6A


been supported by volunteers. In one of the final phases, volunteers from Cornerstone UMC went through church files and cleaned out pieces of debris that had found their way inside the file cabinet. “I appreciate all of the volun-


teers that have been coming to Joplin, helping here, at churches and in communities. It’s been overwhelming,” Nenadal said. “It’s been remarkable to be sitting here in the middle of things and be a witness to the things God has been doing in Joplin.” The new office is 2,180 square


feet, about 600 square feet bigger than the previous office, which


Missouri Conference News


Southwest District continued from page 1A Each step along the way has


was built in 2002. One change is that the new office has a safe room, with concrete walls and ceiling and no windows. In addi- tion to providing staff with a place to evacuate to in the event of a disaster, the room also provides secure storage for essential files. “We were very fortunate that


the roof didn’t come off and we didn’t lose our files during the tor- nado,” Nenadal said. There is also an additional


small conference room outside of Nenadal’s office. To accom- modate this Nenadal’s office was made smaller. The small confer- ence room will be available for small meetings, such as those


Weight loss continued from page 1A “I have struggled with my


health problems, including diabe- tes and chronic pain. He had tried various approaches to weight loss, and might lose up to 50 pounds through Weight Watchers, but he wasn’t able to maintain weight loss. And things seem to be get- ting worse. “My weight-related health


problems made it very difficult to be active, which would in turn make me gain more weight,” Moore said. Moore didn’t see things chang-


ing unless something radical hap- pened, and didn’t like the prospect of continuing to try to manage his life being overweight to the degree that he was. As a pastor, he had seen the end result of that. “Of all the funerals for families


in my ministry career, I'd never officiated a funeral for a person who had lived the length of life I hope to live who was the size per- son I was,” he said. “I realized my physical self had become a barrier to my living out my calling as hus- band, daddy, and pastor.” Recent weight-related illnesses


brought Moore to point of decid- ing to address his weight through a very direct method: having a surgical procedure that would limit the amount of food he could eat. As he started considering this seriously, he met with Rev. Keith Vessell, associate pastor of Missouri UMC, who had recently had a gastric bypass surgery. “I took him out to lunch


because I wanted to hear what he had so say about the surgery, but I also wanted to see him eat,” Moore said. Vessell lost more than 100 pounds from his peak weight.


weight my whole life, and tried everything in the book multiple times,” Vessell said. “I had the surgery because I wanted to be a healthy pastor, be a good example to my congregation, and do the things that a healthy person can do.”


Vessell didn’t announce what


he was doing to the congregation before the surgery, but when he started losing weight afterwards he started explaining to people why it was occurring. “A lot of people were asking me


about it, and I was honest about what I had done and just let God use it. It became another ministry for me,” he said. As Moore moved toward mak-


ing a decision, he made it clear to his wife Molly that she had veto power. He would consider the options and the risks and proceed carefully, and she could put the brakes on at any time. “Molly has been a rock for me,


and has been extremely support- ive of whatever my decision was throughout the process. The more that he learned about


the process, the more confident he grew that it was the right thing for him. Molly is an associate pastor


with Vessell at Missouri UMC, so she had observed him daily after his procedure, and knew that he had a positive experience. And she trusted Eric’s judgement. “When Eric brings something


up, I know that he has already thought things through very well and has considered all of the implications,” she said. Eric was confident that it was


November 11, 2011


required through the Board of Ordained ministry. But currently the room is being used as office space for Jamie Piper, the Missouri Conference Office of Creative Ministries volunteer coordinator for Joplin. The office includes a larger


conference room in the back, where the district will be able to hold clergy gatherings. St. James UMC, the church that


shares a parking lot with the dis- trict office, is in the planning stage of rebuilding. The church’s struc- ture was completely destroyed by the tornado.


This is one of the new office spaces in the Southwest District office.


the right thing for him. “Once I got to know the doc-


tors and the clinic, the decision was easy,” he said. The decision may have been


easy, but the process wasn’t. Two weeks prior to the surgery Moore was put on a clear liquid diet, tak- ing only dietary supplements and vitamins. “I know they said it was neces-


sary to get the body ready for sur- gery, but I think it was also part of the process of making sure people are taking the procedure seriously, and are ready for what’s to come,” Moore said. The clear-liquid fast made


Moore forgetful, he had difficulty concentrating, and he said he was cranky. But he made it through it. Moore’s surgery was February 1, the day the big blizzard hit Columbia, shutting the city down. But Moore’s surgeon was at the hospital, and things proceeded as scheduled. Despite being snow- bound in the hospital, there were no complications. During the procedure a bar-


iatric surgeon removed about 85 percent of Moore’s stomach so that it takes the shape of a tube or sleeve. This limits how much food can be consumed, and causes the person with the procedure to feel full after a very small quantity of food.


A certain aspect of a pastor’s


life is public, and Moore said he felt like I needed to talk about the procedure with his congregation. Most were aware of weight-related health problems he had been experiencing, and they knew what he was doing during the time that he had to miss work. Post surgery


Moore was off work for a couple of weeks, then on light duty for another week or so. For several weeks he had trouble keeping food down, but that eventually faded. During his recovery he also had to have his gallbladder removed, a complication that occasionally occurs following a bariatric sur- gery.


Through his recovery, the


household focused on healthy eating, and Molly met her goal of losing 35 pounds though a Weight Watchers program. Moore now takes no prescrip-


tion drugs, including what he used to have to take for diabetes. He eats healthy, and is advised to take in 80 grams of protein a day because he can no longer absorb it as well, and to eat plenty of green vegetables. He is currently at 185 pounds. Like any surgical procedure,


there are risks involved. And not every bariatric surgery is success- ful. Moore knows people who have had a surgery for weight loss, and ended up gaining back the weight. Even though Moore’s stomach is smaller, he could still regain weight. Overeating can stretch a stomach out, decreasing the effectiveness of the surgery. Eating a small amount of junk food throughout the day could add up to calories that put extra weight back on. “My diet is still a constant con-


cern,” he said. And as with any weight loss,


Moore has needed new clothes. But because the loss has been so dramatic, he’s needed new clothes more than once. “Everything that I once owned


is now owned by Goodwill, save my shoes, and they don’t really fit right anymore,” Moore said. “It’s not just that you have to get new clothes when it’s over, you need to get them at every step along the way. My waist was 46 inches, now it’s 34 inches, there were a lot of sizes between those two. Some of my new clothes didn’t fit for very long.” When Moore goes out to lunch,


a little more than half of his order goes into a to-go box. He’s still a little under eating a typical, bal- anced diet, but is close to where he needs to be. He has more energy, and is able to be more active with his two young daughters. And both parents are doing what they can to help their daughters be healthy. “We talk to them about mak-


ing healthy choices, and eat- ing in moderation,” Molly said. “Hopefully we will be able to teach them healthy habits, and they will be healthier than we were.” Now ten months down the


road from the surgery, Eric is very happy with the life-changing result. “For me, this surgery was trans-


formative of not just my body, but of my purpose on Earth,” he said. “It's easy for pastors to put care of family and care of self at the bottom of the priority list. I'm so thankful that God helped me to discover that all of my life would be blessed for my taking this journey.”


Moore has been blogging about


his experience since deciding to have the surgery. You can read his blog at www.mooreminorityleader. blogspot.com.


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