The Wired Parish Weight Loss Plan

Wired Parish is my weight loss plan. You probably have two questions. What is wired parish and how does it lead to weight loss. Well Wired Parish is a super sweet podcast network that I subscribe to. Every week itunes automatically downloads new episodes from a variety cool and relevant shows about the Church, following Jesus, and our postmodern context. The self subscribed tagline they use is “connecting the most challenging and profound voices of the church with people who want to make a difference.” If you fall in the ‘want to make a difference’ category then “Tune In – Turn On – Get Wired.” I know this sounds like a lofty idea, but it is true. They have weekly episodes from big names like Len Sweet, Brian McLaren, and Reggie McNeal, but perhaps the best part is the awesome voices you will discover like the “Practicing Pentecost” crew(with fellow NC emergent fellows Steve Knight and Anthony Smith), “The Parish” (2 Friends who talk candidly about their life and theological reflection), “On the Verge” (Tim Conder and a variety of his friends chating about being a missional people) and “Pop Culture and Philosophy” (2 Christian Philosophy PhDs who want to help the church have intelligent and reflective discourse about real pertinent issues). There are more too, but since this is a post about my new weight loss plan I may save other wired parish reflections for later. Any way, back to the plan.

The Plan:
1- Subscribe to Wired Parish.
2- Download Episodes
3- Listen to Episodes While Exercising
4- Don’t Eat Food Your Body Doesn’t Want
5- Look Sexy and Be a More Reflective Christian

I personally use a treadmill and lift weights in my basement, but since these are podcasts you just need an iPod and you can take the plan anywhere you exercise. The coolest part is that Greg Horton, Jay Kelly, and Len Sweet get to be my personal trainers, inspiring and encouraging me to become a healthier person. Their success far out weighs Karl Barth’s attempt when he went through Church Dogmatics with me on the treadmill.

If you combine two podcast worth of exercise four days a week with a healthy low calorie diet, you too can join the wired parish health revolution. So far I have lost 17 pounds. Of course I started off as a big boy, but by eliminating sugared drinks, fried food, and eating half as much as I use to I have put an end to my emerging gut. On a serious note becoming healthy and lowering consumption is also an ethical issue, as my missionary doctor told me “it’s hard to consume 2000 more calories than you need and large amounts of meat that took even more energy to produce when our sisters and brothers in Christ are starving around the world.” I think he’s right and hopefully with my wired parish cohort of personal trainers I will stay on track for a healthier and more reflective self.