magine high-kicking to Jennifer Knapp, side-stepping to Steven Curtis Chapman, stretching out to Michelle Tumes. Imagine Christian aerobics.

Even just a year ago, newly baptized Rose Mills wouldn't have guessed she would be leading a Christian aerobics class at the Tridelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland.

Rose, who grew up Catholic, first heard about last-day events and the Second Coming from a Muslim friend who believed in the Bible. Her curiosity triggered, Rose began studying the Revelation prophecies for herself. Rose didn't understand the prophecies; she became frustrated and quit searching.

Several years, a happy marriage, and a move later, Rose found herself in a lovely Maryland neighborhood. "I had it all, materialistically," she says. "But something was missing. I thought it might have been the Lord, but I didn't know how to get the Lord in me."

Rose received a flyer in the mail about a series of evangelistic meetings being held by speaker Leo Schreven. Rose, along with her husband and son, began attending the meetings. At the meetings' close, Rose had felt the Holy Spirit leading and was eager to be baptized. "It was amazing," Rose recalls. "I didn't curse anymore; I felt so pure and clean, so free from sin. I felt peace and joy."

Rose, who works as an aerobics coordinator and instructor for a local gym, was eager to share the good news she'd found, and felt a Christian aerobics class would be a perfect arena to do exactly that. "It was the Lord's calling," says Rose. "I had a sense, a feeling; I wanted to contribute. I thought the class could attract people from outside [of the church]."

Rose's Christian aerobics class meets every Sunday morning at the Tridelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church. Prayer is offered at the beginning and the end of each class, inviting the Lord to be part of their activity. After prayer Rose leads the group in a combination of walking, toning and low-impact exercises, aerobics, and even stepping. "They get to do just about everything!" comments Rose.

So far, they have had only one visitor from outside the church, but they are hoping for more.

A picture of the Christian aerobics class was recently featured in the Howard County paper, the Harold Times. Also, the church occasionally advertises the class in the newspaper, hoping to attract more community attendees.

Rose's son was baptized earlier this summer, and her husband attends church with them both regularly.

_________________________
Amanda Sauder is a junior journalism and marketing major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. She wrote this while a summer intern at the Adventist Review