I (Jeff) have a long history in the world of fitness and wellness, tied intimately to my experience as a child with illness. This was a process of first understanding, then participating in, and then helping to build community around health. I did not grow up in a family who understood health or wellness, and like too many families, we were on the hamster wheel of perpetual sickness in varying capacities. When I joined middle school sports, I realized I was more interested in the whole-person improvement that physical activity engendered than I was in the sport itself. 

I have also had a long interest in ministry vocationally. Growing up in the Church, I agreed with the vision cast by pastors of partnering with people in their journey of Faith toward Relationship with Jesus Christ. I dreamed of eventually being a pastor or missionary from the time I was very young throughout high school. 

These two interests merged somewhat naturally in College where I founded a non-profit fitness ministry in Gainesville at the University of Florida. I learned a tremendous amount through this process and truly felt God’s calling on my life. I began to understand that participation in the work of all of the happenings of commerce, like a tapestry, met the needs of God’s people. I glimpsed a greater reality in the possibility of bringing to Earth the Kingdom of God through regular, sometimes mundane, acts of service. Seeing people get their bodies back, connect in community and even play with their grandkids more freely, felt novel and incredibly significant. In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is quoted as saying:

“I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure”. 

I learned recently however that he was inspired by his father who is quoted as having told him:

“You can praise God by peeling a spud if you peel it to perfection. Don't compromise. Compromise is a language of the devil."

Throughout the years of owning my non-profit organization I realized that I did not have the skill set to truly and masterfully serve my community. I became dedicated to pursuing terminal education in the field of movement and realized the masters of movement were Doctors of Physical Therapy. To that end I closed my business and dedicated myself to the pursuit of this goal. 

Along the way I met Leah, ironically at a group fitness class she was coaching at the University of Florida. In the way of things, we connected, and fell in love.

Leah’s story with fitness is similar in many ways and yet in others fundamentally different. Leah is passionate about fitness as a means of counteracting the cultural obsession with self and vanity so prevalent culturally. “Sex sells” is the motto of our culture and women’s bodies have turned from temples of the Living God to convenient vehicles for the pleasure of peoples’ lusts. Many use fitness as means to tweak and perfect their aesthetics as a means of achieving worth in society, the eyes of others, or even to themselves. We unequivocally stand in opposition to this model and believe instead that 

Strength comes through hardship 

Rather than creating yet another gym where mirrors line the walls, the flash of cameras can be seen from people taking selfies, curating their online persona, and young people come to peruse the “meat market”, we seek to create a space where whole people, whole families, and a whole community can come together and learn how to use their bodies as vehicles of empowerment in an embodied spirituality. 

We believe our vision is novel in its focus on whole person care coupled with

wellness/fitness. We believe that, like a wagon wheel, fitness and wellness should be the central

hub from which provider care flows ,and is connected. In other words we want to provide a

space where folks can come regularly to be connected in a “keystone” community, mutually

encouraging each other, growing in spiritual, mental and physical health. That being said, we

also understand that the realities of life mean that everyone will need care from a skilled

provider at different times for different reasons- preventative or restorative. We envision a

network where someone does not need to exit their keystone community to receive the care

they need.

Between our shared experience, we have the capacity to treat any physical therapy related

impairment, but our goal is eventually to provide whole person and whole family care for our

patients. In this way it is crucial to our model to partner synergistically with likeminded providers

in providing holistic care.

Additionally we believe whole heartedly in the direct primary care model of “provider to

patient “ relationship. We have both seen the ways that the insurance industry, and large

corporations, have disrupted care, and maligned themselves with human flourishing.

1) the workout will be COMPLETELY scalable, ANYONE will be able to participate at their level of desired challenge. 

2) there will be a short 5 minute devotional at the beginning of the workout to focus our attention on something and awaken spiritual hunger

3) there will be a short prayer after everyone finishes

4) we will be receiving but not expecting donations in a small birdhouse discreetly placed. These donations will directly support the mission and vision of Redeemed Health, a non profit designed to provide excellent, whole person health and wellness services to anyone regardless of barriers. These donations may retroactively be determined as tax deductible, but at this time cannot be guaranteed as such until 501c3 status may be achieved. If you are interested in tax deduction records please submit either a check with your information or a receipt with your cash donation. 

5) this is about COMMUNITY not COMPETITION, VULNERABILITY not VANITY, and CAPACITY not CRITIQUE this organization exists as a space to embody and practice what are the tangible aspects of the Christian life. 

6) Do not allow untrue identity statements to keep you from the shalom of moving with your community 

• “I’m just not a workout person”. If you have a body and sufficiently educated trainers you are somebody who can practice focused movement. 

• “I’m injured” we can endlessly adapt

• “I don’t want people to see what I got flopping around” no one cares because they’re thinking the same

• “let me get in shape first” you’re in the perfectly designed state for the system you practice. If you’re dissatisfied consider where the root of that dissatisfaction comes from and how you are using movement