44 Lessons from a Loser: Navigating Life through Laughter, Prayer and the Occasional Throat Punch - Tapa dura

Sonya Jones captured the hearts of viewers with her upbeat attitude and dedication to succeed on Season 16 of NBC's reality TV show The Biggest Loser. Jones was that season's only female finalist-with the closest margin of loss in Biggest Loser history (.01% of her body weight). Knowing that, as a physical education teacher, she should be the model of health and fitness, Jones felt like a hypocrite as she neared 300 pounds in 2014. Six months later, she stepped onto the scale (and into the hearts of millions of Americans)-dropping a whopping 144 pounds to lose 50.88% of her total body weight on national television. Prior to her Biggest Loser journey, Jones earned a degree in Physical Education from Greenville University (in Greenville, Illinois-where she was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018) along with graduate degrees in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield.. A former semi-professional athlete (two-time Collegiate All-American in fastpitch softball), Jones spent nearly two decades in education before taking her current position as an Outreach Representative for HSHS Medical Group in central Illinois. She is a certified (and widely-sought) speaker with the John Maxwell Team. When not engaged in public speaking all over the country-she enjoys playing softball, spending quality time with friends and family, and pursuing her most recent interest: rescuing pit bulls.

Christopher E. Burcham may be small in stature himself, but is privileged to spend his life proclaiming a God about Whom nothing is small! After graduating from Bryan College (in Dayton, Tennessee) with a degree in Biblical Studies and doing graduate work in Christian Ministries at Huntington University (in Huntington, Indiana), Burcham has spent the past 28 years in vocational ministry-both as a pastor and classroom teacher in Illinois, Florida, and North Carolina. He is currently in his 11th year of service as the Senior Pastor of Union Hill Baptist Church in Clemmons, North Carolina. Burcham is joined in life and ministry by his lovely wife Amanda-who was raised Mormon, dabbled in witchcraft, and eventually become a flaming agnostic before being radically saved and going on to serve as a missionary (with YWAM Int'l) in Hawaii, China, and Tibet-prior to becoming a pastor's wife. Burcham is an avid history buff who has been privileged to meet the last nine U. S. presidents (from Richard Nixon through Donald Trump)-all in connection with a book he is currently writing, entitled: Heads of State; Feet of Clay.