What if....

While it was very unfortunate that Vision Racing closed its doors a few weeks ago, most of the guys in the Bible study have found new positions with other teams. Since that time, I have had multiple conversations with these guys to possibly start new studies at some of these different shops! Please pray that God will work the logistics of these studies and these shops!

What if.... we trust God and let Him work....

Another Shop Visit 3/8

I will be traveling to Minnesota Monday for another shop visit. Pray that my message and the ministry will be well received.! Also pray for safe travels! Thanks!

That "Prayer Thing" Really Works....

I was talking with one of the guys from Vision Racing that recently lost his job. He was really worried about finding a job, etc. in this tough racing economy. I told him I would be praying specifically for him and his job search. He called me a few days ago and said, "that prayer thing really works, doesn't it". I agreed! He went on to tell me about his new position with another IRL team. With the new job, he will not have to travel (a big deal in the racing community). I told him that we are always to trust God's plan....

Pray specifically. Pray expectantly. Prayer works. Give it a try! God is waiting to hear from you....

Faith and The Law, WHMB TV, Channel 40

I will be attending a taping of Faith and The Law on Monday, 2/22/10, which airs on Wednesdays at 12 noon EST on WHMB TV, Channel 40 to represent the IRL Ministry. This will be a great opportunity to share about the ministry and to share Christ using this platform. Pray for me that I would continue to be an effective witness for Christ!

I will post the day and time the show will be airing! Stay tuned!

Shop Visits on Monday

I will be making a couple USF2000 shop visits on Monday. This will be a good opportunity to get to meet and talk to the team owners and crew guys face to face. This will also give me an opportunity to introduce them to the IRL Ministry and what they can expect from us at the track.

Pray that the minstry is well recieved and the Holy Spirit leads and guides me. Blessings!

Vision Racing Suspending Operations

Please pray for the owner and employees of Vision Racing as it was announced this week that they were suspending operations. Pray that they will find employment quickly. We are currently thinking of ways that we can keep the Bible Study going that we had been holding in that shop.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100129/SPORTS0107/1290369

New Year - New Series - New Oppotunites!

Happy New Year! I had a great Christmas celebrating Christ's birth with family and friends!

God has great things in store for 2010! The Indy Racing League announced before the end of the year that they will be the sanctioning body for a new series called the USF2000!http://www.indycar.com/news/index.php?story_id=15545

This series will be a feeder series that is part of the "Road to Indy" . It will give younger drivers a path through the Mazda series and Indy Lights to one day complete in the Indy Car series.

I am also excited to announce that I will be the Chaplain for the USF2000 series! I will be traveling to all of their events to provide a ministry presence from the IRL Ministry. There will be Chapel services, prayer support, and critical incident support at all of the venues.

Please pray for me as I prepare for this new challenge! Thanks for all your support! See link below for the USF2000 website.


http://www.usf2000.com/

Jesus Pizza

There were layoffs at Vision Racing over the past couple weeks. This affected many people in the organization including a few guys in our weekly Bible study. I received a call from one of the guys at the shop and he told me that the remaining guys in the study really wanted to keep it going although the numbers may be down a bit. I agreed that even if one person shows up we will keep it going!!!

When I asked if we should formally "re-invite" everyone else in the shop, he told me they know the day, time, and location in the shop where we have the study. They call it "Jesus Pizza"!!! So they refer to us guys in the conference room has having pizza with Jesus!! That is sooo awesome! Take a stand for Christ!

Homestead Pics!

Below are a few pics from the Homestead race! Thanks for all your prayerful support!

Miami Homestead Update!!!

The last race of the season always brings a wave of different emotions for everyone. Some are worried about a championship, some are worried about finishing the race, some are worried about their jobs in the off season, and some are even worried about getting paid at all. This weekend there were many conversations that ran the gamut. I had a father asking for prayer for his son that needed brain surgery, a crew member worried about his mother's immanent death, a crew chief wanting prayer for his decisions, a team wanting a sponsor to keep the doors open, and God being praised for His protection and blessings.

Most Indy Lights drivers were receptive to prayer before yesterday's race. Some of the Indy Car teams I prayed with today expressed their sincere appreciation that we pray with them before their races. Some still walked away. The food this weekend was donated to the Miami Community Outreach - stay tuned for year end totals!

I saw the IRL photographer for the first time since I took him to the airport in Richmond, Va. when his mother was taken to a hospital in Indiana. He immediately stood up and gave me a huge hug. He was able to spend a few hours with his mother before she passed. He was extremely grateful for the coordination efforts and prayerful support he received from the IRL Ministry that weekend. We sometimes don't always see how God works in all situations. Today, I saw firsthand how God worked in this man's life that day.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Keep checking the blog for year end pics and food totals! God bless you all!

Homestead This Weekend!

Heading to Florida this Thursday for the last race of the year! We have an Indy Lights Chapel on Friday and two Chapel services and a mass on Saturday!

Pray that when people see us that they will see Christ in us! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Update from Chicago!

Wow... it was cold.... I thought this was August? Anyway, we have a good weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. We had both chapels outside in victory circle! Michelle Murray (http://www.myspace.com/michellemurraycom) sang for our services. Thanks to Michelle and her band for making that extra effort! Also thanks to Chicagoland Raceway Ministries for their help with the collection and distribution of the food to the less fortunate this weekend.

I had a number of guys share with me this weekend how they are seeing God moving and working in their lives. Trust and faith were the common themes in our discussions. One example was the crew member who lost his son last year to suicide. He shared a story of a man that came forward last week in their church service that would have never done that had it not been for his son's situation..... God heals... Another shared that God has provided him employment during the off season. He told me that God does provide; just like the Bible says about the birds of the air.... God cares..... And another that told me his mother went through a successful cancer surgery. "They got it all", he told me with enthusiasm. "Praise God", I replied, "Praise God!" God answers.....

As my wife accompanied me on the grid for team prayers prior to the races this weekend, she made an interesting observation. She said that the team members were "getting used" to Bob and me approaching their cars for prayer. If they see me coming, some even take the initiative to gather the team members! I heard comments like, "we need all the prayer we can get" and "time for church". There are still the individuals that walk away, but many others are accepting. Give God the credit and glory.........

How about you..... do you trust God? Do you have faith? Do you believe he cares? Are you "getting used" to having God present in your life? Or do you still just walk away?

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Practice, Quals, & Crashes

Pray for both Will Power and Nelson Phillipe as they were involved in a bad crash today at Infineon. Pray for healing and quick recovery form their injuries. Our Catholic chaplain, Father Phil, accompanied the families to the hospital today for support.

I connected with a few hospitality people that are dealing with family issues. Pray for these hurting people.

Our Chapels are at 8 & 9 tomorrow. Pray that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified!

Load in day at Infineon & Team Jesus!

While there was no track activity today, everyone was busy setting up the pits, getting tires mounted, etc. This gave me a lot of time to talk with many of the guys in the garage area. The one common thread was there are a lot of hurting, worried, tired, and burdened guys in the IRL community. Please pray for these crew members that are hurting. Some have a relationship with the Lord and others just need Jesus. All were reaching out.......

Also, special thanks to "Team Jesus"! (http://team-jesus-motorsports.com/) They are a Top Fuel drag race team that is also heavily involved in motorsports ministry at this track. They have a love for Christ that is motivating! They provided the camper for Bob to stay in at the track this weekend, a golf cart for our use at the track, and they will be distributing the food excess from this weekends race to local homeless shelters.

Stay tuned......... Blessings!!

A Broken Reading Light on the way to California!

Arrived safely today in California for this weekend's race in Sonoma. I started to do some reading on my flight our here and need a reading light.... No biggie, turn it on and adjust it... As I did, it fell off in my hands. Hmmm... Are they gonna charge me an extra piece of luggage or something for this, I wondered. I took it to the back galley and handed it to one of the two flight attendants standing back there.

One was reading a woman's devotional. I inquired about what she was reading..... We talked a few minutes and she began to share with me that today, when they landed in her home town of Phoenix, she was going to a home/hospital with her dog..... It is a special visitation ministry that uses animals..... She (and her dog) has had to go through alot of training to get to this point. Today was her first visit and she was excited, but nervous about it. God provided the opportunity for me to pray with her in the back galley of that 737 today. I prayed that God would bless her ministry and everything would go smoothly. Her name is Wendy. Pray for her ministry if God leads you to...

Also pray for the IRL Ministry. We have sold the motorcoach due to lack of funding. It will be used in Chicago for the last time. It sold quickly, so we are thankful to our God who provides in all circumstances for that. It will change the way we do things at the track, so pray we will adapt well....

More updates tomorrow! God Bless!

"It Takes a Special God"

Good practice and qualifications today.... Got everything ready to go for our 7:30 and 9:30 chapel services. Please pray that God would move on the hearts of those who need to attend and hear from Him! (I am also singing at tomorrow's chapels, so please pray for me!)

The hotel manager asked me if my team "won" today (she is not a big race fan). I quipped I told her I worked as a Chaplain for the league and explained a little bit of what we do. She replied, " wow, it must take a special person to do that"! I responded, "no, it just takes a special God".

God is special. God is good. Believe.

Mid-Ohio quote "Repent - You are a Sinner"

Arrived at the track this afternoon safely! We distributed Chapel flyers and soap collection boxes. During my trip thru the garage area, a talked with one crew member in particular that told me that "God was mad at him". I replied and told him that God is not mad at him..... He told me he loved God but has done things that would make God mad. I told him he just needed to accept God's grace and forgiveness through true repentance. He said, " I know all about that".

He held his wrist up at me. On one side it was tattooed "REPENT" then he turned it over and is was tattooed "YOU ARE A SINNER". I said, "wow"! You do know a little about repentance. I told him that once you've repented, you God forgives and forgets the sin. He got busy at that moment......

I told him if he wants to talk further about God's grace, give me a shout.... He said he would look me up.......

Pray. Examine. Repent. Accept. Praise.

Weepers, Chapels, and Races

All track activity was cancelled yesterday due to "weepers" on the track. Water from all the rain was coming up thru the cracks in the track. This gave us a lot of time to wander around talking to crew guys as they waited for the track to dry.

The Chapel services are today at 1:30 & 3:30. Pray that God will move in a mighty and powerful way! Both the Indy Lights race and the Indy Car race will be run today. Pray for the safety of the crews, officials, and drivers!

Thanks for your support & may God continue to bless you!

In Kentucky - Pray for Chris!

I am in Kentucky and getting ready to head to the track in a little bit. This is a Saturday night race so they will be practicing at night as well. Pray for safe practice and qualifying sessions today!

Also pray for Chris at Vision Racing. Chris went down in the shop last week with heart failure. They were able to revive him and took him to CCU at St. Vincents. When I saw him last Saturday, he was on ventilators and feeding tubes and not breathing on his own. Yesterday, when I stopped by, he was talking to me and joking around! Praise God! I had a neat time of conversation and prayer with his family. We all held hands around his bed yesterday and gave God the thanks and glory!

Give God the thanks and glory today!

My next race will be Kentucky!!!!

Pray for Bob and Hunter as they travel to Edmonton this weekend to provide coverage for that race. Pray for safe travels and that they will be effective witnesses for Christ! August will be busy with 4 races in 5 weekends! Look for updates from the track!!! God is good! Stay faithful!