Purpose: The purposes of this study were two-fold: First, measure pre- and post-intervention physical activity levels and health perceptions of physically inactive individuals of an ethnically and religiously diverse community. Second, develop, implement, and investigate a six-week, faith-based intervention design to increase physical activity and improve health perception by combining physical activity information with correlating scriptures. Methods: This study was a two-group, pretest-posttest design for which thirty-four participants were recruited from a local county in Central Texas using social media platforms Facebook and NextDoor. Both groups received handouts from the VA MOVE! program while only the intervention group received the faith-based handouts. Health perceptions and physical activity levels were assessed pre- and post-intervention using Physical Activity-Stages of Change (PA-SOC), Self-Efficacy for Exercise (SEE), Helpless Inevitability Subscale (HIS), Nutrition Self-Efficacy Scale (NSES). Participants wore a FitBit Inspire to record Week one and Week six-step totals. Study outcomes were measured using Independent samples t-test and Chi-square. Results: An examination of the pre, post, and difference mean scores of the SEE, HIS, NSES, and weekly step counts using independent sample t-tests revealed no significant differences. An examination of the pre, post, and direction of change of the PA-SOC using the Pearson Chi-Square revealed no significant difference. Conclusion: The limitations had a heavy impact on the findings of this faith-based intervention. However, while the study results were not statistically significant, the faith-based intervention did have a minimal impact on the physical activity level and health perceptions. Future research evaluating the effectiveness of this faith-based intervention affecting the physical activity and health perceptions should address pastor buy-in and church attendees’ use to improve outcomes.
