Wow! What a season!

Awesome day today! We had Chapel services in Victory Circle this morning. God gave us an awesome day! We had Andy Schroeder and his family providing the special music. Andy is from my home church, Indian Creek Christian Church (www.thecreek.org). Special thanks to Andy! Jim Evans from Windy City Raceway Ministries (www.wcrm.net) coordinated the food pickup from Morningstar Mission in Joliet (www.morningstarmission.org). We had a great time of prayer before they took the final shipment tonight!

We had a great prayer time with the teams on the grid. I had the opportunity to prayer with some of the safety workers and officials prior to the race. I also had a chance to talk to Len today. Len is the guy who wants to convert me "the other way". I just offered to have the conversation with him at sometime and gave him one of our Racing Daily Bread books. to look over. God will take it form here or provide another opportunity at a later date.

We will have a food ministry updates soon. I will list all the donation weight and locations. Continue to pray for the upcoming study at Vision Racing. Thank you all for your prayers and support this year! Check back for regular updates!

Chicagoland Speedway

Had a good day of practice and qualifying today. I had an opportunity to talk to one of the chef's about his parents who are both suffering from cancer. He has kinda resolved that "whatever happens, happens". I told him that we can pray and it is the kind of faith that the woman that touched Jesus' cloak had when Jesus healed her. He replied that he would think about that and like that way of thinking. Neat time of sharing.......

Also had some time with the crew member who lost his son a few weeks ago. He seemed to be doing better. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

We have a few food pickup logistical problems today. Pray for those to be smoothed out tomorrow. Also pray for our services tomorrow!

God's Plan, Not Ours!

We had a good race yesterday and great Chapel services. The musicians that played for us played jazz Christian music with a piano and a sax... Pretty cool sounds.... We had Chaplain Bob Lewis from the National Guard accompanied us the past couple days. It was awesome to have him there with us. He wanted to help where ever he could. He went with us on the grid for prayer with the teams. He prayed with the Panther Racing, National Guard sponsored team. It was a neat moment!

We had good prayer time with the teams. As the season progresses, they seem to be more and more responsive. It is exiting. I had one guy tell me they wanted me to "bless the car" because ti was cursed. I had another guy approach me after they had crashed out of the race. He said, " I thought you prayed for our team." I responded gently, " sometimes God's plans are necessarily our plans." He agreed and said.... good point..

One race to go one my schedule. Chicagoland Speedway next weekend. Pray we will continue to share Christ. Pray for these crew guys as they are tired. Pray for Chaplain Lewis and all our troops. Pray to do God's plan, not ours. Pray!

Day 2 - Belle Isle

I got the musicians for Chapel all hooked up with credentials, etc. We had a safe practice and qualifying session today.

I had a few neat conversations today with team members and support staff. These relations are important to being able to share Christ with them. I pray that my work today was pleasing to God as I shared Christ's love. One of the team guys, Kevin, was notified that his baby daughter has a brain condition that causes one side of her body to function properly. Pray for him and his family as they work through this tough situation....

Detroit Belle Isle Update

Busy day today..... I met with the reps from Detroit Rescue Mission (www.drmm.org). We had a little communication mix up this weekend about the food pickup. So, we literally called these guys today to see if they were available to do the pickup Sunday night. Not only did they say yes, they were at the track within 15 minutes of my call to check out the trailer location and figure out their route into the track. Pray for this mission.... They serve over 1500 meals per day!

Ran into a couple guys from Larry's team. Larry is the crew member who lost his son last weekend. I assured they guys that we are praying for them and Larry. They are still a bit shaken, so keep praying. Please.

This street circuit made from existing streets on the island. It is fan friendly track with lots to see and do. The view of the Detroit and Canada skylines are pretty cool. It is a little tough to do credentials, shuttle people in, and get to our trailer outside the track. Pray that we get the musician logistics worked out tomorrow. This could be a challenge with limited parking, etc.

I am a bit tired. Pray for physical strength and patience working through some of the details of this weekend.... Thanks for your support! More updates tomorrow!

DIZMAS!!!!!!

What an awesome day today! What an awesome God we serve! We had 2 great, well attended Chapel services today with the special music provided by the group DIZMAS (www. dizmas.com). These guys are the real deal. They love Jesus and love to sing his praises. It was a pleasure meeting them today and hanging out a bit. This was their first ever Indy Car race, so they were lovin' every minute! Check these guys out on their website and on You Tube. Pray for these guys as they tour the world singing about Christ's love for all of us!

We had great prayer time with the teams and drivers today. The Indy Lights race was a bit rushed again, but we got to all the drivers before they took off! Most of the prayers were with the drivers in the cockpit.... God always provides a way. The Indy Car prayer time was especially special with the Dreyer Reinbold teams, as we lifted up their teammate who lost his son this week. Continue to pray for these guys....

I also had neat time in prayer with a IRL pit lane official and an ESPN reporter prior to the race. I also sent DISMAS off with a prayer before they traveled back home. We formed a circle in the pits and prayed amidst all the Indy Car engines roaring by.... The next race is Detroit. Pray for me as it will be another short week at my "day job".

God bless you all!!!!!

Sonoma Update - Saturday

Had a good Indy Lights race today. It was a bit hurried before the race, so Bob and I worked our way through the grid praying with the drivers as they were getting in their cars. I prayed with one driver walking down the grid on his way to his car, another driver as she was sitting in her car, and yet another driver as he was putting on his helmet. I had one driver that refused to pray, but all others were eager for the divine help!

We have one Indy Lights and the Indy Car race tomorrow. We have 2 chapels and 1 mass in the morning. People coming in, credentials, etc. Pray that we will stay focused on God's work, not man's. As always, God Bless you all for praying.

God's Plan

Met with the Team Jesus Motorsports (teamjesusmotorsports.net) people today. They will be coordinating the food pick up and delivery this weekend. Special thanks to their help!

We had a tragedy today with one of the Indy Car team members. He was notified this morning that his son had died overnight back in Indianapolis. Bob met with him for a little while after the notification and his team manager immediately made arrangements for him to be flown back to Indy. I drove him from the track back to his hotel and then to the airport to catch his flight. We sometimes never know why some things happen. We need to continually trust God in all situations. Keep the faith. Pray without ceasing. Know that God will never leave us or forsake us.
Pray for this team member that God will provide, heal, comfort, and be present in this difficult time.

Sunny in Sonoma

Made it safely to Sonoma. It is beautiful country that God made out here! A little more hilly that Indiana! The ministry motorcoach is not here this weekend (due to fuel prices). So we are a bit out of our element. I believe God will provide everything we need this weekend. Pray that we can focus on the people and not on "stuff". Tomorrow we are meeting with the track's Raceway Ministries that will be coordinating the food pick up and they are going to let us borrow a golf cart! Keep prayin'!

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!