New Speakers - Thanks William!

Thanks to William Guice of the People's Church in Franklin, TN, the IRL Ministry now has new Yamaha speakers for our sound system! As you recall, William sang for us in Nashville. When we were doing his sound check, he asked what that buzzing noise was.... Well, it was our speakers! He replied, "I can take care of that!"

He showed up to sing for us again in Kentucky and had a new set of speakers complete with cords and mounting brackets! They are 300 watts of awesome sound!

Thanks again William. It is greatly appreciated! God provides!!!!

Wow.....

OK, so in all my humanness, I'm all worried about logistics of the weekend. Why do we worry about anything when we trust God.... we shouldn't.....

Had a great day in Kentucky yesterday... William Guice from the Peoples Church in Nashville drove up from Tennessee to sing for our Chapel services. We also worked with John Roberts, the track Chaplain from Kentucky Speedway, to help with their Raceway Ministries Chapel service at 9:00 AM. William also sang for their service. Those guys do a great job ministering to the fans outside the track.

Our Chapel services were well attended and went well. We had Mike Mankel and his wife Beth as guests of the ministry this weekend. Mike is the Regional Manager for KLOVE/Air1 radio. They followed me along with my son Tyler on the grid to pray with the drivers. God was present as we had great reception from most of the teams. Beth hugged me after we had finished praying, with tears in her eyes, and thanked me. She said that was better than a church service! The Holy Spirit was obviously moving in a mighty way.

I had two unique opportunities to pray with people that don't normally get the chance..... As we were making our way thru the grid, two IRL pit safety worked were preparing for the race. I offered prayer and they accepted! Also, there was a group of Firestone pit workers talking before the race. They also were open to prayer before the race!

God was moving.... God was working. I am just humbled that I am being used by God in this capacity. Trust God. Obey God.

Answered Prayer in Kentucky

Every single day in ministry is vastly different. I thank God today for answered prayer today. Our devotion this morning discussed the right as a child of God to be in prayer with our Father and bringing honor to our Father by how we pray to him.

Our prayer today was just that..... that we would not get caught up in the details, but minister in the midst of the details. I believe God answered that prayer today. Many great connections were made and details for tomorrow just fell into place... Why do we ever worry... What a waste of time.... Praise God..... Trust God....

Set up at Kentucky!

Got setup at Kentucky today! Met with a few of the team guys worked through some logistics for the weekend. Will be meeting with the track Chaplain, John Roberts tomorrow.

With all the IRL Ministry visitors this weekend (including Mike from KLOVE), pray that we can work through the technical aspects of credentials, etc. and not let these get in the way of ministry!

Kentucky Tomorrow!

Heading to Kentucky tomorrow for the Saturday night race! Tyler, my oldest son, will be accompanying me this weekend!

Pray that God will work through the IRL Ministry staff this weekend and that we will represent Christ well!

"Winners Circle" kicked off at Vision Racing!

Last Wednesday, Bob and I had a meeting at Vision Racing to introduce the "Winners Circle". This will be a weekly Christian study that will encourage the team emotional and spiritually. This study will be started using Coach Tony Dungy's book, "Quiet Strength". (http://www.coachdungy.com/)

We had a great turnout of about 10-11 team members at the lunch meeting. We are going to buy them all books and study guides. This will be a weekly study held at the shop over their lunch hour.

Please pray that this will be a Holy Spirit led study and that those who need to hear from God will show up. Also pray that the enthusiasm that was shown at the initial meeting will continue as we meet weekly!

Wet Day in Ohio - but not in Spirit!

Sunday started early in Mid-Ohio with our fist chapel service at 7:30! We had great turnouts at both chapel services. We met in a temporary trailer in the paddock area.

The rains came before the Indy Lights race and delayed things a bit. With the rain (and lightening), it was a little chaotic working our way through the grid to pray with the teams and drivers. I pray that God directed our efforts. Also due to the rain, the Indy Car driver introductions were scrapped. Because of that, the drivers were actually at the cars when we were praying with the teams on the grid. We got neat participation with the drivers and crews on most teams. Once again, some prayed, some turned and walked away. Pray for God to continue to move!

Thanks to Jalane from Heartland Alliance Church (www.heartlandalliance.net) who helped organize the food pickup this week. We collected about 25 pounds of soap products as well. The donations went to the following local organizations. I pray the food was used to help Christ to be proclaimed!

• Bulter Clearfork Nutrition Center
• Crossroads Center for Change & Mt. Herman Baptist Church
• Harmony House
• Salvation Army
• Freewill Baptist Church
• Heartland Alliance Church

Thanks for your continued support!

God is Present!

We had a safe day of practice and quals today. There was a fire in the pits at the ALMS event. The crew member was burned and flown to a local hospital but the injuries were not life threatening. Please pray for him and his family as he recovers...

We were very hurried on the grid today before the Indy Lights race. There were no formal driver introductions, so the drivers just followed their cars to the grid locations. Bob, Hunter, and I individually worked our way through the grid and had a word of prayer with each of the drivers before the race began. While it seemed quick, I believe God was honored. We had an individual comment to Hunter and I that overhearing a prayer made "it" seem all real..... I responded to him by telling him "God" is real and there is no higher honor than to pray the Almighty God.

God is present! Your prayers are greatly appreciated!!!!

Mid-Ohio Report

Had a good, safe day at Mid-Ohio today. No travel difficulties yesterday as well! Neat track with lots of history. We got the chapel flyers hung in the garages and distrubuted the soap donation boxes. I got in touch with some new people today to donate food for the minisrty. With the ALMS racing on the same course this weekend, some of their hospitality people are going to donate their left over food! We also got the ABC/ESPN catering to donate their food as well....

Had some good conversations with some Indy Lights drivers today. Seems like everyone is getting tired with the back to back race schedule.... There will be an Indy Lights race tomorrow and they also run a second race on Sunday. Pray for these guys as they have a busy weekend.

We will have two chapel services on Sunday morning. I will be singing at both of them this weekend..... The chapel times are 7:30 and 9:30 with a mass at 9:00. Pray that these will be led by the Holy Spirit!

I am excited to have my youngest son, Reid along with me this weekend. He is truly a blessing and fun to be around!

More updates from the track tomorrow! Thanks for your support!

Great Chapels & Prayer TimeToday!!

We had great turnouts at both Chapel services today! Special thanks to William Guice (http://www.williamguice.com/) from The Peoples Church (http://www.thepeopleschurch.org/) in Franklin, TN for providing the special music. It was very heart felt and I believe Christ was glorified!

We had great prayer time with the teams on the grid with both the Indy Lights and Indy Car series. It seemed the teams were very receptive today to our prayer time. I thank God for working and softening hearts!

Please continue to pray for God to move during these events! Pray also for travel safety for the ministry staff and the teams! May God bless you for supporting this ministry!

Busy day in Nashville!

Had Indy Lights practice and qualifying and Indy Car practice and quals today. Praise God for a safe day today..... There were no driver incidents that required a trip to the infield care center!

Met with the guys from Nashville Rescue Mission (http://www.nashvillerescuemission.org/) today. They are going to be taking the food and soap donations from this weekends race. These guys really have a heart for God and for helping the homeless. Pray for their efforts this weekend and pray that God will utilize the food resources for His glory.

Two Chapel services tomorrow. Pray that God will be worshipped well and glorified!

Made it Safely to Nashville

We are safe and sound in Nashville. I said we.... my wife, Deatra is accompanying me this trip! It is very exciting to have her along. I worked a half day at JDSU, then picked up the rental car, and headed south...... Special thanks again to Doug, George, and Zane at JDSU for covering for me while I am away from work and allowing me to have the time off!!!

I met with some of the hospitality chefs today to help coordinate the food pickup for this weekend. Interesting comment from one of the chefs today.... He told me that since he knows the food is never wasted, he intentionally buys more food than he will need. He does this for two reasons. 1) it helps him not have to plan so accurately for food usage and 2) he knows the food is always going to a good cause to help the homeless! Pretty cool stuff.... Who would have ever thought that the chefs would "overbuy" because they WANT to donate the food.... God is working.....

Also, special thanks to those of you who are praying specifically for me and the ministry. Your prayers are deeply appreciated!

Bending the Knee......

Made it home today safely from Richmond. Had a couple neat "God moments" on the grid before the race...... After praying with the teams on the grid I had one of the IRL Technical Inspectors come up to me and specifically requested prayer on the grid. She had never done that before, so it was neat to see how our sovereign God put me in the right place to be able to minister in that way.

Had another "first" on the grid.... Helio Castroneves' team did not qualify well for the race. When I approached them to pray, one of the team members replied, "ya, we need some serious prayer!" He then proceeded to drop to one knee. I responded by dropping to my knee with him and commented that we should pray humbly before the Lord. What followed was incredible....... one by one, the entire team (20 plus members) followed and everyone dropped to a knee. After then team was on a knee, we all put one hand in the middle of the circle and I prayed that God would bless their efforts. They ended up finishing second in the race!

Praise God the presence of His Holy Spirit in the midst of the business proceeding last night's race!!!! Thanks again for all your support..... My next race is in Nashville, TN in 2 weeks...

Hot & Humid in Richmond

Had a good day of qualifying and practice today at Richmond. Got everything ready to go for tomorrow Chapel Services. Met with Carrington from Good Samaritan Ministries in Richmond. They will be taking the excess food tomorrow after the race. We had a great prayer time together asking God to bless their efforts and use it to glorify Christ and further His Kingdom! Chapel services are at 1:45 and 3:15 tomorrow. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will lead!

On a side note..... The USAC Midgets were running tonight at Richmond. Tom, the flag man, invited me up to the flag stand to watch the start of the race from there!! IT WAS AWESOME! What a view! I even switched off the yellow track lights at the end of a cautions and handed him some of the flags.... Quite a different perspective. Tom is a Christian. Pray for his safety at these races. He is also flagging for the Indy Car race.

On another side note........ Bob and I were watching the end of the USAC race from the pits. As we sat there, the 9 car came into pits on fire and stopped right in front of us. As soon as the driver jumped out of the car, I grabbed a fire extinguisher and jumped over the wall. As I got to him, a couple other guys had doused him with water. I then went to the car that was still on fire and started putting the fire out. This entire time I thinking, " where are the fire guys?" As I was spraying the car down, they showed up and finished the job. Thank God nobody was hurt!! God does protect and provide!!!!!!!

In Richmond!!!!!

Made it to Richmond safely today. Met up with a few crew guys walking through the garage area. Chapel services will be on Saturday afternoon this week since it is a Saturday night race.

God is good. My prayer this week is that I will follow the Holy Spirit's leading in everthing I think, say and do!!!! Please pray and may God bless you for your continued support!

Pray for the people in Iowa

Had a great race in Iowa yesterday. Due to some weather in Chicago, I did not get into Indy until early Monday morning. Had some interesting and very specific prayer requests with some guys on the grid. Had a request for their fueling process on a pit stop and had another request for a particular crew member that had a lung collapse earlier in the weekend. Obviously, I honored those requests. But the interesting part is these guys are seemingly more comfortable with prayers and asking for prayer. That is huge in this environment.

I also had an ESPN reporter come up to me right before the race to specifically to request me to pray with him before he went on the air. We prayed on pit road that Holy Spirit would lead and guide him that day. I cried shortly after that and thanked God for allowing me to serve Him in that way......

Also, pray for the people of Iowa. The floods have left damage to many of the fields and crops in that area.

Thanks again for all your monetary and prayerful support!!!!!!!

Iowa Update

Great Indy Lights race today. The Indy Car qualifying was rained out. Had great opportunities to talk with many of the Indy Lights guys prior to the race. I prayed with many of the teams on the grid before the race.

There was one team member in particular that wanted a "good luck" handshake from me....... While there is no such thing as "luck", the interesting part about that seemingly brief interaction was he is accepting of our (the IRL Ministry) presence there. That acceptance is what we need relationally to open doors to later to approach these guys about Christ.

Keep praying!!!!!!!

It's All about Jesus!

That is why I am here in Iowa. It is about telling others about Christ and encouraging believers. Give God the glory!

Met with Bill from Hope Ministries (www.hopeiowa.org) today and a couple of other people from that organization. They will be picking up the food from this weekend's race for their shelter. Had a great fellowship and prayer time with these guys! Also met and prayed with Bill the motorcoach driver. He is going through some tough personal times. Pray for Bill and his faith during this time.

We are having a 9:30 chapel tomorrow for the Indy Lights guys. Pray for the service and their race tomorrow.

Iowa on Friday

I leave for Iowa on Friday. I will be returning late Sunday night. Please pray again for connections with team members, drivers, and officials that I may be an effective minister of the Gospel of Christ!

More updates from the track!

Headin' Home!

We had two great chapel services this morning. The Holy Spirit was truly present! I had the opportunity to pray with many teams on both the Indy Lights and the Indy Car grid today. We had both shelters, the Family House of Milwaukee and St. Benedict's at the track to pick up food for their shelters. Special thanks to both of those organizations for their extra efforts (and trips to the track) on race day. I'll give an update in later blogs reporting the amount. We were able to provide over 150 lbs of soap and shampoo products to St. Ben's for their hygiene program!

I will not be going to the Texas race this weekend. This was not a planned race for me this season. I look forward to the upcoming race in Iowa. Continue to pray for traveling safety for all involved and that the ministry will continue to be effective in sharing Christ's love with others in this community!