SALISBURY, N.C. -- No one wants to be a "loser" or a "lightweight" -- unless, of course, they're on a diet.

One Rowan County church is trying to motivate a church full of "losers" -- and hope to have a half-ton of success by Super Bowl Sunday.

If you walk into Cornerstone Church on Webb Avenue during any of the next three Sundays, you may see a praise group doing aerobics, barbells in the pulpit, and four very brave church members weighing themselves in front of everyone else.

This isn’t your ordinary church service. It's motivation for a spiritual journey that begins with one very small step -- onto a scale.

“The Bible says our bodies are the temple of the Lord,” said Pastor Bill Godair, the church’s senior pastor.

Inspired by the TV show of the same name, Godair wants to preach to a church full of losers, and find out who is the “Biggest Loser” of all.

"Obesity is killing us, it's just killing us,” said Godair before Sunday’s service. “And not only is it killing us in our natural life -- it's killing our economy, it's killing our government, and we can't do it anymore."

From now until Super Bowl Sunday, churchgoers will try to shed pounds. Four members from each service will also compete to see which group can lose the most.

Godair will join the fun by stepping on the scale each Sunday, too.

The goal for the entire congregation? A thousand pounds.

After a rousing welcome, “Eye of the Tiger” plays. No Rocky is seen – just four ordinary people, shoes off, who agreed to make their battle with the bulge public.

One at a time, they step on the scale. A woman records the weights – without sharing them with the congregation – and then adds the total in her head.

“The one who lost the most weight on the 11 o'clock (service) is Lupe!” the woman announces as church members cheer.

"Seven pounds!" More cheers.

Lupe Barrera is this week's Big Loser – or Winner -- in the bi-lingual church. Through an interpreter, she said losing weight will help her fight diabetes, so she can save money on her medications.

And there’s more.

"She will be saving money, she'll be losing weight, and she’ll be having more energy for her children," the interpreter relayed, as Barrera smiled enthusiastically.

Knowing that most good habits -- and bad ones -- start when people are children, the church decided to get them involved too.

The Sunday school class joined in a round of jumping jacks to music, as the youth pastors talked about healthy eating and exercise.

They even have a weigh-in of their own – without revealing any numbers, of course.

And Lupe Barrera agreed, it's good to have a little pressure to help her follow through on a promise to herself.

“I'm very, very excited about this,” she beamed.