For Atwood, food had become a vice that was sapping his energy and hindering his ministry. Years of unchecked eating had brought him to the brink of 500 pounds. “I was a fast food junkie,” he said. “I mean, I was truly addicted.”

There’s a good reason for the spring in Jeremy Atwood’s step.

The Glasgow, Kentucky, pastor has lost 240 pounds over the past two years on a quest to restore his physical and spiritual health.

For Atwood, food had become a vice that was sapping his energy and hindering his ministry. Years of unchecked eating had brought him to the brink of 500 pounds.

“I was a fast food junkie,” he said. “I mean, I was truly addicted.”

Atwood, 37, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, isn’t alone in his struggle with food. Studies have shown that one of every three Kentuckians is considered obese. And pastors are especially prone.

That’s why Atwood, along with an army of others who are fighting through weight issues, have begun sounding the warning about one of the chief occupational hazards of their jobs—overeating.

Facing schedules heavy on weekday luncheons, Sunday afternoon dinners and endless potluck meals, it’s easy for pastors to add inches to the waistband. Studies show that more than 75 percent of American preachers are overweight, many to the point of obesity.

Seymour Wattenbarger, director of missions for the Knox Association of Baptists in southeastern Kentucky, said pastors often joke about their food consumption, but, he says, it’s no laughing matter. Wattenbarger knows.

He dropped 75 pounds three years ago in a push to restore his health after suffering a stroke.

“Our pastors are digging their graves with their teeth,” he said.

It would be the words of a 5-year-old boy in the Great Smokey Mountains to shake Atwood to his senses, putting him on a path to wholeness.

With all the eye-catching sites in the most-visited tourist area in the nation, the child was astonished by Atwood’s girth. With a look of amazement, the child called for his mother to look too.

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