MEET TERRY
Terry Miller is a Life Coach, Certified Health Coach, and Personal Trainer. He planted a church and remained the senior pastor of that church for over 21 years before coming on staff at The Sound church to become the Health Pastor. He launched and operated a gym in Hope Chapel OC before moving it to The Sound. His marriage to his bride of 36 years is remarkable. He has 8 children and 17 grandchildren and counting. He loves the outdoors, surfing, biking, working out in just about any form, and vacationing in the tropics.
Underlying life mission and philosophy –
I want to be remarkable in every area of life. I hate settling for anything less. I am not a perfectionist anymore, nor am I performance-driven. I simply want to keep improving. I believe that we all have greatness within us. I think that we all are at a certain level of glory and are destined to get to the next level, over and over again. This passion within me has to be shared with others. More than shared, I want to inspire, equip and encourage other people to live the remarkable life that Jesus came to give them.
I don't fall for the trap of comparing myself to anyone, but me, although Jack Lalane inspired me to be remarkably fit. I also wanted to inspire other people by pushing myself to do something remarkable for myself. I want my kids and grandkids to excel beyond me in every area. There were no broken world records, nor did I win the CrossFit Games, but I decided to train to do something that I was not naturally gifted to do. I could play most sports, but I was great at none. In my 50's, it was time to excel. Here are a few things I did on my birthdays.
56th birthday – 560 chin-ups in 56:20.
57th birthday – 57 Cindy WOD (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 BW squats) in 59:30
58th birthday – 1170 push-ups in 58:00
59th birthday – 1500 zero stage suspension rows in 59:00
60th birthday – bicycled 625 miles with over 25k elevation gain in 8 days.
Terry Miller
My ministry and life story aren't uncommon except for the number of children I have. God has blessed us with eight. That's five more than we thought we would have. I planted a church and remained bi-vocational for 14 years. I owned a small business 35 miles from the church and my home. That is 35 miles of LA traffic. I was beyond busy. Busy can be tolerable, but beyond busy was a load that I was not equipped to carry.
I did my best to pastor the church. I did my best to excel in business and keep the money flowing for the ever-growing family. I did my best to hang out and have fun with the kids. I thought I was doing my best to keep the fire going in the marriage, but it turned out that we had become partners instead of lovers. I had four different jobs at one point. Around year seven of the church, I was heading toward disaster. My wife and I were not doing well at all. We both are people who keep going. We don't quit. However, the lifestyle that I allowed to creep in and take over my life meant that I didn't do anything well. This soon spelled disaster for my marriage, and I wound up in a counselor's office. I'll never forget him telling me that I was headed toward or maybe on the brink of burnout. He said it might be physical, mental, or emotional, or it may be all three. I needed to change. He suggested that I consider leaving the ministry. After that crushing blow, he gave me some sage advice about my marriage that saved it.
I went to my council and, with tears, told them what the counselor said. I asked them to pay me for taking a day off. They gladly obliged. I was spent and needed help. I corrected how I lived my life, and within a year, I was back to the same ol' beyond busy schedule. It wasn't just the busyness, it was the pressure to succeed. Every seminar you go to is about growing your church and growing the ministry within your church. The pressure to perform is immense! I was stressed. I had several stress diseases. I had to supply for my family financially, which wasn't easy! Did I mention I had eight children! The one thing that I seemed to get right was dating and romancing my wife.
I cringe as I write all of that. They are not good memories. The pressure in every area of life was killing me. Most of that pressure was put on me by me. In 2009 I hurt my back working on the church. Surgery ensued. I had always been pretty healthy and fit, or so I thought. The reality is that I neglected myself too much. After that surgery, I took my physical health seriously and stepped it up. I grew in every area of life and began to handle my schedule, and stopped overworking. In 2019 I even went on a sabbatical. I declined to take three months off in true Terry fashion and settled for seven weeks. That was dumb. I was 58 years old and had been going like a LeMan's race car for far too long.
Today, I am enjoying the result of a life that is managed much better and a healthy body. I have learned that the brain is a part of the body. The reality of thinking clearer and emotionally regulating better has come with all of the work that I have done, including endeavoring to live a life with minimal stress.
Now I take mini-vacations and have only one child in the house. Sabbaths (Mondays) are used to rejuvenate. I care much less about being successful and more about finding the flow of God and riding in that. I still work hard and enjoy what I do more than ever. I am 61 and still can keep up with my 25 old self, except I don't last as long. If I worked one of those 14-hour days now, I would need a mini-vacation to recover. I am super healthy and don't miss the junk I ate before. I am purposeful about so many healthy lifestyle traits and go after them. I have gone through what I call brain rewriting and emotional regulation training. I am a personal trainer and a certified health coach and graduated from a life coaching school. I want to give it all away to others, especially pastors. My heart goes out to those in the battle, and I want to build them up, encourage them and equip them to live above the Frey. Jesus came to give us a remarkable life and never settle for anything short of it. It's time to live that life in every aspect.