Reverend Joe Brown wanted to get himself and his congregation at Garner Advent Christian Church in better shape.

"Biblically, it tells us that we need to be healthy. We need to eat right. And that if we work on our body we can work on our spirit as well," he said.

So he approached a local chiropractor and other churches in Garner and started the inter-church wellness challenge.

About 140 people signed up from four Garner churches: Garner Advent Christian Church, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Poplar Springs Christian Church, and St. Andrews United Methodist Church.

They're competing to see which congregation can lose the most weight by mid-December.

Most are dieting and exercising on their own, but they're checking in with Doctor Perry Kirch of the Garner Chiropractic and Wellness Center once a month. And the churches are offering guidance.

"We have encouraged them in each class to eat smaller meals, eat off of saucers. That's a very good pointer," said Rhonda Boyke, who is teaching an aerobics class to the team at Poplar Springs Christian Church.

Some of the participants are elderly. Others are young. They're hoping to lose about 20 pounds each, Kirch said.

"Everybody can exercise. Everybody can drink more water. Everybody can get up at the same time every day. Everybody can call a friend or neighbor and say, ‘let's go for a walk,'" Kirch said.

The team that loses the most pounds will get free aqua massages at the Garner Chiropractic and Wellness. The other teams will have to wash their cars.

"It's nice to be able to compete against other churches," Boyke said. "We're not going to wash any cars. So we're going to definitely win."

The program is free. But the participants will make donations to Garner Area Ministries.