Feb
15
Dear Wee Baby Jesus Baby, Please Help Guide Me Through the Big One
February 15, 2007 | Posted by VroomDude
All you splash-n-go Christians be forewarned, you’re officially on notice:
The near-400 parishioners in attendance Sunday morning at Grace Fellowship near Athens sat and watched as a group of teens scurried toward the altar with a fuel can, racing tires, a jack, racing flags and a Nextel Cup-shaped trophy.
The illustrative idea was hatched by 38-year-old pastor Tony Vismor, an avid NASCAR fan since the early 1990s, who was off-and-running in his own race to launch a two-sermon series chock full of auto racing and spiritual analogies.
“As a minister, I’m always looking for creative ways to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Vismor, whose timing was intentionally set to coincide with the stock car portion of Speedweeks at Daytona Beach and Sunday’s Daytona 500. “And so I began to think, ‘How can I use NASCAR, which is such a popular attraction to so many people?’ And what are some things that we can pull out of there that may give us some keys to spiritual truth that we can associate?”
Based on the first verse in chapter 12 of the Book of Hebrews, “The Race Before Us” sermon was an attempt by Vismor to connect the dots between qualifying, hard racing, pit stops and drafting as it relates to the daily lives of Christians.
I guess if you have to go to church, it might as well be one with a NASCAR-obsessed pastor. Maybe he can bang all the scofflaws (yeah, I’m looking at you Mr. Waltrip, Mr. Kahne, Mr. Kenseth, Mr. Riggs, and Mr. Sadler) on the forehead and sprinkle some water on them and exorcise all those cheating demons once and for all.