pain and Growth

Furthermore, because the workout was physically challenging, my heart felt through my emotions and my overall mental state was more open to being challenged in the same way as well to suck up the pain and get stronger. I listened to multiple motivational videos from the Lion of Judah YouTube Channel including “Take a Stand: Never Give Up Child of God” while doing the “Jesus” Hero Workout of the Day on Good Friday and it was an incredibly uplifting experience to be reminded and challenged to go all out living for Jesus in my life when I considered all He had done for me. There were times I wanted to quit but I felt like I would literally be a hypocrite while listening to content telling me not to quit! This inspirational aspect was told to me by a Navy Religious Program Specialist during one workout in a military outdoor gym where he felt like he wanted to throw in the towel during the workout but was motivated by the content from Motiversity highlighting the famous story of David and Goliath along with others to persevere in the midst of challenges!

Starting Your Own Garage Gym Church Experience and Total Fitness Partners

After some time of tying in Christian and secular content to my garage gym workouts, I felt inspired by God that these training sessions could be easily something a small group of 1-4 other individuals could participate in depending on equipment, space, use of the driveway, etc. I noticed that in my neighborhood which was a military housing community, many of my neighbors had outfitted their garages into mini functional fitness gyms with pull-up bars and squat racks, various bumper plate sets, and other equipment. I even watched a group of about four ladies who were likely military spouses working out together between the garage and driveway with what looked to be some type of CrossFit or High-Intensity Interval Training group workout. Interestingly enough, what also made this concept in my mind start to emerge was logistically all it took was just one individual/family to open up their garage which most American homeowners especially have for a group fitness session. The amount and type of equipment vary but I was able to outfit my garage gym inclusive of a doorway pull-up bar, 145 pounds of bumper plates, a 45-pound barbell, a scalable 10-60lb sandbag, a 20″ x 24″ x 30 ” box jump, a jump rope, and a yoga mat for just under $800. My wife also wanted a $1300 rower as well which completed the setup. I also had my military equipment including a flak vest for weighted vest training and my rucksack to round out the training. If you go to Rogue Fitness Garage Gym Equipment Packages, you will find some fairly inexpensive scalable options for starting out your own garage gym. What’s nice about the garage gym concept for starting an individual, partner, or small group training program is the initial investment is not all that much. Even if you just want to try out the concept, you can literally do bodyweight workouts in your garage or purchase a sandbag from a company such as GoRuck. From a Christian hospitality standpoint, turning your garage into a space for the neighborhood, co-worker, family, or friend outreach is not all that far-fetched when you consider many church life groups today operating out of lay leader home living rooms, kitchens, and patios. The operating cost is practically the same whether you use the space for Christian outreach or not and for churches considering this concept, the “ask” of members really is just to consider throwing in a workout with amazing content for small group discussion!

With that being said, I would like you to consider the “Garage Gym Church” concept in the New Year as a way of developing yourself and others physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you are looking for a good playlist, please subscribe to the Freedom Fitness America YouTube channel “Shoot, Move, Communicate” and join our brand new “Tactical Garage Gym” private Facebook Group where we will be posting a weekly workout challenge + personal development content both secular and Christian in nature along with updates on outdoor adventure total fitness training opportunities. Furthermore, if you are looking for a regular “done for you” training program to follow in your garage gym, consider our “Tactical Garage Gym” training program that includes nutrition tracking, regular motivational content to listen to during your workout training sessions, and easy to follow functional fitness workouts designed originally for tactical athletes with exercise video links all delivered from the confines of your smartphone! Lastly, please feel free to join a combined Faith and Fitness Magazine and Freedom Fitness America 30 min Focus Group Zoom Call at 0730 PST on Jan 10 to learn more about how to get involved in the Garage Gym Church movement in 2023!

Fit for the Fight and Life,

Chris Reardon

Major, US Marine Corps

Founder/Executive Director

Freedom Fitness America

https://freedomfitnessamerica.org

The post Turning Your Garage Into a Place of Physical AND Spiritual Fitness in the New Year appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Winston Churchill

It was almost over. The men and women who had braved one of the toughest athletic endurance events in America were so close to finishing their GoRuck Heavy event after having completed a grueling 24 hours with over 40 miles of hiking with a rucksack stuffed with weights and a water bladder. Other than that, they carried a headlamp, and any gear they thought they might need. They didn’t know the finish line but they were almost certain they had completed the hike because they were so near where they calculated they would be stopping in their minds. They had made it so far in an event where there is a 50% dropout rate…every 1 of 2 participants fails to complete the hike. you might need. Then their instructor cadre informed them that they were to get their packs on and continue hiking. At this point, many participants straight up quit and were like “screw this” and began to head home because they figured they had enough.

However, there were a few brave and committed souls who picked up their pack, shrugged their shoulders and marched on for what they thought would be miles. In the end, the instructors met them about a quarter of a mile down the road and told them they were finished. They passed the test. The instructors just wanted to see who had the mental and spiritual fortitude to keep sucking up pain until they find victory…not when they felt like they have had enough pain.

The story above was recounted to me by a Marine veteran friend of mine Chad Hiser over a zoom call one day with another Marine veteran, Drew Toothman (GySgt, USMC (Ret), an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician who had served in combat operations in the post 9/11 era. Drew listened to the story and then told us one of his own about a unit of Marines on a training hike. These Marines saw what looked to be their trucks that signaled the end of their grueling hike and relief sitting in the back of a 7-ton vehicle while driving back to their home base. Their Executive Officer however told them to keep going because those trucks weren’t theirs. The Marines challenged him saying, “sir, those look like our trucks.” He said, “no, those aren’t our trucks.” As the Marines pushed past the vehicles which to them was their finish line, many fell out of the hike at this point because they felt they could go no further. After observing this for some time, the Executive Officer stopped the training evolution, gathered the Marines up, and explained to them that indeed the trucks they saw were theirs. However, he had them push past the trucks because he wanted to make a point: the Marines in this unit needed to learn how to keep sucking up pain even past the point they felt was the finish line. In combat, there is often no sign of when relief is in sight and the Marines needed the grit to keep pushing long after they feel they are ready to quit. Their very lives are on the line.

As fellow Marine veterans, we pondered what is it in a man or woman to keep pushing through pain long past when they thought it would be over. We recognized that the issue at stake was not so much one of physical endurance but of mental and spiritual endurance in all reality. When men and women are pushed beyond their limits and are forced to decide to keep going or turn back, what they ultimately choose tells both them and others what they are ultimately made of and is more of a determination of their ability to have victory than any obstacle right in front of them.

In my personal life, I have faced this sense of non-stop pain from an emotional and mental standpoint and I can tell you that many times when I wanted to quit because there was no relief in sight for a long time, the only thing that kept me going was the thought that if I quit, then I am certain I will never achieve what I set out to go for. In the fall of 2021, I was fairly confident that I would get selected for promotion in my Marine Corps career and finally have a sense of being able to take somewhat of a break from pushing as hard as I had been over the past few years, especially with a sprint of a 13-month overseas unaccompanied tour that I had just returned from that summer. To my dismay, I was called up by a 3-star general telling me that unfortunately I was not selected for promotion. This was stunning to me despite my overall solid performance record. I recognized that I had only about five months of time to really showcase my performance on an evaluation that typically would take place over a year in order to give me whatever leg up I had in the next promotion board which based on previous selection statistics went from about a 76% selection rate to 6%. The temptation to throw in the towel and give in at this point was immense. I weighed my options. Not getting selected on the second round meant that I stood a good chance of being involuntarily separated from the Marine Corps before 20-year retirement eligibility with the goal of being able to have healthcare benefits, especially for my wife and 4-year-old son who had a lot of health issues. On top of all this, I was facing my own setbacks at home still needing to maintain social isolation and strict COVID protocols such as masking at work when everybody else was now mask-free because of my wife, son, and father-in-law’s immunocompromised issues. Should I give up on my career dreams and try desperately try to find another line of work in such a short time to continue providing for my family? Or should I buckle down and do everything in my power to at least know I gave it my all for this promotion and if failing in that outcome at least know for the rest of my life I had least given it my all? I continued to ponder my lot in life. At this point in life, I was also having to take a ton of time off from work to watch my son in order to help my wife through various health challenges due to a lack of being able to deal with these due to COVID-19 medical center delays and my extended time away from home. I couldn’t just slave away at work because then my family would also fall apart.

On top of all this, the non-profit ministry I had launched right before COVID started had not taken off like I had expected for many reasons despite my diligent efforts. Funds were dwindling, volunteers, facing their own life challenges were quitting, and I could not seem to get the traction I needed to get the cause off the ground. Both well-meaning and ill-meaning people challenged had their rounds of unwarranted criticism during this season to make matters worse.

Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually I was past my breaking point. I had been on a long…long GoRuck Heavy of life that honestly had been in a series of ups and downs since 2010 but most certainly since 2016 where the storms of life picked up and never really abated with one thing after another. The finish lines that I had imagined in my head were beyond my sight and there was no certainty of relief in sight. My faith was at a crossroads and what I would do next in this season for good or bad would be for keeps and consequential not only for the rest of my life but for my eternity and others. As my mentor, Kurt Parsons, a retired US Navy Officer who had been through Navy Diver, SEAL, and pilot training had once told me, “Christopher, you have one life to live so go big or go home.” I had decided to go big and I wasn’t going home…ever. I would fight to the very end or at least die trying in terms of holding the line in all the areas God had called me to in terms of my family, career, and ministry. In the midst of my garage gym workouts, one of the audio tracks I listened to often was from Winston Churchill’s speech to his nation during World War II where he encouraged his fellow citizens to “never, never, never give up.” I decided I would do the same. Failure might be an option but quitting wasn’t.

You may have heard the term “don’t give up the ship.” This phrase comes from the dying words of the Captain of the USS Chesapeake, James Lawrence, during a naval battle with the British against the HMS Shannon during the War of 1812. Although James would die from his wounds and his ship eventually had to surrender, his words inspired his crew and others in the naval force. In fact, his friend Oliver Hazard Perry had his words written on a large blue battle ensign which flew on Oliver Perry’s ship 3 months later in a victorious engagement over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie. This original flag still hangs in Memorial Hall of the US Naval Academy as an inspiration to Navy and Marine Officers over the years to keep fighting the good fight even when it seems like all is lost and it seems like the best choice is to quit. As was mentioned in the GoRuck challenge, it appeared at first that the challenge would go on forever, but the brave souls who persevered only had a little more to go. They just didn’t know it. Oliver Perry’s men only had 3 more months to wait before they finally found victory against the British and the war outcome tilted eventually in the favor of the US as history tells us. From their initial vantage point though, they didn’t know it. That’s the tricky part of these challenges in our life. We just don’t know when our victory will come…how long will we have to continue holding. Have you ever been there or are you there right now?

How do you keep pushing when your emotions and mind are screaming to you to go home? Here are some of the ways I have learned to do this in my own life to help you find strength in your own battles to keep going and never surrender to the tyranny of dark days:

1. Always Remind Yourself of “Why” You Started in the First Place. Remember what you are fighting for that got you started in the first place. Decide in your heart that no matter what hell or valleys you experience, you will never quit until you finally have victory. Even if you are forced by circumstances beyond your control to change course, remember you are not retreating…only fighting in another direction. The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews encourages his readers to keep in mind their example as Jesus of Nazareth who endured the shame of the cross for the dream before Him of reconciling man to God and being exalted to the right hand of God forever. He and others who followed the God of the Bible endured much in order to achieve their dreams and achieve victory. We do well to keep them in mind as examples when we are tempted to quit on our dreams as well.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:1-3 (Berean Standard Bible)

2. Remember how far you have already come. When we are tempted to give up, we often only think of the negative aspect of the pain we have endured and not how far we have come. Quitting will guarantee our suffering has been in vain and we will essentially “throw away” our past efforts. Of course, there are times when life circumstances determine we alter course because we have no other practical choice, but this should be done with the intent of moving forward in life, not giving up on our ultimate why. If you recall my inspiration from Winston Churchill, he encouraged his people when all seemed lost. Europe was now a fortress for Hitler. The French overt government was toppled and the land was occupied. England’s army was forced to retreat at Dunkirk only narrowly missing annihilation by being rescued by citizen mariners across the English Channel. He prepared his people to fight to the very end. He gave the roar of the lionheart in the midst of his people who slowly but surely began to turn the tide when all seemed lost. Recalling also inspiration from the writer of Hebrews who was telling his fellow brothers and sisters in faith to hold the line in spite of the hell they were going through can also inspire us today:

Do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward. You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”

Hebrews 10: 35-36 (Berean Standard Bible)

3. Put one foot in front of the other. Figure out what steps you can continue to sustain indefinitely even if they are painful. Force your brain to focus on what you can do today and what you can reasonably plan for positive future outcomes. If you sense a strong likelihood of a future fight, envision yourself fighting through to ultimate victory. Don’t let yourself dwell on thoughts like “I don’t know how much more I can take.” Instead, tell yourself “I can take this next step….and the next.” I was recently helping my 4-year-old son achieve a relatively difficult obstacle at the playground where he was off the ground and scared of the height. He didn’t know if he could continue to move forward. I told him, “take the next step.” He did. I told him, ok, “take the next step.” He did and this continued all the way until he completed it. I was teaching my son how his dad has gotten through difficulties in life and how he can do the same. Years ago I was given the opportunity to complete the Navy SEAL Confidence Course and I remember being up on the “slide for life” which is an approximately 200-foot rope about 40 feet off the ground. Going back down was significantly scary and out of the question for me but I was also scared of falling too wondering if I would make it to the end. I chose to mentally focus on each pull of my arms while pushing with my leg despite the swinging of the rope and my fear of heights as I lay on top of the rope. I eventually made it to the end not because I focused on the whole obstacle in front of me or the ground beneath but because I kept focusing intently instead on each pull in front of me recognizing I had the strength to do that. Navy SEALS and other high-performing enduring athletes call this “segmentation”. They refuse to focus on the entire race but only on what is immediately in front of them. This way their mind is not overwhelmed. The cliche phrase of eating an elephant one bite at a time holds true. There is a story in the Gospels about Jesus calling his protege Peter out of the boat to “walk on water” towards Him. Peter initially was enthusiastic about this and literally started to “walk on water”, but the tax collector-turned-Gospel writer Matthew tells us that “when Peter saw the wind and the waves he became terrified and began to sink.” (story found in Matthew 14:22-33). I wonder what would have happened if Peter had kept focusing on each step recognizing that he was literally walking where the winds and waves could not stop him as long as focused on each step toward Jesus, he would have made it. Truth is, I’m reminded of this in my own storms of life to do the same. It is easy to judge Peter for getting afraid, but you and I are tempted with the same mindset in our own serious storms of life.

Jesus furthermore encourages his followers to focus on what they have to do in a given day vs. worrying about the future when he says:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:34 (New International Version)

In the end, remember God had you yesterday, He has you today, and trust He’ll have you tomorrow. Worrying isn’t going to help and by focusing on your next step, you will stay calm and eventually walk right into your victory! This leads me to my next point.

4. Remind yourself of God’s promises, but release the “when” and how. When I look at hardships I have struggled with in the past or that I am currently struggling with, the reality is not that I can’t face the pain of today. I can do that. I may not want to, but I can. When I set out on a journey to accomplish anything I feel God calls me to do, I need to remember the promises He has personally given me or shared in His Word and trust that He is faithful to complete the good work He began in me. At the exact same time, I need to release the “when” and “how” because feeling the need to answer those questions will literally drive me crazy as I imagine it will you as well. So I have to have the mindset that anything I feel God has called me to do will come to pass, but at the same time, I need to accept the reality that since I don’t know when or how, I need to live faithfully in my current circumstances until they change. I need to just keep taking positive steps forward in life or at least sustaining what I know to be right and true in life. Paul of Tarsus who had a vision for what God had called him to do despite many setbacks told those he was mentoring in words that still ring true today the following:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12-14

So, whether you are setting out to complete a physically and mentally grueling challenge or you are struggling to stay steadfast in doing good in some area of your life whether it be staying faithful in a difficult marriage, continuing to hold the line in a difficult season of parenting, persevering through a difficult patch in business or ministry, or are struggling through a physical health challenge that won’t seem to end, know that you can make it to the end. Just don’t quit. You will eventually walk into your promised land if you remain faithful.

Land of the Free Because of the Brave,

Chris Reardon

Major, USMC, US Naval Academy Class of 2007

Founder/Executive Director of Freedom Fitness America

“Fit for the Fight and Life”

If you are a military, law enforcement, fire/rescue, or first responder professional or would like to train physically, mentally, and spiritually to have the warrior mindset to achieve victory in the field and in life, then check out Tactical Garage Gym or email me at chris@freedomfitnessamerica.org to learn more!

“The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.”

The post If You Are Going Through Hell…Keep Going appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.

I’LL NEVER FORGET

I was a young midshipman at the US Naval Academy in the summer of 2006 conducting my “interview” to be a Marine Officer at a three-week rigorous physical and tactical training evolution program called “Leatherneck” in Quantico, VA along with other fellow midshipmen (college students in training to be US Navy or Marine Corps officers). We were preparing for various field exercises and my Staff Platoon Commander was salty Captain Shane Groah, USMC a prior enlisted officer with a drill instructor and military police officer background. He pulled our platoon of midshipmen in close with various exhortations and said words I’ll never forget: “officers never fall out of a hike…ever…”

Shane went on to talk about his own experiences conducting various hikes (also known as humps, rucks, or road marches) where military professionals particularly on the ground side put their field packs on weighing generally anywhere from 40-100 lbs, and then march forward in columns of individuals arm length apart at a general rate of at least 3 miles per hour for distances ranging from 3-20 miles depending on the evolution in a given day. Shane in particular told a story of being on a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation (MCCRE) where he was the unit leader of a military police unit leading a grueling 20-mile hike. Given the standard rate of march, this can take up to 7 hours if not longer, and will usually start in the early morning hours to beat the heat if possible. He went on to explain how during this event his feet were blistered and hurting bad, but he knew that despite the physical pain he was in, dropping out was not an option because if a leader like himself dropped out to get into the safety vehicle, this could cause many of the Marines he was leading to conclude that they too could drop out based on the example they saw from their officer causing whole platoons and companies to come apart.

Officers, particularly commanders, typically are in the front of their units during hikes and are very visible. Furthermore, the enlisted members of the unit are looking to the officer and other senior enlisted leaders for inspiration and an example of how to conduct themselves in the midst of suffering. Having a poor performance in a grueling physical event like this demonstrates that it is “ok” to feel inclined to drop out when one feels some pain. A mentality like this especially in combat is not good and can completely bring about chaos. Hikes in general are very chaotic physical evolutions with the slinky effect going on where people move up and down in the formation. Furthermore, as people drop out or drop back, it causes command and control of the unit to really be difficult as the unit spreads out over a long distance. In training and especially in combat when a unit needs to move quickly to a battle position in order to accomplish a mission on time, this will mean mission failure…all because the officer didn’t live up to the ethos of sucking up pain in order to inspire the men and women around him/her.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY HIKES

As I began my Marine Corps career, I have to confess that hikes were not my favorite evolution as they were physically grueling and there were many times I would have rather quit given the loads we were carrying, the heat, hilly terrain, or distance, pain in my shoulders from the pack, legs, and lungs burning, etc. In my early officer training at The Basic School, I remember one particular evolution very vividly that was only about 3 miles…the distance of a typical Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test. However, this event took place during the hot summer months in Quantico somewhere on an infamous road called “Washboard” which was a roller coaster of a road. Our platoon commander was leading the charge and he was a motivator, to say the least. He pushed us at a very fast pace for us officer students looking to soon join the Fleet Marine Forces as the latest batch of junior officers. One of the other Lieutenants in my platoon was struggling and so we spread loaded gear so I was now more weighed down in the back of the formation not to mention a bit disadvantaged with my short legs given my height at 5′ 7″ compared to my taller platoon mates. So I started to drop back as I struggled to keep with the pace or run just to catch up (although usually this was discouraged because it could exaggerate the slinky effect) and in the end didn’t keep up with at least what I thought was the bulk of the platoon (it was hard to see given the hills and my place in the rear of the formation). I remember finishing even though I wanted to quit thinking of Shane Groah’s words. However, I was greeted by another snarky Lieutenant who had it out for me whenever he got a chance and in this particular instance, he said, “you [expletive] suck Reardon” which really made me feel bad although I tried to brush him off. When I got back to my room feeling pretty ashamed of myself for not having kept pace with everybody else even though I didn’t quit, I remember my roommates urging me to take off my pack and rest a bit as they laid their sprawled out. I would later learn that only 5 of the approximately 40 personnel platoon would ACTUALLY finish with our Platoon Commander and some Lieutenants were heat exhaustion cases with one of my roommates urinating on himself when he got back. Rumor had it that our platoon commander actually got in trouble because the heat conditions were actually close to the type where outdoor physical evolutions like hikes should be secured from what I recalled. So I realized I actually did pretty well overall and felt better about my performance.

Another hike early on in my career that I vividly remember was with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines where I was the Intelligence Officer from 2011-2012 out in Camp Horno, Camp Pendleton, CA. The battalion commander wanted the staff to help him along with the Sergeant Major to carry a .50 caliber machine gun on a 12-mile hike along with our packs, M-4/M-16 assault rifles, and M9 service pistol…get some. A .50 caliber machine gun is a crew-served weapon with awesome firepower that weighs about 120 pounds. The commander to his credit would carry the receiver (the main part of the weapon) and the Sergeant Major would carry the spare barrel. My office at the time was next to the Sergeant Major and I remember him looking like the Battalion Commander went crazy, but he went along with carrying the spare barrel while the battalion. For my part, I volunteered to carry the tripod which weighs in at 40 lbs and is pretty awkward to carry and usually is balanced on your pack while carrying the rest of your stuff. Having come from the air wing prior to this tour and being an intelligence officer, I was not you may say one of the “boys” having gone through the infamous Infantry Officer’s Course like my Ground Intelligence Officer counterparts or being an infantry leader. So I certainly had to prove myself to be respected.

The first 3 miles went fairly well, but I noticed I started to feel a bit light-headed. Remembering Shane Groah’s words as if he was right there next to me, I knew that falling out of the formation was an unacceptable option and could kill my reputation for the rest of the time I was at the unit not to mention be a bad example to the enlisted Marines around me to include my own section of intelligence Marines who are sometimes hit or miss when it comes to physical performance depending on individual motivation and talent. I also foreshadowed that if I kept trying to push it, my body might just say “screw you” and I would achieve the same result as quitting let alone likely passing out and getting a rectal temperature check in front of everybody else…an embarrassing thought. While quitting wasn’t an option, passing out as an officer would also likely put me in the category of “this guy can’t hack it.” So I made a decision to take the third option, ate some humble pie, and handed off the tripod to another staff officer. Over the next 12 miles, the tripod was shared between myself and a few other staff officers including the Logistics Officer, the Navy doctors, and a few other guys. We made it together as a team and I felt proud of all of us that we held our own without dropping out.

CHARACTER TRAINING = CHARACTER STRENGTH

I bring these stories up because they serve as physical metaphors and experiences that have formed the backdrop of my character trained early on that applies not only to my career as a Marine Corps Officer with 15+ years active duty now, but also in life as a husband, father, and leader within Christian circles a.k.a. the Church. I have been called to lead myself, my family, my fellow warriors, my fellow citizens, and my brothers and sisters in the Church. Many are watching me all the time even though I often don’t know it or perceive it. In physical training with my Marines or during difficult evolutions during training or real-world operations, it would be easy to quit or slack off on holding myself up to a higher standard. It would be very easy for me to “fall out” or “drop my pack”, but I recognize that if I do, there is a real danger that many others would do so as well. One of my friends, Jeremy Stalnecker, the Executive Director of Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, wrote a book called “March or Die” based on his experiences as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer in the initial invasion of Iraq. He describes from physical combat experience with analogies to the spiritual realm from a Christian perspective how when things get hard, we have two choices: march…or die. Dying might not mean physical death, but it may mean death in a relationship, a dream, etc.

LESSONS FOR YOUR LIFE “HIKE”

To get really personal here, I think about my initial lessons learned as a Marine Corps Officer hiking or from inspiration from men I respect like Jeremy or Admiral McRaven when I think of initiatives at home or at work. At home, I am a husband and a father. When I swore an oath (military terms for saying my marital vows) to my wife before God that I would love her for better or for worse…in sickness and in health…and to be faithful to her only, I didn’t realize how in a few short months those very words would be put to an extreme test. A few short weeks after getting married my wife informed me that she was pregnant and soon she started having severe symptoms of morning sickness followed by a long period of health challenges that created many challenges in our relationship exacerbated by spiritual warfare. The emotional pain of it has tempted me to quit on my family or quit on following God’s way given to me from his Word a.k.a. the Bible or the Holy Spirit’s prophetic direction to me given through many godly men and women at various times over a decade in various locations. In particular, I knew that I was called to be a major influential leader for godly influence in the nation to spread the message of Jesus but also as a government leader with a God-given plan to have significant influence and authority inside the US Federal Government. The enemy however would regularly tempt me to abandon these plans instead of taking a path of life with seemingly more comfort and stability if he couldn’t tempt me to give into blatantly disobeying God’s Word. On top of this, I was regularly reminded by the enemy of failures of the past such as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy stemming from a failed business venture in 2016, having ministry activities face opposition and delay, or career challenges like finding out I was passed over for promotion for O-5 putting me at significant risk of being potentially forced out of the Marine Corps despite my high level of documented performance.

Amplifying all of this over the course of a long desert season that is still at play (7 + years now ongoing), I then would receive comments from Christian friends and mentors in my life that in summary would seem that I was facing all of my struggles because I was doing something wrong and certainly not following the will of God much like Job’s friends did in the book of Job. I found myself lonely whether looking for fellowship, support, or partnership and life seemed like quicksand or Lilly pads I was constantly trying to negotiate while always keeping my eyes on the Lord as I walked towards Him in the midst of the storms of life. COVID-19 exacerbated these difficulties as it did for everybody as my ministry model was rapidly shut down in 2020 almost as soon as it started an overseas 13-month unaccompanied tour where I uprooted from a support network in New Orleans, quickly built one in Bahrain, and then struggled to develop a new one in San Diego, CA. Coming back from an overseas tour, I came back to a lot of challenges in my family due to health conditions including dealing with the hardship of supporting my wife and son through a cancer diagnosis and follow on brutal treatment protocols with the final death of my beloved father in law early in 2022. I suffered, prayed, and worked hard in obscurity with nobody aside from the Lord for the most part seeing my secret faith and perseverance or at least commending me for it. For sure I had made some mistakes that I later realized were not in line with God’s Word because instead, I had based my decision-making on feelings, interpretation of positive circumstances, and watching other Christians making similar decisions find success. Other mistakes were simply the cost of being a pioneer where there is no road map and it is part of the journey. Regardless, every day I decided that I would not quit no matter what. I would die physically before I ever quit. I made an active choice of a posture that essentially said: “death before dishonor.” I made a decision and have kept to that decision that no power of hell can steer me to drop out of the hike of my life. Why? Because I recognize that my afflictions are truly temporary compared to the eternal glory that awaits me with reward from heaven when I look back at the legacy I am in the midst of creating and the eternal difference of true life I will pave for many to follow in my footsteps.

As a military man, I have considered very carefully with conviction and peace in my heart that if God calls me to danger to face the barrels of guns which leads to my own physical death on the battlefield and I don’t get to be in my young son’s life as he grows up, then that is ok. I believe with strong faith that God will protect me but even if he doesn’t, much like Daniel’s friends who faced the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel instead of bowing to an idol, we must consider the reality that God for His own purposes may not save us from physical harm in order to bring glory to Himself. Our job is to simply trust and obey regardless of the consequences. In fact, I’m truly not afraid of death or how I will face it. The other day I saw a post on Facebook by Adam Davis, a former police officer turned evangelist who spoke about a dream he had where he was observing his funeral when thunderous words from God echoed stating “did you do what I created you to do?” That really has stuck with me because I want nothing more than at the end of my life to hear the precious words from Jesus “well done, my good and faithful servant.” To get to heaven and learn that because of fear, laziness, or indifference that my life on earth was wasted for eternity would be terrible knowing life could have been so much different. I cringe at looking back from heaven thinking “what if”. As my mentor Kurt Parsons told me one fateful night when time seemed to stop driving over a bridge near Annapolis, MD, “Christopher, we get one life to live…so go big or go home.” I have never forgotten that. As one of the most famous quotes in the movie Gladiator goes, “what we do in life echos in eternity.” I can’t control external circumstances, but as long as I’m alive and persevering, God has maneuverable room to glorify Himself. If I decide to quit, He’ll get glory elsewhere, but not through my decision to give up. God help me if I ever choose to do so. I hope that the reader of this post will never quit on God’s plan for their life either. Our life’s legacy and the eternal life to come for us and many others are too much at stake for us to seriously consider quitting. In the New Testament, a letter to Jewish Christians who were tempted to quit in the midst of hardship, confusion, and persecution that was very well costing some of their lives on this earth exhorts the following:

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood [in a modern context, you aren’t dead yet] in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, for those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)           

Jesus also exhorts his followers:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.” (Matthew 16:24-27) 

6 PRINCIPLES TO HELP YOU NOT FALL OUT OF YOUR LIFE’S HIKE … EVER

So, how do we do it? How do we keep trucking when hell seems to throw the kitchen sink at us and life brings us to our knees? I will give a few principles here:

1. Determine in your heart your convictions ahead of time that you will never quit on. “Set aside Jesus as Lord in your heart” first. (1 Peter 3:15, Luke 14:26). This means Biblical values, loyalty to key people in your life such as your family, commitments to key goals, and commitment to your dreams; especially God-given ones with albeit flexibility and patience in seeing them through. to commit to the task at hand no matter what until your external circumstances keep you from staying on your particular path. You must also count the cost of what you are willing to lose in order to gain something of value. This may mean for example that in order to follow God’s call, you may have to disappoint or even lose family and friends opposed to His way for you, let go of a work-related position, sacrifice material resources, or even your own very physical life. Anything less leaves open the door to fear and second-guessing to steal your conviction.
2. Ask for help from God and from others. The Bible says that “pride goes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) and that “God gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6) meaning support. Jesus also says that “He is the vine and we are the branches…unless we remain rooted in Him, we have no power.” (John 15:5) Given that the collective organization of the Church is the “Body of Christ”, we gain the ability to bear fruit and His grace by remaining connected to His Body (1 Corinthians 12:12-28)Our relationship with God must be solid and we must depend on Him. We also must seek out friends to walk regularly with who will lift us up. To paraphrase the wisest man to ever live according to the Bible, Solomon from his words written in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “two are better than one for they can help each other succeed..but one standing alone can be attacked and easily defeated.” Just like I sought out the help of my fellow staff officers on the hike in Camp Pendleton to share the load among ourselves to avoid our mission failure or my physical passing out along with the emotional support from my fellow platoon mates after a grueling hike at The Basic School, so you and I are not meant to do life alone. We need God and others, especially Christian brothers and sisters in our lives to give us support in all types of ways and are called to support them (Hebrews 10:25, Galatians 6:1-3).
3. Eat the elephant…one bite at a time. Focus on your next immediate step or steps. It is easy especially when the road has been long and painful and the road ahead is filled with either known or unknown obstacles with no seeming end to the pain that your mind gets the overwhelming urge to quit. Compartmentalize the pain and focus on the reality that you can do the next thing you are called to. You have the strength, the knowledge, and the guts. When you complete that, focus on the next thing ahead. As the old song goes, “put one foot in front of the other and soon you’ll be walking out the door.” Another good quote is “yard by yard it is hard…inch by inch it is a cinch.” It has been said that the mind is ready to quit when you have only given 40% of the true physical capacity you have when you still have 60% of the physical ability to still march on.
4. Calm your nerves and heart rate in a difficult emotional or physical situation through tactical breathing. Your breathing is one of two aspects of your autonomous nervous system you can control (blinking being the other) and so it can slow your heart rate, and your adrenaline in order to get your brain back into logical thinking vs. fight or flight “freak out mode”.
5. Practice positive self-talk vs. negative self-talk. A retired Navy SEAL friend of mine told me a story where he was at BUDS and woke up to a student telling himself in the mirror that “nobody will look down on you for quitting.” That same student was one of the first the next day to ring the bell. My friend on the other hand decided he had no Plan B and although he was not as fit as other students and even was slightly on the heavier side, he outlasted many others and not only went on to do a 20-year career in the Navy SEALs but ended up having his two sons also become Navy SEALs with one of them even going to the infamous SEAL Team 6. A Christian friend of mine, Robert Owens, who is an endurance athlete with the claim of being the “fittest 66-year-old” says to say things in your head like “easy day, I got this”. I like to think of Bible verses like “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) or “I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:37). Remember, the body feels and eventually acts on where the mind goes. If your mind is negative, you are sure to feel and act out on your mental state. Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian neuroscientist, describes the effect of both the positive and negative on our brain cells when we meditate on either positive or negative thinking. She teaches that science has proven the Biblical exhortation “as a man thinketh, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7) because our thoughts literally form brain cells and have real physical-chemical effects on our body and emotions. Thoughts determine our emotions and emotions determine our behaviors. If you want to change your emotions, change your thoughts. I literally went through this today while waiting at a military gate unexpectedly that was shut down causing me to be late to a meeting. I practiced positive self-talk telling myself I couldn’t control the event, the event would pass, and I might as well just sit and be patient. As a result, I stayed calm and felt at peace. On the other hand, I was tempted to get impatient, angry, and start to worry which would have done nothing other than put me in a bad mood.
6. Take care of yourself physically. Get adequate rest every night, hydrate regularly, eat right, train for difficult events, and keep your muscles stretched. Physical pain from not taking care of yourself physically exacerbates emotional and mental pain like a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We see multiple times through the Bible the practical wisdom of nourishment and rest to keep on going including the admonishment of an angel to the prophet Elijah who told him to eat and drink after he got some rest because he was “freaking out” and needed strength for the journey right after he had a major victory over the enemies of God when a wicked queen told him she was going to take his life (1 Kings 19:4-8).

FOLLOW GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY

In closing my friends, when life gets hard, especially in the conduct of doing God’s work, keep your pack on and keep marching. Many are watching you. If you fall out, it is likely your choice will also cause others to fall out too. On the flip side, your commitment to persevere will likely inspire others in hard times to keep going too. For men especially, our decision to follow God wholeheartedly statistically has such an outsized impact on your family. It has been said that when a father/husband is following the Lord that there is a 70% chance of his kids attending church for the long haul even after the kids grow up. If it is only the mother/wife, there is about a 30% chance that the kids will stick with their faith. So for you men out there for the sake of your wives and your kids, your spiritual walk affects them and can either propel them forward into the great plans God has for them or play a significant role in dragging them down in the plans the enemy has. Outside of our immediate family, our extended relatives, our friends, our co-workers, neighbors, and many others we may never meet are depending on seeing the Bible lived out in practice. If not you, then who, and if not now, then when? Life isn’t about me and it isn’t about you and the stakes of the game are literally for eternity. Yes, we matter, but others do as well and so we must keep fighting the good fight of faith knowing that in the end, our trials will end. For God, Family, Country, and ultimately the Kingdom of God, we must keep our pack on and keep trucking.

If you are interested in receiving more training to develop spiritual, mental, and physical toughness like what I mentioned above, I encourage you to join our Tactical Garage Gym Facebook Group where we provide free weekend “Hero Workout of the Day” workouts with Christian YouTube content to listen to either by yourself or with friends from your garage gym as part of our Garage Gym Church initiative!

Land of the Free Because of the Brave,

Chris Reardon

Major, USMC

Founder/Executive Director

Freedom Fitness America

“Fit for the Fight and Life”

https://freedomfitnessamerica.org

“The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.”

The post Officers Don’t Fall Out Of A Hike… EVER appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.

“’Fitness’ is a commonly used word in our society today but within the military, it has a particularly deep meaning. Conventionally, being fit means being adapted to a particular condition or circumstance. In war, militaries and their individual combatants must adapt to the chaos and complexities of battle. As these militaries return from war, they must maintain a state of vigilance while also peacefully coexisting within the civil society that produced them. ” Admiral McMullen, USN (Ret)

Tactical Human Performance Overview

The idea of total force fitness is where military members are charged with not just staying in top-notch physical health, but also in all areas of their life and career. This has been espoused for some time now especially considering high divorce rates, substance abuse, sexual assaults, suffering from post-traumatic stress, suicide, financial struggles, and other negative behaviors. What are the holistic components of this type of fitness to train professionals to perform with excellence on the battlefield AND in life? What does it take to successfully prepare warriors to go downrange to pull triggers and come back whole? For this post, I will share with you a perspective on what this can practically look like with a focus on individual attributes necessary to build the physical, mental, and spiritual fitness that are necessary for warriors to succeed on the battlefield and in life.

“Gym Numbers Mean Nothing. All That Matters is Mission Performance” Rob Shaul, Mountain Tactical Institute, Former US Coast Guard Officer

Human performance for tactical professionals from a physical fitness standpoint starts with the baseline idea that their bodies are their primary weapon system or operational platform. If they are unfit or injured then they are a liability and not able to contribute to the mission.

In other words, it’s great if you can beat everybody in a competition in a sporting event, lift like a beast, crush CrossFit Metcons, win endurance events, etc. But at the end of the day those trained to be on the front lines whether overseas or in the community must stay in top-notch physical condition because when it is time to whoop it on, they can’t afford to be out of shape. While the idea of the police officer wolfing down donuts is funny, in practice, if you are in trouble, you don’t want the cop showing up who is winded after a short distance who cannot help catch the bad guy, the firefighter who is too slow to pull a small child from a burning building, or the military professional who needs to carry their friend who is now a casualty off the battlefield to safety. Tactical professionals need to be able to perform physically to whatever the mission will demand of them. Tactical professionals aren’t NFL/NBA/MBL players but they are certainly professional athletes who must be in it to win it. Their livelihood depends on their fitness, but more importantly, their performance in dangerous operational environments and ability to survive along with fellow unit members who are counting on them is most critical. If military members don’t hold the line with their fitness, they very well can let their team down at critical times which can mean mission failure, serious injury, or even God forbid death to themselves or their teammates. Their physical fitness is literally life or death. My brother is a firefighter in CT and he expressed to me once his own lament of not being in the best shape he needed to be after watching another firefighter at a similar age in his 30s who died in a fire. My brother’s eyes were open to the reality that he needed to be on his physical “A” game or risk being too slow to maneuver in unforgiving structure fires for example.

So what are the main attributes of solid physical performance in a military unit? There are four main attributes that can be summed up as the capacity to endure, be agile, possess strength, and maintain flexibility. According to an article in Military Medicine, these definitions can be summed up as follows:

Endurance: Physically repeat the same task in a repetitive manner (Ex. Long Ruck March)

Agility/Mobility: Capability to move through time and space with precision to negotiate an obstacle (Ex. Scale a Wall).

Strength: Ability to generate force to overcome resistance (Ex: Drag a casualty.)

Flexibility: Achieve an optimal range of motion (Ex. Climbing in a vehicle, boat, or aircraft)

Fitness programs for tactical professionals need to focus on specific tasks necessary for mission accomplishment first and foremost for similar tasks they might find in their real-world missions. For example, let’s say a fire team needs to patrol the streets of an urban center with a heavy combat load followed by a sprint through a congested marketplace ultimately leading to kicking down a door and getting rifles steady and ready to fire. All of these tasks require different levels of physical fitness. The warriors in this scenario must have aerobic endurance to walk the patrol with their combat gear. They must have the anaerobic capability to sprint and mobility to quickly negotiate obstacles in the marketplace. Kicking in the door requires strength. Failure to accomplish any of these sub-tasks of the mission puts the military professional in danger and could lead to death along with the members of his or her team. A secondary sub-purpose to having a high state of physical fitness is to increase the front-line professional’s medical health, mental fitness, and ability to resist injury. Thus suboptimal or poor physical fitness is much more serious than in competitive athletics and thus should be emphasized. (Military Medicine, Volume 175, Aug 2010, pg. 15)

To further build on a state of physical fitness, nutrition must also be part of the conversation as well. The Military Medical Journal states, “Proper nutrition prevents illness, improves health, and optimizes emotional, cognitive, and physical capabilities. Food confers these benefits by providing the macro-and micronutrients to protect against disease, support injury-healing processes, and fuel immediate bioenergetic, emotional, and spiritual needs. Yet how (e.g. fast or slow), when, and where (e.g. alone or in a group) an individual consumes a particular meal can impact warrior fitness independent of the foodstuffs consumed.” Furthermore, the journal goes on to state: “Even with proper food that is readily available, optimal nutritional fitness will not be achieved unless warriors make healthy food choices.” (Military Medicine, Volume 175, Aug 2010, pg. 65) So we can see that BOTH the right type of exercise and nutrition along with other metrics of physical health including injury prevention practices, promotion of healthy sleep practices, hygiene, etc. are necessary to optimizing physical fitness in military professionals in order to promote a high chance of mission success and to the max extent possible prevent injury, death, and illness.

Mental Toughness

Now let’s talk about the mindset needed to fuel the physical performance of tactical athletes. The speed and complexity of military operations necessitate processing and filtering volumes of information and tasks, negotiating ambiguity in mission objectives and roles, the ability to make well-informed decisive decisions, and the ability to learn on the fly. The capacity to do so is vital to cumulative contributions to offensive combat power and force protection. This capacity is the sum total of the mental, emotional, and behavioral capabilities of a service member to stay cool under pressure and think and act in high-pressure situations for sustained periods of time. Military professionals train to this by providing physically stressful situations in training and then forcing the service member to perform difficult mental tasks to simulate what thinking under stress really looks like. This has been done with sailors who need to fight a ship fire or patch holes with water flooding a compartment; snipers needing to use the “Kim’s Game” model of memorizing cards, or special forces members needing to perform complex mental tasks like calling in an airstrike right after a long grueling endurance event. That being said, the ability to maintain a coolness under pressure and make sound moral decisions requires the next phase of fitness which is spiritual and this is one of the most important aspects of fitness because it deals with the heart, character, and our will which ultimately leads to our behaviors in life.

Spiritual Toughness

Tactical professionals must have a strong heart and spirit if they are going to face the realities of downrange operations with bravery and come back whole or even face death and injury with courage. If they don’t spend time honing this aspect of their training, then at the crucial time, it will not be there for them which can lead to operational failures and/or personal failures long after tactical operations are complete. It is also important that they understand how to live life with meaning and purpose so that they can be more resistant to depression and not be swayed to partake in fleeting but destructive pleasures such as overindulgence in alcohol. It is also important that they are ready to face danger, fear, exhaustion, hardship, and ultimately stare death in the face without blinking in a manner that will prove to be decisive in training and combat. From a Christian perspective, Christians are exhorted to share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3), and Jesus of Nazareth even mentions the need for Christian disciples to prepare for their own death to achieve victory over evil over attempting to save their lives and “to not fear those who can kill the body and afterward do no more but to instead fear the One who can destroy both the body and soul in hell” (Matthew 10:28).” Throughout the Bible, soldiers for national causes such as the ancient Hebrews facing foreign adversaries hell-bent on their destruction or soldiers for spiritual causes are exhorted to not let fear control them and instead be courageous. This courage comes from a conviction that “what we do in this life echoes in eternity” and it is better to stand for a righteous cause even if it means you lose your physical life. While there are many non-Christians who have died in history for various causes including that of political freedom such as many US service members fight for, I can speak for myself as a Christian who serves in the US Marine Corps that I am ready to face what comes because I know who has called me to my work and who ultimately holds my life in His hands. I know that because I have given my heart, mind, and soul to Jesus I have eternal life in me and do not need to be afraid of death. Spiritual resilience for warriors also means that there is a need to instill in them soul resilience to moral injuries such as feeling false guilt after a righteous kill on the battlefield. Many years ago I came to faith in Christ because I went to a Marine Corps Captain at the US Naval Academy to discuss the concept of killing vs. murder. I struggled with the thought that my military service would involve me taking human life and I didn’t know if God was ok with this. I came to learn that from a Romans 13 perspective along with other scriptures that there is a moral responsibility for government authorities to physically restrain evil through the use of violent force and if I’m serving in that capacity or am defending others in a violent struggle, then God holds my actions righteously. That being said, soldiers can still commit murder and in fact, we see this in the Bible where the nation of Israel is under the judgment of a famine because King Saul was overzealous and wiped out Gibeonites that indeed were supposed to be under the protection of Israel. (2 Samuel 21)

Spiritual fitness is often overlooked or downplayed, and yet may be the most important of all in terms of tying together holistically the health attributes of a warrior as an ancient proverb from the ancient Hebrew King Solomon warns “keep a vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.” (Proverbs 4:23 (MSG)) In a blog post recently written about GySgt John Basilone, a WWII Marine Medal of Honor and Navy Cross recipient who is an undisputed historical legend of the battlefield, especially among US Marines, it is interesting to note how John Basilone didn’t just train his Marines in machine gun tactics. He understood there was something more that had to be instilled in the heart and souls of the warriors who followed him. It was said of him by one of his students: “Basilone did more than drill us. He taught our recruits the meaning of esprit de corps, and in those of us who had fought, he rekindled a desire to fight again. His simplicity, his cheerfulness, his grasp of human nature, and the charm and easy grace with which he carried his honors gave us not only confidence but pride. We were “Basilone’s boys” and envied for it.” (The Life and Death of “Manila John” by William Douglas Lansford). Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the most famous military leaders of all time went on record to say that “an army’s effectiveness depends on its size, training, equipment, and morale, and morale is worth more than any of the other factors combined.” Napoleon also stated, “In war, the moral is to the physical as ten to one.” As military leaders of the past have recognized this, so have current military leaders such as one of the most recent Commandants of the Marine Corps, General Robert Neller, USMC (Ret). General Neller worked with the Office of the Chief of Chaplains and other mental health professionals to promote the concept of spiritual and mental health in the Marine Corps starting in 2016 in light of well-publicized ethical and discipline failures on the battlefield and on the home front as well as eroding indicators of morale evidenced by the suicide epidemic that has swept the veteran and military community.

A controversial at times but certainly force multiplying aspect of spiritual fitness is religious faith. While there are many individuals who do not subscribe to a particular religion including the military, what is interesting is to note the positive benefits of those who do per on a table from Koenig et al.’s 2001 Handbook of Religion and Health (which incorporates spiritual and religious factors and analyzed 1,200 studies) that is published as Table II of “Total Force Fitness for the 21st Century: A New Paradigm; Military Medicine, International Journal Association of Military Surgeons for the United States, pg 79 which can be seen below.

From a less academic standpoint but more realistic standpoint, I have also written blog posts on the importance of spiritual fitness for combat readiness which describes why spiritual fitness is crucial to dealing with issues of death and taking life on the battlefield for military members in particular with the application for those in law enforcement.

Tactical Human Performance Becoming a Reality

Now that I’ve covered individual attributes of holistic fitness necessary for tactical athletes to be successful in operational settings, you might be wondering how it all gets put together. You are in good hands! Since 2015 I have been working on solutions to just that problem and have developed multiple concepts including leveraging partnerships with SEALFIT/Unbeatable Mind to get after tactical human performance. Most recently I have led the Freedom Fitness America team to develop a system called “Tactical Garage Gym” which utilizes the Beyond the Whiteboard app used in the CrossFit community with embedded fitness programming from Mountain Tactical Institute for tactical athletes. In addition to this, both secular and Christian content is embedded in this app to play during workouts for motivational and educational purposes. Furthermore, nutrition and personal fitness measurement tracking are involved in this training program. We also are launching an initiative as part of this program called “Garage Gym Church” where on Saturday mornings, we push out content through our Tactical Garage Gym Facebook Group and the Beyond the Whiteboard app regarding CrossFit Hero WOD Programming designed to be done in your garage gym with friends of yours who you can invite to a Christian educational session immediately following the WOD based on the content we offer. To learn more about this system, go to Freedom Fitness America Services Offered. I look forward to discussing more topics with you related to tactical human performance and lessons learned at the intersection of faith and fitness!

Fit for the Fight and Life,

Chris Reardon

Major, US Marine Corps

Founder/Executive Director

Freedom Fitness America

https://freedomfitnessamerica.org

Email: chris@freedomfitnessamerica.org

“The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.”

The post What Does It Take To Be Fit for the Fight and Life? appeared first on Faith & Fitness Magazine.