When God wants to accomplish something, there’s nothing that can stop Him. This is a story of exactly that, and how two friends from very different parts of the country were connected to create a fitness platform designed to help you experience and be changed by God.
A DIVINE CONNECTION
As collegiate athletes, we were no strangers to the importance of training. After all we were both former collegiate football players. Luke Swan, a wide receiver at the University of Wisconsin, and myself, a running back at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.
But that’s not what’s unique about our friendship and story. It’s the fact that God put the same idea in both of our hearts while we were nearly 1,000 miles apart. Only to bring us together through a divine intersection.
You see, I, Luke, had my heart stirred while training as an athlete at University of Wisconsin. My athletic motivations were challenged through experiences with Athletes in Action and I couldn’t escape the question, “Am I playing and training for myself or for God’s glory?”. Quickly, this consumed my perspective as an athlete, and transformed the way I spent my time in the gym. I discovered workout time became a powerful time of connection with God. I was released to worship God in a whole new way: heart, mind, soul and body. With this insight from the Lord, I was energized to share this with others and went to work on the idea of workouts centered on biblical concepts that impacted people while they exercised.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 miles away in Virginia, I, Anthony, was confronted with a similar question while working out: “If God really is Lord of my life, what does that look like in all areas of my life, especially the gym?” This question changed the way I looked at working out as well. It became about being changed and giving God glory, just like everything else in life. My workouts changed, and I was fueled by a desire to share the same transformational way of thinking with others passionate about faith and fitness.
As God would have it, both of us found work in the heart of the country, Nebraska. Anthony took a job as part of his journey to marrying his Nebraska-born wife Rachelle. And Luke at a chance encounter at a football camp was prompted to take a leap of faith in his career, moving his family 500 miles from home.
A TEAM BUILT ON SHARED VISION
In Nebraska, we both connected in the halls of Hudl, a sports video analysis company, and to our amazement, realized we had both been pursuing the same dream. And not only that, we both had been personally changed by this pursuit. Feeling closer to Christ and more like him as we injected his word into our workouts through prayer and music.
We excitedly swapped stories about the benefits of this shift in perspective. Our motivations had been checked in the gym and this time was redeemed not for our glory but for the glory of God. This not only transformed our time in the gym but had huge impact on our motivations and attitudes outside of it. It focused us on things above instead of our muscular pain during a workout, preparing us to do the same outside of the gym. Our workouts were helping us be more like Christ! That bonded us.
So, in the confines of a conference room, we agreed. We would take God’s call and pursue this dream together.
BUILDING FAITHFIT
With our God-centered partnership in place, we got to work creating FaithFit with two scriptures guiding us. The most natural prompting,1 Timothy 4:8, “for physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” But even more central to our thinking, the words of 1 Corinthians 10:31 rang in our ears: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
You see, we found that there was plenty in the “market” supporting the periphery of Christian fitness. Things helping us recall God’s word before and after a workout, but very little helping people keep their focus on God’s truth DURING a workout other than music that would passively play in the background.
All are great things, but we knew we had to help people take their focus off of themselves in the moment of training, and that’s the principle from which FaithFit was born.
FaithFit is what we call a carefully curated “devotional workout”, combining elements of Scripture, music, and prayer for a custom physical and spiritual workout.
Anthony Edwards & Luke Swan, Faithfit founders
We wanted to turn the gym into a laboratory for life. So we created a workout experience designed to yield the fruits of spiritual training as you exercise. Fruit like:
- Focusing on God’s word in the midst of hardship
- Practicing denying a focus on our flesh in favor of focusing on things above
- Preparing your body for good works, not just good looks
- Worshiping with all you are: heart, mind, soul and body
NOT JUST ANOTHER APP
Practically speaking, FaithFit is what we call a carefully curated “devotional workout”, combining elements of Scripture, music, and prayer for a custom physical and spiritual workout. Our mission is to help others use fitness as a vehicle to experience the life-transforming work of the Gospel.
First and foremost, our workouts center on God’s word. For instance, our workout around James 1:2-3 (Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance) is designed to help you practice the art of “counting it all joy” in the midst of the workout, as you sweat and strain because you know what the workout is producing. This is a low-stakes way of training to do the same in life when we encounter hardship. Most of us only try to execute on this when the stakes are high. But we believe that if we can train on these things during a workout, we will be better equipped to execute on them outside of the workout.
And whether you want to be guided through a workout or already have a routine , we’ve got options:. We call our guided workouts “Form”. This means we put you through a High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) supported by on-screen examples. Or you can do our “Freestyle” workout which is void of on-screen examples and perfect for those who wish to do their own routine, like Crossfit, running, or strength training. Add on motivating music, various categories of spiritual content with 50+ workouts and the ability to stream on any device or TV service and you have the full FaithFit workout platform.
Here’s an example workout:
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?
If anything, I hope our story makes you question how you’ve been viewing fitness and makes you ask one question: where does my mind go when I exercise? If we really take to heart 1 Corinthians 10:31 “ whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” that should dictate your answer, right?
So give it a shot. Go through our 7 days of FaithFit foundations workout series designed to help you rethink your time of exercise and make it about glorifying Him. We think it’ll be a refreshing and kingdom-aligning experience! Use the promo code Faith&FitnessMag for a free 30 days.
WHAT’S NEXT
So what’s to come? We’re hoping you can tell us! Contact us at anthonyandluke@faithfit.tv so we can learn from you and continue to grow FaithFit together.
READ MORE IN OUR FAITH AND FITNESS CULTURE DEPARTMENT
This article is featured in the Faith And Fitness Culture Department of Faith & Fitness Magazine. We select content for this department to help give you insight and examples into what defines the faith and fitness culture. Draw on content in this department to define a deeper and more robust context for integrating the Christian faith into a fit lifestyle, expand your vision, develop your fitness business with a faith-centered mission and be life to others.
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