Jay Adams on the necessity of physical fitness for Pastors/Ministers, from volume 1 of Shepherding God's Flock, Chapter 4, Areas of Adequacy:
"While God can use anyone with any sort of body to achieve His purposes, ordinarily for the sustained steady labor of the pastorate, the work to which He calls His servant requires a strong, healthy, well-disciplined body [Adams references I Cor. 9:27]. At the very least, one must agree that the minister, who is to be an example in all things, must lead his flock in demonstrating how to care for the temple of the Holy Spirit. Whatever his body's condition, with all its limitations, his task is to hone it to its sharpest edge, making it capable of becoming as effective an instrument in the hand of God as that body can be.
Among other things, good eating and sleeping habits as well as other health concerns should play controlling roles in both the planning and execution of scheduling and routine activities. Adequate (not excessive) sleep is essential. Significant sleep loss can cause irritability, suspicion and, when excessive, even every effect of LSD. Nothing should need to be said of the importance of maintaining an unoffending bodily and physical appearance. Yet there are ministers who reek of B.O.; others have such foul breath that one could not speak with them for five minutes straight. Some look so shoddy or unkempt most of the time that members of the congregation are ashamed to introduce them to a friend.
In short, since a man is a whole man (you accidentally hit your thumb with a hammer and it affects all that you do; even a slight fever can change one's entire outlook), the pastor must not neglect the body, but rather will recognize that it is in the flesh and through the body that he has been called to carry out the work of the ministry. Worn, unalert bodies hinder ministers in their preaching and ministerial duties. Since the man is a whole man, it could not be otherwise. Of course, the pscyhosomatic factor cuts both ways. To care for the body means also to refrain from worry, bitterness, resentment, fear and whatever sinfully-expressed bodily emotions may harm the body by causing ulcers, colitis, depression, paralysis, and a host of other maladies. The process is reciprocal: worry leads to ulcers, ulcers may become the occasion for more worry or fear, which leads to more ulcers, ad infinitum.
One the other hand, the seminarian or young minister must not be surprised if the share of physical suffering, heartaches and temptation that he experiences seems disproportionate to that of others. God often subjects His choice servants to trials to ripen, sweeten and thus better prepare them for ministry (remember 2 Corinthians 1:14). The road to ministry runs through the valleys of trial and affliction. It is not an easy way; Christ has not promised anything more than tribulation and persecution from without. But from within, He has promised happiness, peace and comfort with "all joy". Not all bodily affliction can be averted (as the book of Job and John 9:1-3 make clear), but to the extent to which he is responsible for its physical welfare, the pastor must care for his body."
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