Spiritually Fit- author, model keeps ministry the focus

By SIMONE CARR

Modeling abs and biceps for Jesus? While Clark Bartram religiously lifts weights, some religious people lift their eyebrows. How do you reconcile a career in modeling and fitness, including all its dangers of vanity and self-conceit, with your spiritual life and walk with God? How can you redirect to God all those eyes staring at your perfectly defined muscles? How can you keep a balance in your life when most of your time is spent taking care of your body?

Clark admits having succumbed to discouragement under criticism and negative remarks. “An example,” he explained, “would be if someone sees me on a cover with a girl who isn’t my wife. Some have passed judgment on me saying, ‘How can he be a Christian and be in that industry and do that?’ The criticism at times has even affected my involvement with a very high profile ministry. It is hard when people jump to a conclusion and don’t consider the feelings or the effectiveness of a person. I am sure I am not the only Christian who is in a high visibility job that gets this response.”

Clark is however confident of his mission. “If people get to know me, no reply is necessary. I am very passionate about my ministry as it relates to the health and fitness industry,” he said. In the foreword to his latest book, Spiritually Fit, A Fitness Program You Can Have Faith In, he wrote, “Fitness and faith — where is the balance? How do we as Christians justify spending time trying to develop our bodies when we know that the body is temporary and superficial? How do we achieve the proper equilibrium between our physical and spiritual selves?”

The book, released as a paperback in January, goes on to answer those questions. A strong believer in the sanctity of our secular vocations, Clark realized that his job in the fitness industry and his spiritual life were not at all mutually exclusive. “I spend a lot of time answering questions regarding fitness and nutrition,” he explained. “I also spend a lot of time doing ministry related trips. One day it dawned on me that fitness was my ministry and that there were too many parallels between the physical and spiritual not to write a book about it.”

Previously released as an e-book, Spiritually Fit has already had a tremendous success. “The e-book may have gone out before its time,” he said. “It did well but many people were confused about what an e-book was. The people who did get it loved it and often I received additional checks from them because they said they had to send it to a friend. The paperback is doing extremely well and it is flying out of my office at a record rate. The information is so basic and easy to follow that people are referring it to all of their friends.”

Clark believes that fitness can be especially important to Christians as they strive to be an example to the world. “We all need to realize that we should put our best foot forward,” he explained, “especially with our health. If you don’t like how you look and feel, then that comes through in every area of your life. I had a conversation with a man today who said he was depressed because he hated the way he looked. How effective is a depressed Christian?”

Accepting the way God made us, according to Clark, “makes the fitness experience a better journey. Like yourself the way you are now. No amount of weight loss, ripped abs or larger breasts will help you love yourself. Be accountable to someone in physical fitness as well as your spiritual walk, talk to yourself in a positive way. Stop saying, ‘I’m fat because my parents are fat,’ ‘I can never lose weight,’ ‘I can’t get up at 5 a.m.,’ or ‘I hate to read.’ We defeat ourselves in our minds all day long and then expect to succeed. The Bible says, ‘be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.’”

One of the reasons that prompted Clark to write his book is the abundance of biblical parallels between our physical and spiritual efforts. He believes that it can also be a great witnessing tool. “Besides the spiritual aspect, it is filled with valuable information on how to get and stay in shape. It has workout programs, nutritional guides and much more,” he added.

And he definitely knows what he is talking about. Sometimes dubbed as “America’s Most Trusted Fitness Personality,” Clark hosts a television show, American Health and Fitness, which is now broadcast worldwide. He regularly contributes articles to national fitness magazines like Ironman and Muscle Media, and is the author of the how-to guide, You Too Can Be A Fitness Model. He also recently introduced the Clark Bartram Nutrition for Fitness supplement line that can be purchased at www.clarkbartram.com.

Clark’s success and public exposure don’t seem to distract him from his walk with the Lord “To whom much is given much is required,” he said. “I make no bones about my faith. I don’t run around all day long preaching either, but I am just me and God has done an amazing work in my life. My motto is ‘don’t ask if you don’t want to hear.’ Our faith shines through us as Christians when we are courteous, respectful, patient and truthful.”

Clark, who accepted the Lord at a Power Team Meeting in 1988, outlines his entire testimony at the beginning of the book. For the last six years he has been involved in a prison ministry with Operation Starting Line (OSL). “I use fitness as a hook to get ‘residents’ to come see our meetings,” he said. “Most recognize me from magazines and come, just out of curiosity. After they meet me they see the program and we share the Gospel with them.” Clark, who described the results as amazing, shares OSL’s goal to minister to every inmate in every prison in the U.S by the year 2005. He has also worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for the Franklin Graham Crusades, and gives motivational speeches at school and community events through the men’s ministry at his church.

As any other Christian, Clark has his struggles, and he appreciates his true friends and close family who help him to stay on tract, even with temptations common to high profile personalities, such as self-centeredness and self-conceit. “They will tell me straight out,” he said, “and I expect it. I really feel pretty grounded with my success in my old age. I actually consider it an honor and I am very careful when it comes to those things.”

Clark, 39, has been married 14 years and has two children. His message to other fathers this Father’s Day is, “Be a shining example to your children in spiritual and physical pursuits. They watch and emulate everything we say and do. Your kids want to be active and not sit in front of the television. The problem is when you turn them down to be on the computer or go to work. Don’t you think they would rather be playing catch outside with you than playing Play Station? I have made those mistakes so I am preaching to the choir.”

For those who want to introduce themselves or their children to serious fitness, Clark is opening a new gym, Clark Bartram’s Focused Fitness, at 456 E. Mission Ave., San Marcos. It will be a 5,500 square-ft. full service fitness facility with personal training, nutritional counseling, tanning, and a complete line of resistance training equipment.