Farrell minister thanks God for loss of 140 pounds

By Jeanne Starmack

FARRELL, Pa. — Think of the most inspirational weight-loss icons of our time.

Richard Simmons. Billy Blanks. Dean Ornish. Robert Atkins. God.

All of them have their loyal followers, but that last one surely is the supreme ultimate in physical fitness guidance — and Kelvin Jordan’s got him.

He wants you to have him, too.

Without God, Jordan believes, he would have not been able to lose 140-plus pounds in 11 months.

God told him to do it, he said, and now, he’s making it a mission to inspire others on their own weight-loss journeys.

Jordan, of Sharpsville, sat in his pastor’s office at Farrell’s Second Baptist Church one day last week to explain his revelation and the steps he took to make his mission happen.

An assistant minister at the church, he’d been preparing several months in advance to preach for a special Men’s Day service in July.

While researching Scriptures from the Book of Titus, Chapter 2, he came across these words: “That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.”

So he prayed, he said, to ask God what message he should relay to the congregation.

“I was kind of surprised by God’s response ... that I have to lose weight,” said the 6-foot-2-inch Jordan, who at the time weighed 391 pounds.

So what did Jordan do? “I prayed again.”

But God’s response was the same. So Jordan got to it.

He started that same day to lose weight, changing his eating habits and walking at Buhl Park in Hermitage.

Eventually, he joined the F.H. Buhl Club, walking on its treadmill and using its elliptical machine.

“I started lifting weights, something I hadn’t done since high school,” he said.

He had no human trainer. “Just me and the Lord,” he said. “Well, the Lord and me. He comes first