Pastor Amadeus Gandy has a focus to perform mission work in the Butler area with its ministry team called Missionaries in Butler.

Amadeus Gandy takes off his shoes, chalks his hands, adjusts his weight belt, sets his wrist wraps and breathes, ready for his rack dead lift.

Beads of sweat drip down his brow as his face tenses and he breathes out every time he lifts 585 pounds.

The back of his “Swole. Pries,” black shirt displays the Romans 12:1 verse — “I urge you therefore, brothers to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”

“The church is no longer 'If you build it they will come.' The chaplain and pastor has to be out in the community and engaging with the community and be where they're at, learn their language and cross barriers,” said Gandy, 28, “I try to find ways to bring physical fitness into the realm of the Faith.”

Gandy arrived in Butler nearly a year ago to serve at Faith Lutheran Church and be the mission developer. During that time, Faith Lutheran Church and St. Luke Lutheran Church agreed to merge, to become known as the St. Luke Lutheran Church, Butler campus, which has a focus to perform mission work in the Butler area with its ministry team called Missionaries in Butler, or MIB.

Not only is Gandy a pastor, but he is also a three-year bodybuilder and holds the title Mr. Natural Indiana 2018.

This is an excerpt from a story in Thursday's Butler Eagle.