DALLAS — Spurred by a desire
to help ministry employers and employees control health care costs and and have
a positive effect on participants’ health, GuideStone Financial Resources has
launched a new wellness site at www.GuideStone.org/Wellness.
While studies show that
wellness programs and support can help control medical costs, GuideStone
President O.S. Hawkins also noted, “The health of our participants is an issue
we take seriously.
“Stress, lack of exercise
and poor eating habits affect more than their personal health. It impacts their
ability to do the work God has called them to do.”
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The American Heart
Association recently awarded GuideStone, an entity of the Southern Baptist
Convention, “gold-level” recognition for its on-site wellness efforts
encompassing physical activity, healthy eating options and a general culture of
wellness.
GuideStone’s wellness web site
aims to share some of these resources with Southern Baptist churches and
ministry organizations and their employees.
The site, designed to equip,
inspire and educate, includes quarterly challenges based on GuideStone’s
internal initiatives, participant success stories, wellness tools, healthy
living articles and employer resources.
The first quarterly
challenge, “Go for 10 in ’10,” urges participants to set specific goals for
2010. A University of Scranton study showed that people who make concrete New
Year’s resolutions/goals are 10 times more likely to achieve them than those
who make non-specific goals.
The challenge focuses on
physical, mental, spiritual or financial goals and includes tips on setting
goals and creating an action plan to achieve them.
“In 1 Corinthians, Paul
tells us that our bodies are the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit.’ We must be good
stewards of our health,” Hawkins said. “This wellness web site is just one more
way for GuideStone to help support our participants and employers in their efforts
to practice good stewardship.”