Good Neighbor Podcast for the Greater Chattanooga Region
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Good Neighbor Podcast for the Greater Chattanooga Region
James Vassell on Blending CrossFit, Spiritual Ministry, and Holistic Wellness
What if your fitness journey could also nurture your spiritual and emotional well-being? On this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, we spotlight James Vassell, an ordained bishop with the Church of God, who has seamlessly woven together the realms of high-intensity CrossFit and spiritual ministry at his unique gym, Anistemi. You'll hear how James fosters a supportive, judgment-free environment for everyone—from young children to seniors and individuals overcoming eating disorders—mirroring the mission of a church that meets people where they are and celebrates their progress toward overall wellness.
James Vassell's vision goes beyond just physical fitness. We explore how CrossFit Anistemi has transformed into a holistic wellness center, offering services such as chiropractic care, physical therapy, massage therapy, nutrition coaching, counseling, neurofeedback, and an IV clinic. Despite facing personal challenges, including the recent loss of his father, James continues to draw on past guidance to support his community. Learn about his journey from aspiring to administrative ministry to embracing a pastoral role, blending business and spiritual guidance to create a thriving environment. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in a comprehensive approach to health and wellness.
https://www.crossfitanistemi.com/
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This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2:Hello, good neighbors, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast brought to you by the Friends and Neighbors Group of the Greater Chattanooga Area, including Cleveland and Dalton, georgia. My name is Scott Howell again, and I'm your host. And for all you first-time listeners out there who might be wondering what is this Good Neighbor podcast all about? Well, it's to bring awareness to the residents of our communities regarding the locally owned and or operated businesses in the greater Chattanooga area, in Cleveland, in Dalton, georgia and all the little communities around us. Small local businesses are the backbone of our communities and they need our support. Joining me today is James Vassell at CrossFit. You know, james, I forgot to ask you how to pronounce that. I apologize. No, you're fine, anistomate, anistomate.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:All right, I guess there's a story behind that. We're going to let you tell it in a minute, but we are sure glad to have you on the program today with us, james, and you know, before we dive into talking about your business, I'd like to give you a moment to share something about yourself and your family, if you'd like to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do this as a ministry. Yeah, we do this as a ministry. So I'm actually an ordained bishop. So a lot of the times when people see a CrossFit, they assume that it's just for general fitness. And there's so much more that we want to offer to people when they come to our door.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, that's a great concept. So your local bishop, is it any particular church For?
Speaker 3:the denomination Church of God.
Speaker 2:Okay, church of God, all right. Well, glad to have you with us, sir, amen. Let's just dive in and talk about CrossFit. I want you to pronounce that one more time for me Anistome, anistome. Okay, let's talk about CrossFit, anistome, okay, what do you want to know? What are y'all about? What are y'all for people? What's on the exercise side, on the ministry side.
Speaker 3:Just tell us all about it yeah, well, honestly, we actually have a um. We started with crossfit with a bigger goal. Now crossfit is just a style of workout. It's called constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements that's the definition of it where you're getting different kinds of workouts but they're all functional, so it's what's natural to the body, okay, and we make sure that you're doing some sometimes high intensity, sometimes strength, sometimes cardio, sometimes flexibility, sometimes just good balance. A lot of times we hear people come in or they're afraid to do CrossFit. We always tell them listen, this is what you see on TV oftentimes, or what you see from somebody saying they went to a CrossFit gym. It's not what you're going to experience, because we want to make sure that we make people where they are and just get them generally overall fit and healthy. That's our main goal for the branch of CrossFit is to bring overall wellness to people, physical wellness, and that has shown itself tried and true for the past about 14 years that I've been in the business.
Speaker 2:OK, well, james, you know that all sounds interesting. A lot of people are intimidated when they come to the gym. You know a lot of the stuff you see on CrossFit. I see a lot of it on YouTube and I tell people I'm on my fitness journey. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm definitely not where I started. I lost 40 pounds. I'm very proud of where I've been, but I still need to get further down the road. So I follow a lot of where I've been, but I still need to get there, get a little further down the road. But so I've got a lot of fitness stuff. Just watching it and seeing. And I see a lot of these CrossFit folks. Man, I mean some of them look like the small version of the Incredible Hulk. You know, I mean it's a. It's pretty amazing. So the intimidation factor can be there for people walking in the first time. No-transcript.
Speaker 3:You know, oftentimes I compare those same misconceptions to the church. Let's say I was on my journey to have a better spiritual lifestyle, but I can't. When I step into the church and I see the pastor quote in every scripture verse well, I can't do that. But does that mean should I not go to church? What if I'm struggling in sin and I'm dealing with some other areas of addictions? Well, should I not go in, scott, if I'm not there yet? Or, let's say, forget the church, let's go into an aspect of just general overall health. Well, I'm not to the point of I can't lift 500 pounds, but I can lift a little bit.
Speaker 3:Well, great, well, we want to make sure that you can get a little better, and there's never been an area of judgment when it comes down to CrossFit. Most gyms that I know, of any gym that I've ever been to, their main goal is to meet you where you are. So, scott, if you're like, hey, I've lost 40 pounds, but I want to lose another four, we're not going to say, well, you're going to have to do this, this, this, this, this for the last four. It's well, congratulations, you did 40. What did you do for 40, and how do we help you get to the next level and in my gym which we're very grateful for our youngest member we have kids' classes. So our youngest member is five years old.
Speaker 3:One of our oldest members is in his late 60s, some of our skinniest people came from eating disorders, coming in from a mental health clinic or outpatient area or inpatient area, where they come in with anorexia and bulimia, we get them a little healthier. I've had members who are over 600 pounds coming into our gym and they all took the same class. And it's cool because we want to make sure that even with the college athlete in the same class, they're all getting individualized attention while we're still doing the same community work. So if a pastor comes and he starts preaching the sermon, it might hit you differently than it hits somebody else, but we all got to be there to hear it, right, that's our main goal when it comes down to wellness and for for CrossFit, that's a lot of the culture.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, that that makes sense. That's you put it down into simple terms. If anybody is, is feels intimidated and they listen to what you said, that's got to make sense. Yeah, absolutely you know. Uh, how did your journey come about where you came to be involved in crossfit james, that's a great question.
Speaker 3:I had two wonderful friends. I was doing a lot of endurance races. Um, I was about 135 pounds, soaking wet. Uh, I was scrawny as all could be. Uh, in college I mean, I was just itty bitty. Um, and I had some friends who we wanted to do, like, uh, the mud races, and so we were training for those and running.
Speaker 3:And, uh, we just ended up running past an old warehouse and heard some loud music and I'm a dancer as well. So I was like, well, what's the music going on? Let's go check it out. We checked it out and found out that it was a CrossFit gym. And the guy who was the owner at the time looked at me and he said, well, what are you working on? And I was like I'm an endurance runner, I want to get better for obstacle courses. And he was like, well, we could probably get you a lot faster and get you a whole lot stronger. I get some meat on your bones, so you're a little bit more healthy. And I laughed because at the time I thought I was super fit. I was doing P90X in every video out there.
Speaker 3:And I'd breeze through those workouts and I'd be dedicated.
Speaker 3:And I took one class and the workout was seven minutes long and I thought I was ready to die seven minutes and the guy the coach and the owner said, well, hey, you are in shape, but you're not in crossfit shape and it's a different kind of fitness, and so that's where we really recognize that there is a different scale for fitness. Matter of fact, one of the gentlemen that was in the class with me, who was my age he was about 150 pounds bigger than I am and we were literally neck and neck for the entire workout, which lets me know that it was so. The workouts are so balanced that even a big person will be fitting in perfectly with a skinny person because of the variety that comes with it. So he could lift really heavy but he couldn't run. So I would run and I'd get back to the lift and I could lift and he'd catch up and he'd lift and it was that whole pattern for a good seven minutes and we realized that this was a good, healthy range for general overall fitness.
Speaker 3:Okay, and so when it comes, comes yeah, when it comes to crossfit, we always make a statement at our gym that we should be able to hang with a good uh endurance runner. We may not beat an endurance runner, but we can at least hang out with them yeah, we might go to a powerlifting gym.
Speaker 3:We might not win, but we can definitely hang with them and do well Any scales of fitness. We should be able to just jump right in and still be in the top and have fun. It's not our expertise, but we should be able to be fairly balanced.
Speaker 2:I tell you I'm very impressed with the people that I see on the YouTube videos that do the CrossFit. It's very impressive. You know some of the I've been following it for several years and some of the big names you know. They're well-known in that industry. The things that they accomplish is mind blowing, you know. So it's very impressive for sure. And then the fact that you're you know you're encouraging people on the spiritual side, that's. That's a blessing too, because we all need that.
Speaker 2:We all need that encouragement. You know that spirit. We're all fighting a battle of some sort. If it's not your health, if it's not your finances, it's something. If it's not your mental health, there's something. If nothing else, you've got a family member that's fighting and you're fighting with them and something going on. And we all need encouragement, that's for sure, um go ahead.
Speaker 3:I often tell people oftentimes that I can tell what kind of person you are when I see you on the gym floor. Um, sometimes, people that some of the work workouts are fairly hard, some of the workouts are fairly easy, but I can see a lot of ethic um, etiquette or ethics on the floor. Um, I've had a lot of people who will say, hey, listen me, coming here has actually improved my marriage, because I realize that I can do hard things, I realize that I can actually persevere. I realize that I probably need to improve in certain areas of my own well-being before I start telling my wife that they need to do X, y and Z. And it's really cool because you're doing a lot more reflection.
Speaker 3:And our main goal for our gym was not just to be a CrossFit gym but to be an overall wellness center, and so that's what we've actually transitioned into.
Speaker 3:Crossfit was the beginning part, but now at our facility we have a chiropractor, we have a physical therapist, we have two massage therapists, we have a nutrition coach therapists. We have two massage therapists, we have a nutrition coach, we have a counselor, we have neurofeedback, we have an IV clinic now and it's just general. We have women's devotions and men's devotions. We're doing the whole thing and we realize that just because somebody is physically fit doesn't mean that they're holistically fit, and so that's the area that we really have started pushing for is get them in the doors by letting them get fit and making sure they look good in a bathing suit and making them feel confident about themselves, but also making sure that their spiritual life is good, make sure that their mental health, make sure their finances are good. Like you mentioned beforehand, community we don't have the accountability or the community to help encourage people to do better and to find a healthier place of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but when you say you got these different businesses, do you mean these are members of the CrossFit gym or they come there to help and assist people?
Speaker 3:No, they work here. Yeah, they work here. Yeah, we have. We're running out of room, Scott.
Speaker 2:We're running out of room. That's nice. I met the gentleman that does the IV infusion. I interviewed him recently. Yeah, that's interesting. You tell me you've got all these people. He's a great guy too. But you know, everybody comes through a journey in life and, like we said, we're talking about difficulty, something happens. I'd like to ask you, james, have you, have you endured anything in your life, any hardships or life challenges, that you know? Now that you, now that you came through it, you look back and you go, you know I'm better and I'm stronger for that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a, that's a great, that's a loaded question.
Speaker 1:Bloody. I'll tell you it's a loaded question.
Speaker 3:I would actually be transparent with you and say that I am still going through one of the very difficult situations. My mentor and my true trusted number one fan passed away about a year and a half ago my father and he has been a phenomenal. Thank you. It's been a phenomenal guide for me when running this business. There have been multiple times that for me personally.
Speaker 3:I don't run this as a business. I run this as a business street. I put ministry and business together and make sure that this gives honor to God in all things that we do, and he was oftentimes the person who would give me great sound advice, or sometimes he would just sit there and listen. And so, as an owner or as somebody who is running this in ministry, to have that role model, to have that leader, to have that person your own father, flesh and blood pass away very quickly definitely makes it difficult, right, and so you're having to be a business owner and a leader for a company and the person that you usually tap into for their resources outside of God is no longer there, so you have to still pick up yourself by your bootstraps, yeah, and oftentimes think about the advice that you have been given in the past and see how you can figure out how to continue to work through grief and encourage people and lift them up and love them, and it gives you the perspective of how to continue um moving forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, that's, uh, it's. It's a hard lick when you lose someone that has that much influence, that you love that greatly.
Speaker 2:It's, it's a hard lick and uh yeah, I totally understand that as someone who's also had a loss, and we, we're sure, sorry for your loss, james, I know. Yeah, that's a, that's tough, you know moving. Coming back to the business again, if there was one thing that you wish that all of our listeners could understand and know about not just not just your business tree, but also about you and the way that it's operated and ran what would that be?
Speaker 3:That is a great question. I would dare say that when I was young I think I was about seven years old somebody asked me the question what do you want to be when you grow up? And if you know anything about the Church of God. There are different positions and I remember saying to them I want to be the youth director of a state. That's somebody who pretty much runs camps and does a lot of church ministry, does a lot of networking when it comes down to making sure that every youth group in this state is doing well, the pastors are doing well, there's a good administrative work. And I remember saying that being like I want to do that kind of ministry. I want to do a lot of administrative ministry, helping leaders lead. And I remember saying like they asked me well, why don't you be a pastor? And I was like I don't want to be a pastor. Pastors have to deal with people every single day.
Speaker 2:Um, that is exhausting and not yeah and not you gotta get those phone calls.
Speaker 3:Um, you've got to deal with people, uh, on a one-on-one basis. And I was like I don't want to do that. I want to do the administrative work and help leaders lead others, because that sounds better, and I remember saying that to God and be like I'm not going to be a pastor. And it was hilarious because I got my ministerial license and continued to preach and continued to lead worship at different churches, do a lot of evangelical work. I loved being an evangelist, just preaching in different churches, it's great.
Speaker 3:And I decided, you know what? The girl I was dating at the time. We were very serious. We were going to need to find a place to do work out of our gym and call that ministry and my goal was to let her run that place as her own and I would go and just travel and preach and that was my whole goal, because I don't want to be a pastor. Scott, when I tell you the similarities between me running this gym and what a pastor goes through on a day-to-day basis, I'm pretty sure God has a very big laugh on his face.
Speaker 2:I'll tell him yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:He is definitely tickled. So in my opinion, that would be one of my biggest things is I? I I tried to steer away from a calling of working with people individually and I've had the honor and the amazing opportunity to walk with people day in and day out, like sometimes a pastor will see you on Wednesday night and Sunday mornings. Maybe, hopefully, he may pop into or she may pop into a small group here and there. But for me, and the opportunity that I have is I get to see every one of my members every single day, and that could be sometimes it's here hit or miss, but we're not just seeing them, I'm not just saying, hey, scott, good to see you. God bless you. How's the family and gone? I get to see you for a full hour and we get to talk and I get to walk alongside you. And I've had the opportunity to get people married. I've had the opportunity to go and do funerals. I've had the opportunity to hold babies when they first come out of the womb. I've also had the opportunity to counsel people who were in dire need of therapy and I've had the opportunity to help people build their businesses.
Speaker 3:I think that that is how God has called us to walk alongside and build disciples, and I think right now, a lot of times we have a misconstrued view of what the church can be and that's where we just come in, hear some scripture and we're gone. And that's not just true discipleship. And so looking how Jesus walked with the disciples and had a relationship with them day in and day out, that's what I do here and that's what my whole team does. I trust every one of them. My wonderful wife does a great job of what she does with working with the women and supporting me and supporting the ministry and following true, and we've experienced just a phenomenal outpouring of God as we continue to get people healthy.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you mentioned that your wife's involved in the training as well, because that sometimes is something that's important for other ladies to come in and know that there's another lady that's kind of leading them. So that's great to know as well. But it sounds like to me, james, that you're saying that you're, you've been called to serve and that's called to serve. And if a person is truly has that in their heart, that they're called to serve, you can. You can run as far as you want to run, but the world's round you just keep running back into God when you're called to serve. So I totally understand it, I do, and thank you for sharing all this with us today. I know people are probably wondering how do we find out more about this CrossFit ministry? How do we find out more about James Vassell? So, online or offline, tell us about the different ways people can check you out and contact you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, literally all you have to do is type in CrossFit and then put the word A or the letter A and it'll pull it up on Google. It makes it so much easier. Nowadays, crossfit Onistime is crossfitonistimecom, or our Facebook or Instagram. That makes it a lot easier for you to kind of contact it. That way we have our phone number on there and our email address as well, which is crossfitonistime at gmailcom nothing crazy. And we're right off of Waterloba Highway, which is 64. We're not too far out towards the Ocoee River, but we're on that main road that you would actually go to.
Speaker 3:So if you're in the Cleveland, area we always tell people we're literally about six minutes from Lee University. So we try and level on people and if you're in this area, come on and visit us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, yeah, so yeah, that's wonderful news to hear about. Not only can someone go work out if you don't have a home church to go to, you know, and you you might find your way down to james. There you can still have the benefit of somebody kind of shepherding you and and serving you and and guiding you along the way. And who knows, you might just find james, might just be able to point you to a good local church close to where you live, to somewhere that you can get in that congregation and be part of what's going on. So, james, it's been a pleasure meeting you today. Sir, thank you for all you do for the community and all the people that live there Appreciate it. Brother man, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And all the good, good neighbors of the greater Chattanooga area, including Cleveland and Dalton, everywhere in between, wish we could name every little community because everybody's important. But after meeting James and learning more about his CrossFit gym, I know he hopes you'll take a moment to consider all they have to offer. Remember them when you need and want the services they provide. Go check them out, see what they do, see what they offer. You might be surprised. It might be just the perfect fit for you. And before ending this episode, I'd like to thank you all, the listeners, for taking the time out of your busy day to visit with us at the Good Neighbor Podcast. Always remember to support the locally owned and or operated businesses in the greater Chattanooga area, everywhere, from Cleveland to Dalton, anything in between. This is Scott Howell with the Friends and Neighbors Group. Everyone go out and make this a remarkable day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPClevelandcom. That's GNPClevelandcom, or call 423-380-1984.
