An invitation to a fitness programme changed Naz's eternity. He shares his story of how Jesus changed his life through "Body and Soul".

God was not on his mind when Naz answered a knock at his door one Saturday. It was George, a former LCM missionary, there to invite him to a fitness programme at his local church in Grove Park.

“I was an atheist. I didn’t believe in God at all," he explains.

“One day George knocked on my door. He gave me a leaflet about Body and Soul. If he knocked on my door six months earlier, I probably wouldn’t have answered. I was depressed. I just wanted to be alone. He knocked on my door at the right moment and at the right time.”

Body and Soul is a fitness programme for men that LCM Team Leader, Tim Fielding, set up in that local church in Grove Park. It starts with warm-up exercises and then moves on to activities such as lifting weights. But it’s after the session that men get to hear from God’s word.

They gather around, they listen to a short talk, and then they start to share ideas from what they heard from scripture.

On the first day at Body and Soul, Naz was tired. He didn’t know there was going to be a talk about Jesus. But he found the session interesting.

“It was interesting gathering around in a circle, doing the prayers, seeing everyone’s opinion, knowing different verses I hadn’t heard about which you could relate to in your everyday life as well,” says Naz.

“It helps you. Encourages you. Motivates you.”

Naz’s life changed five months into the fitness sessions when Tim sent him a text message, asking if he could help set up for the group.

“We started chatting, and I think it got to a point where he asked if I thought I was going to heaven. And I answered no,” says Naz.

“That’s when we did a repentance prayer. And as soon as Tim touched my shoulder, I felt this incredible amount of energy surge throughout my body.

“It just lit a fire from then on.

“That’s when things started to change. I’m coming to church more often. I am a part of what they do. I read bits of the Bible. But I’m still trying to understand what God’s trying to tell me.

“I’ve got four Bibles now. I am hungry for the word.”

For George, it’s all about partnership.

“If Body and Soul wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have talked about the project. But Body and Soul was already in place!”

For Tim, if it wasn’t for people like George, faithfully going out every week to knock on doors in the local community, Naz wouldn’t be here.

“We want to see believers flourish and churches flourish. And through that we want to see communities flourish as well as they come to find out about Jesus and find out who they truly are,” explains Tim.

But it’s Naz who sums it up best. Partnerships like these build a bridge.

“You know how Jesus built a bridge between earth and heaven, this is sort of similar. You reach people through their interests,” says Naz.

“I think it is important people know about Jesus because there is a way to repent. There is a way to change. And there is a way to be entered into the Kingdom.

“Before, I wasn’t a happy person. My heart was cold. Body and Soul introduced me to Jesus, and he’s changed my life.”