Hours before midnight on New Years Eve, the Rev. Kenneth Clay, in tennis shoes and sweats, bounded to the front of his congregation.

The Rev. Clay told his New Creation Christian Church that he had received a revelation from God.

Worship, he said, should include working out.

The Rev. Clay meant it, and he was dressed in sweats to show it.

"Every year," he said, "people make two resolutions: lose weight and go to church. Why not bring the two together and help people out. Amen? Amen."

He said the theme for 2009 is Spiritual Fitness: The Gym Is Open.

Tuesday Bible study will now be called Spiritual Fitness Training. The leaders of the group, the church's elders, are its spiritual fitness trainers.

Instead of sitting to pray, the group will walk laps as they say their prayers.

On New Years Eve, church members were greeted with bottles of water. With R&B on the stereo, the trainers led the church through a warm-up, stretching and light aerobics.

"Inhale for Jesus! Move for Jesus! Let's do it," church elder Cheryl Safford urged.

They squatted between rows of folding chairs, which surrounded an altar and Communion table bearing the words "This do in remembrance of me."

Janai Havis, a college student, came to work out, even with a recent weight loss of 22 pounds.

"It's because I have accountability partners here at church," the 22-year-old said. "I can trust them that they'll be honest with me and tell me if I need to put down the cake."

Church member Stacey Walk said she came because her New Year's resolution was to have more balance in life.

"I'm wanting to learn how to balance the work and the spiritual and the physical and all the stress that comes with it," she said.

The Rev. Clay has led the congregation for three years. They meet in borrowed space, the fellowship hall of Hillcrest Baptist Church.

Wednesday's service ended with a sermon, in which the Rev. Clay read from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.

The New Living Translation he used reads, in part:

"Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should."

Just as Jesus used the physical to explain the spiritual, the church could use the spiritual to aid the physical, the Rev. Clay explained.

The two go hand-in-hand, and so this year it'll be the focus of the church.

"You can't work for God if you're sick, if you're laid up in the hospital, aching," the Rev. Clay said. "A church is only as healthy as its members."

Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.