When They Say They Exercise Religiously,the ‘Vessels’ Mean It : ‘I had a vision about exercising. I wanted to minister to the physical woman and the spiritual woman.’

A fine sheen of sweat has broken out on Rosita Latham’s powerful neck and chiseled arms as she calls out the next move to six women in North Long Beach.

“Step and kick!” she tells them, shouting over the music. “Right leg first!”

The women are breathing hard, but keeping up with Latham and the music’s relentless beat. They step up on their molded plastic squares, turn left and thrust their right legs out. Step down and do it again. For a moment, this could be any step aerobics class.

But on the third such kick, the women begin a hoarse chant, the words punctuated with the right leg’s thrust.

“Father!”

Step down, up, kick.

“Son!”

Again.

“Holy Ghost!”

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For the women in Latham’s class, this workout is not just about fitting into a smaller dress size. This “exercise ministry” is about building faith along with muscle tone. They exercise to music with Christian lyrics and pray together after class.

“I had a vision about exercising,” said Latham, 37, a mother of three and a grandmother. “I wanted to minister to the physical woman and the spiritual woman.”

Latham and four other women started in a garage,

praying for strength and guidance while teaching each other how to exercise and eat well. As they felt their energy levels increase and their self-esteem grow, they wanted to spread the word, Latham said.

Now, they claim a loose membership of about 50. In April, the group moved out of the garage and into a tiny South Street storefront sandwiched between a liquor store and a coin dealer. The organizers charge $2 per class, up from the $1 fee they charged in the garage, and can comfortably fit up to 15 women in each of the week’s three classes.

On the store’s window they proudly painted their name: “The Vessels of Honor for God. Exercise Ministry.”

The term exercise ministry is taken from the group’s roots in a street ministry. Latham and the four other original participants--Lenia Smith, Nina Jewel-Wood, Cynthia Bowan and Karen Houser--met through their work in Youth Action for Christ, a nondenominational Long Beach church that encourages members to take to the streets to spread the Bible’s teachings.

The Vessels started handing out flyers on the aerobics class along with Bible verses.

“Women my age and older just don’t exercise and a lot of them have low self-esteem because of their body image,” said Smith, 25.

The founders credit Latham, an ordained minister in Youth Action for Christ, with kicking the Vessels into high gear. After the 5-foot-5 Latham gave birth to her last child four years ago, she weighed in at 215 pounds. Lacking energy even for the Lord’s work, Latham decided something had to change. Then she met Jewel-Wood and Bowan.

“I talked nutrition and Cynthia talked exercise,” Jewel-Wood said of the group’s beginnings. “And then we met Rose and she’s a doer. She’s the one who made it happen.”

Rosita Latham--who now weighs 130 pounds after four years of religiously exercising and adopting healthier eating habits--hears Jewel-Wood, smiles and says, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak: Matthew.”

There is little room for weakness in the Vessels’ fast-stepping, one-hour aerobics workout three times a week. Yet many of the women who take the classes have had a lifetime of bad nutritional habits, Smith says.

“A lot of churches are good about God, but not about the natural stuff. Too many of those preachers have big bellies. And you’ve got to have this ,” Smith says, grabbing a well-toned thigh, “to be able to get out there and work for God.”

Latham added: “When they feel good about themselves they can do more work for the Lord and be a better person.”

It is Jewel-Wood’s job to teach women to eat well. At every class, she offers cooking and shopping ideas to help cut fat and increase nutritional content. A sales representative for a large vitamin company, she readily admits she holds no degrees in nutrition. But healthy eating has been a lifelong passion that she wants to share with the others, she said.

“I was raised Muslim and didn’t become Christian until I was 21,” she said. “And Muslims have much better eating habits, lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I was shocked at the way I’ve seen some Christians eat.”

The women who attend Vessels classes say they are getting a kind of church and spa, all in one small room.

“This is great,” said one woman, toweling off her face and breathing hard. “Here, there’s a lot of love.”