What if your body isn't simply carrying your soul—but is actually part of how God is forming you?

In this episode of Rhythms & Roots, Donnie sits down with longtime friend Dr. Manny Garcia, General Superintendent of Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends, for a deeply theological and practical conversation about what it means to follow Jesus as embodied people.

Their friendship goes back to Barclay College, but so does a shared interest in the connection between formation and the way we actually live. Manny brings together years of theological education, pastoral leadership, athletics, and his growing love of endurance running—including his current journey toward a 100-mile ultramarathon.

Together, they explore why the Incarnation validates the goodness and significance of the human body, why Christian discipleship cannot be reduced to something merely intellectual or "spiritual," and how physical health, movement, sleep, suffering, rest, Sabbath, and even running can become places of spiritual formation.

The conversation also wrestles with an important tension: How do we steward our bodies without making health another idol? How do pastors and leaders pursue faithful ministry without treating exhaustion as evidence of faithfulness? And what does the Christian hope of resurrection tell us about God's intention for the whole person?

This is a conversation about running—but it's about much more than running.

It's about becoming fully present to the life God has given us.

Body. Soul. Mind. Relationships. Work. Rest. Calling.

Because the life you're living is forming the person you're becoming.

Links:

TikTok: @mannyruns

Instagram: @MannyGarcia

Book reference: You Are What You Love; The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith

00:00 — Manny, Barclay College & Our Story
01:00 — From Soccer to Running
03:02 — Does Your Body Matter to Your Faith?
05:48 — Why the Incarnation Changes Everything
10:54 — Are Body and Soul Really Separate?
34:44 — Physical Health & Spiritual Health
35:24 — When Our Bodies Affect Our Ministry
37:02 — Rhythms That Form Us
45:37 — Sabbath, Rest & Human Limits
01:06:24 — When Health Becomes an Idol
01:07:53 — Embodied Discipleship
01:08:09 — What Running Has Taught Manny
01:09:28 — What Happens When You Want to Quit
01:10:29 — A Theology of Running
01:12:21 — The Redemption of the Whole Person
01:15:20 — Why We Need Community
01:31:12 — Work, Rest & the Need to Stop
01:33:10 — Eternity in Finite Bodies
01:35:34 — Selah: Reflection & Prayer