By Pastor James Dixon
People exercising in a fitness facility or living an active lifestyle can sometimes reflect the ugly side of human nature. We ignore or pretend to ignore people. Attitudes abound. What can and should be a friendly place can often be very lonely and defeating. Bringing God to this environment isn’t just a nice idea, it’s a much need shift toward true wellness.
James Dixon isn’t looking to be a traditional church pastor. In fact he’s not satisfied to be at the intersection of culture and faith unless there’s a grand collision with an amazing outcome. For him each day isn’t just another chance to workout, it’s an appointment to blast nice out of the water and give people the only thing that is good enough to get them through life – faith in God.
I first met James around 2004 when I was doing ministry at the House Café in Indianapolis. Faith & Fitness Magazine was relatively new at that time. James has me stoked for how we all need to listen better, love more, press beyond rogue attitudes and assumptions and take full advantage of the opportunities we’re given each day.
-Brad Bloom, Publisher, Faith & Fitness Magazine
REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU WERE ELEVEN?
I truly believe in the divine order of God – that God orders our steps. The church I pastor is in my hometown of Anderson, Indiana. God became my Lord and Savior when I was fifteen years of age. I was an amputee so people rejected me. My father couldn’t accept that he produced a child with a disability. I had a surgery nearly every six months from the time I was just ninety days of age until my amputation at age eleven. [NOTE: Today, James and his father have reconciled and experience forgiveness.]
After the amputation there was a huge void in my life. For all my dreams of wanting to play sports there were lots of limitations because of the prosthetics technology at the time. All of the rejection points: like my father or me trying to date as I got older — It left me asking, “God, who is going to love me? Where do I fit?” No matter what potential I had, I felt I had no use. It was gone because of what I’d lost.
Coming to the saving knowledge of Christ filled every one of my voids. Being lame never goes away but using that as an excuse did. God can take every weakness and turn it into an opportunity to be used of Him. It becomes a strength that He uses to glorify himself [provide evidence] that He is real.
Listen to the full 30-minute interview:
STRENGTH TRAINING FOR MINISTRY
I sought God at an early age wanting to know more. I did research, studied my Bible, contacted ministries, found a good Bible teaching church, went off to Bible college, and served everywhere else. Then the Lord called me to come back to my hometown and start a church in the inner city. That’s a challenge for many reasons.
In the black community traditionalists say, “If God truly called you, you would just get up and preach.” The test is that you would be given the microphone and you would stand at the pulpit and preach your trial sermon. Based on your inflection and interaction they would tell you if you had the gift and calling from God. They’d say, “Yep he’s got it” or “No he doesn’t”. That’s the most ineffective way to tell if someone is called of God. So me going to Bible college was a challenge years ago. People thought, “If God called you to preach, He wouldn’t call you to prepare.”
I learned just the opposite. Preparation isn’t just the acquisition of head knowledge. It’s also the life trials and the experiences you go through that mature you so that what you know in your head you can apply through your life. That’s what led me to plant a [new] ministry rather than take over a traditional church.
I decided to use fitness as an avenue to meet and interact with families. I targeted men, which allows me to get the whole family. The smallest percentage of anyone who attends church in the black community is men. So I started using fitness as an evangelistic tool, which led to other social services being offered. I had to empower, encourage, educate and build the men back up then the whole family came.
Watch this video of James share his personal life story. It is sponsored by Prevail Prosthetics & Orthotics and produced by Unmasking Images.
EXPECT MORE
Everywhere I’d go people wondered, “What’s wrong with him?” They’d have lower expectations. People think you are fragile and that creates isolation. That isolation turned into me having more time to spend with older people. Some of them struggled with reading so they’d ask me to read the Bible to them. That helped me to build some spiritual habits at an early age.
Everyone who knows the [Biblical] truth [of God] has a responsibility to preach it unapologetically and to live it. We have to! We can’t just be verbal, idealistic or isolate ourselves from other people. The more we are public with our faith and the more we give an example we will face opposition. We need to be bold and wise and do it in a loving way.
JUST BE NICE – A CULTURE OF COMPROMISE
We’ve become very weak with the idea of just being nice. Rather than change the culture we allow it to change us. We [Christians] talk about love and then make love a replacement for God. It becomes a watered down motivational thing rather than actual Biblical principle that someone can change. You can’t just be nice. You win them over by just being righteous. By righteous I don’t mean ‘perfect’ I mean ‘submitting ourselves to God’. That’s being open about our failures and shortcomings.
We’ve got to stop being nice and go back to being Biblical. The idea of being nice goes only one way. – They don’t have to be tolerant of your beliefs.
FAITH IS OPTIONAL, RIGHT?
Christians should do physical fitness simply because we should take care of the temple. It’s on loan. It’s not yours. The reason God has us take care of [our bodies] and be a good steward is so that we can be that good soldier. A soldier goes to war. Everywhere we go is a battlefield. It’s an important battlefield because it’s won for someone’s destiny. If this was a preference thing where you like to lift weights, I like to do cardio — something based like that, then do what you think is best for your body. But, when it comes down to faith, when we are silent the consequence is that someone goes to hell.
We have to stop taking our faith as if it were an option. It should be the number one focus of why we do what we do. It should be the most known thing about us. If I’m working out with you I’m going to encourage you with Word. I’m going to be introducing you to God. But, I’m not just going to do it in a basic way like, “God bless you” and think that somehow that is going to be enough.
I use every interaction when I’m working out with someone. I appeal to the things that are in their heart but I use the Word [of God]. It’s critical. I’m not going to waste my time interacting with you and not speak about God. I’m not talking about brow beating or sounding super spiritual. I’m talking about [offering] practical Biblical principles that interact in everything that we do. It’s on purpose.
Is Christianity ‘a thing’ or is Christianity ‘someone’? If it’s a thing then you won’t say anything because everybody has a right to their’ [own] hope. If you are connected with someone then you’re going to be passionate about it.
2 TRAINERS – NANCY NICE AND DEMANDING D’SHAWN
It’s like walking into Planet Fitness where they say it’s a no judgment zone. Anything that anybody does [goes]. If you tell someone they’re using the equipment wrong – you’ve judged. If you walk in and you’re too fit they say it’s not for you, you’re body-shaming by just being in shape. The idea of being nice is that you affirm people no matter how wrong or how weak they are. It’s all about making sure you don’t make anyone feel there is more to be expected. It’s, “Hey, just the fact that you are here you are so awesome.” It’s all about self-esteem. We esteem ourselves more than we ought.
When it comes to ‘demanding’, young men gravitate to expectation and those who demand more out of them. A parent who seeks to be overly friendly with his child will loose his child’s respect.
When it comes to the trainer Demanding D’Shawn, the one thing that people want is that he can actually pick and choose his clients. He says, “If you don’t have a desire to be more – want more, to accept that I’m going to hold you to accountability then this is not for you.” People want it. They want to see a change.
For the Nancy Nice trainer[I ask] If I were enough… why do I need to come? Why do I need to worship or accept Christ, if I’m enough just as I am? If you affirm that ‘was’ is enough then there’s no need to develop, change, alter, or repent. [The message needs to be] you need to die daily. What you were yesterday is not enough.
IS IT WORTH THE COST?
100%, the results come with the demand. Become a leader. People will follow that leadership. You’ve got to be willing to lead. You’ve got to be willing to be counter-culture. It’s not about trying to emulate the world. Be different. [The Bible says that the Christian’s perspective needs to be that] you are just a pilgrim passing through. You’re going to be peculiar. Own it!
Pastor James Dixon is featured on the cover of the August/September 2019 issue of Faith & Fitness Magazine. He is the keynote speaker for Faith & Fitness Magazine’s 2019 Redefined Conference.
