Will dieting for God motivate the overweight masses to shed unwanted pounds?

Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best seller, The purpose Driven Life and leader of Saddleback mega-church in Lake Forest, Calif., was convinced that his congregation of 20,000 overweight believers would benefit from a little divine inspiration to get fit.

With that was born the Daniel Plan, a sweeping program of smart eating (and yes, lean meats are included), workout classes, small-group support meetings, walk and worship sessions and more, much of it made available both in person and online. Warren recruited three marquee names from the world of medicine — Drs. Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman (all of different faiths) — to help spread the good-health message, and the Saddleback members fell in love with the plan. More than 15,000 of them have signed up so far and in the past 18 months alone, they have lost a collective 260,000 lbs.

Warren hopes that people worldwide will embrace the message and is enlisting the help of the multi-faithed trio of Drs. Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman to help spread the word.