| Retired UM pastor uses martial arts to teach spirituality BY MARY CAHILL
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT Everyone who came to yell the stereotypical Hi-yah! in church was disappointed. But the crowd attending the March 9 Pyramid Power workshop at Otterbein UMC in Martinsburg, W. Va., applauded vigorously after 73-year-old grandmaster Leo Fong, a retired United Methodist minister, told of his remarkable journey from Arkansas to Hollywood to teaching physical, mental and spiritual fitness around the world. After retiring from a 44-year career, Fong returned to his lifelong love of fitness and martial arts, developing a system of exercises called Chi Fung, which energizes through controlled movements and breathing. Fong studied under Bruce Lee and has an extensive background in several systems of Kung Fu. His skills have been featured in 21 motion pictures. He has published 13 martial arts books and continues to write, act in and produce martial arts movies. He has black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Rembukai Karate, Chinese Go Ju, Arnis, and the Filipino art of stick fighting. Fong and his mother immigrated to a small town in Arkansas in the mid-1930s, where he was the only Chinese child in his school. I got beat up a lot, Fong said. At the age of 8, he knew he was going to be either a victim or a fighter. He chose to be the baddest guy on the block, he said. From then on, he read everything he could find about boxing, jiu jitsu, wrestling and physical fitness and practiced what he read. His mother made him stay at home when not in school to avoid the many kinds of intolerance in his small town. I figured out that the only way to get out of the house was to go to church, said Fong. The closest one was Methodist and he went often. Fong suffered from a serious injury when he was 16. I prayed and my fever immediately broke, he said. Thats when I decided to go into the ministry. At Hendrix College he became an intercollegiate Golden Gloves champion while earning a bachelors degree in physical education. Upon graduation from Southern Methodist Universitys school of theology, he was ordained.  After many years serving Methodist churches in California, Fong began to feel stale, he said, and took a leave of absence, earned a master of social work degree and worked as a social worker.
When Kung Fu movies became popular in the 70s, I got an offer to go to the Philippines to work in the movies, he told the Pyramid Power audience. After 16 years of making movies, at his wifes suggestion, he returned to the United Methodist church, retiring in 1996. But he quickly made new plans. I didnt want to show up at the retired pastors luncheons and sit around talking about my gallbladder and arthritis. I had to get out and get busy, he said. As he began to see a relationship between fitness and spirituality, Fong developed the concept of the Life Warrior. Applying the principles of self-defense to skills for living, Fong promotes finding ways to relate to people in a positive way. Every day youre challenged in anger. But as a spiritual person, why cant we respond in a different way, he asked. Fong cited the three Rs of self-defense as examples of how principles from self-defense martial arts can be related to living life: - Dont react. Defense says: Wait and see what the attacker is going to do. Never throw the first punch. In life: Wait and listen to what people are trying to tell you.
- Dont reject. Defense says: Dont form quick judgments that may prove false. In life: Dont judge people, dont try to fit them into your preconceptions.
- Dont resist. Defense says: Go with the flow; deflect blows, dont meet them with equal force. In life: Go with the flow.
The Pyramid Power program is a health and fitness workshop, targeting men and women over age 40. The program focuses on exercise, nutrition and mental attitude. Grandmaster Fong led the workshop at the invitation of the Rev. Ken Fizer, who was Fongs student in Korean karate at Wesley Theological Seminary. | 
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