Saddleback Church Seminar Kicks Off New Health Initiative

Saddleback Church got a running start this month on a 52-week program to help its congregants and the community at large live a healthier lifestyle. 

To launch this mission, the megachurch's Lake Forest campus hosted a four-hour seminar featuring celebrity-status medical professionals Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hyman. Also on stage was the church's own Pastor Rick Warren—author of internationally best-selling The Purpose Driven Life—who is himself embarking on the plan in an effort to lose 90 pounds by the end of the year. 

More than 6,000 community members attended, spilling out into overflow areas, outside seating and extra buildings, some of which were opened to handle the larger-than-expected crowd.  Attendees had plenty of free water and snacks to go around, however, all donated for the event by Henry's Market.

The seminar centered on "The Daniel Plan," Saddleback's new initiative based on the story in the first chapter of the Old Testament's book of Daniel. Caroline Kruebbe, a staffer serving lunch after the event, explained the source of the name. 

"The Bible says that our body is a temple, and to honor God we need to take care of it," she said. "And the Daniel Plan is based upon a quote in Daniel where he says that he would rather have water and vegetables from God's earth than the rich foods and wine from the king's table. Even though the latter is more pleasing, he will be healthier and live according to God's plan."

The health advice given from stage often emphasized the connection between health and spirituality.

"When you damage the brain, you damage a person's ability to act in a consistent and loving way," Dr. Amen said. "I think the brain is the hardware to the soul."

Pastor Warren's Chief of Staff, David Chrzan, said the new health initiative comes at a perfect time.

"Our pastor has identified an issue with his health, and our nation is at the point where it needs to get healthy," Chrzan said. "With the numbers who have heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, high blood pressure and who are obese rising—this is happening because we don't lead healthy lifestyles. This is an opportunity for us as a church to step forward into the community and offer the grace of Jesus Christ in an area of need, which is to get healthy."

Attendee Kim Vanatten appreciated the melding of health and faith.  

"I believe in the holistic way of life and I wanted to hear how they were going to incorporate it into the church and the program," she said. "I thought that the tie in the church was amazing. It was perfect.  Like they said, your body needs to be clear in order to open yourself up fully to God."

Attendees were served such sage advice with a healthy dose of humor as well. 

"Eat from the rainbow—foods of many colors—but that does not mean Skittles!" joked Dr. Amen.

A special website has been created to help members meet their goals and keep them engaged in the plan with weekly blog posts, a personal profile where they can track progress, downloadable curriculum, and new advice every week from the doctors who created the plan and from other healthcare professionals.

Participants are also encouraged to members form small groups to help one another. Steve Gladen, Saddleback's small group leader, will be in charge of this effort for the next six weeks.

"We are helping people to do this is small steps," Gladen said. "That 52-week period can look pretty scary, but we will whittle it down to more manageable steps and help you find support in small groups." 

Attendee Andrea Gibson is already in a group and excited about her first day on the plan. They've pledged to meet every Sunday. "I think doing it with my group will help us to be accountable and reach our goals," she said.

Gladen added that the plan's focus is on improving mind, body and spirit in the long term.

"A lot of the people in this crowd are excited about physical health," Gladen said. "We want them to start there, but that's not where we want it to end. We want to help the community improve its spiritual health as well.  We are partnering with doctors who can help us on the medical side—and then Pastor Rick is helping on the spiritual side."