Paddock Pastor: How Tim Stewart Found His Calling in Motorsports Ministry

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder what’s How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: The following episode is brought to you by SRO Motorsports America and their partners at AWS, CrowdStrike, Fanatec, Pirelli, and the Skip Barber Racing School. Be sure to follow all the racing action by visiting www.sromotorsports.comortakeashortcuttogtamerica.us And be sure to follow them on social at GT America, on Twitter and Instagram at SRO GT America on Facebook and catch live coverage of the races on their YouTube channel.

At GT World. [00:01:00] Invariably, on Sunday mornings, many of us joke that being at the track is like being at church. The holy trinity of duct tape, zip ties, and petrol is how we do the sign of the cross. In reality, many of us forget that there are many motorsports complexes that have churches on site, and many others have chaplains in presence.

And with us this weekend as part of SRO GT America, we’re delighted to be talking with Pastor Tim Stewart for Motorsports Ministries about what he does here as part of the larger motorsports community. So Tim, we want to welcome you to Break Fix to tell us a little bit about what Motorsports Ministries is and how you got involved in all this.

Oh, wow.

Pastor Tim Stewart: Yeah, that’s a good story. I’m no redneck stock car guy. I mean that in a wonderful sort of way. I’m from Bristol, 220 miles due west of where we’re sitting in southwest Virginia. Bristol Motor Speedway was, uh, built in, like, 1960. And my dad came home from work one night and he called me Bud. Said, Bud, you want to go to that race out [00:02:00] at the speedway this coming Sunday?

I said, well, yeah. And so we went. and I got hooked. We left that racetrack that day in 1960. And I had, I was a fan forever of a fellow named Richard Petty. And my daddy was a fan forever of a fellow named Junior Johnson. Y’all remember Junior Johnson? And so it was stock cars with a smattering of drag racing because five years later, they built Bristol Dragway, which is where they’re having the NHRA Nationals this very weekend.

And then I would watch some sports car racing on TV. But again, this is back in the sixties and TV coverage of things was not what it is today. Fast forward a bunch of years to 1994 and my wife and I are at the summertime race in Daytona. It’s gone through different iterations of names. I still remember it as the firecracker 400.

We were there. NASCAR is called pit passes. We had scored pit passes somehow or the other or garage passes as opposed to here where it’s paddock. We went. And it was hot. It was hotter than it was as hot as it was here. Two days ago, we were [00:03:00] walking around in the garage area. We got some water sat down under this tent, and I was a fan of all things NASCAR.

And I recognized a man who was sitting at that table. Think he’s still with us. I’m not sure. Max Helton and Max Helton was the founding chaplain. I’m the chaplain of MRO, Motor Racing Outreach, which does the chaplain, uh, chapel stuff in, in NASCAR. And so I’m not a shy person, so I introduced myself and we chatted, and he invited us to chapel the next day.

Well, anybody could go to chapel, but he said, just come and see what we do. And so race weekend is over, my wife and I are driving back home. We live in Florida, so it was only a four hour drive. We’re driving back home, and I said, how in the world does one get a gig like that? To marry two things. I love being a minister of the gospel and being able to do ministry with people and motor sports.

1994. Fast forward to 20 19, 25 years later, I was at Sebring. That’s kinda my home track. It’s only an hour and 20 minutes away. And so I was at Sebring for the 12 hour and I went down to the Motorsport Ministry’s tent where they have a silent auction that [00:04:00] that’s a big fundraiser for us every year, every non covid year.

And so I went down there to see Terry Borella. Backup just a little bit to 2001. There was a man in our church. I was the pastor of a, believe it or not, burnt store, Presbyterian church in Punta Gorda, Florida. And two of our members were Charlie and Anne Earwood. People listening to this podcast will be familiar with the Earwood name.

Charlie and Ann, they had two sons. One son is named Terry Earwood, who is name is ubiquitous throughout the motorsports world, not just sports car racing. And then Steve Earwood, Terry’s brother, Steve owns the Rockingham, North Carolina drag strip. And so Charlie invited me to Sebring in 2001. He said, come over as my guest.

And I had, you know, stuff to wear around my neck and could go anywhere. It was brand new to me. I mean, I was a virgin and I was just looking at stuff and I saw the baddest looking race car I’d ever seen in my life. The number 26 Saleen S7R, driven by Franz Conrad and Oliver Gavin and Terry Borcheller.

And so when I went back [00:05:00] up to Charlie to see him throughout the day, I told him about that car. And he said, one of the drivers is a fellow named Terry Borcheller and he’s a very devout Christian. And I said, well, this is cool. I have a favorite car and a favorite driver. And so I was a fan of that car and of that driver.

Fast forward to 2004. I went over for Thursday night practice. I enjoyed doing that. I’d drive over and drive back. Like I said, it wasn’t a long drive, and it was kind of rainy, and I had an umbrella, and I saw the number 63 Simcoe Saleen that Terry was driving, and they were aiming the headlights or something like that, and Terry was walking around, and I walked up to him, and maybe he stopped and chatted with me because I had an umbrella, and it was raining, and he didn’t have an umbrella, but not really.

He’s a nice man. And I introduced myself and we met each other then 2004 in 2007, he preached at a Saturday night worship service at the church. I served in Punta Gorda and our fandom became an acquaintance, which became a friendship. And of course we were all along brothers in Christ without even knowing [00:06:00] each other because that’s the way the Christian family works.

And so I would see and chat with Terry from time to time about stuff back to 2019 Sebring. I walked down to the tent to see Terry, gave him a hug. How are you doing? He asked me, what are you retiring? I said, well, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s coming up pretty quickly. Why? And he said, I want you to come and be a chaplain with Motorsports Ministries.

And I said, can we talk about that? And what do we do next? And so we’ve carved out some time. What do we do next is why don’t you go with me to a race and then you’ll do a race by yourself and see if it works out. In other words, see if you like it and see if we like you. That’s life. And so we went to Watkins Glen in 2019.

That’s where I met Tom Dyer. And there was a hurricane. Well, I can’t remember the name of that hurricane. Doreen, I believe it was. Something like that. Yeah, it was bearing down on Florida. Terry’s flight on Sunday was canceled, so he had to fly out on Saturday. Well, we were going to do Chapel on Sunday.

Terry said, I’ve got to go home. You’ve got to [00:07:00] take me to the airport because I’ve got to get home. And it’s your baby now. And I appreciated the trust. That meant a heck of a lot to me. I was going to do Chapel anyway, just because that was going to be my maiden voyage, and he would be there, et cetera, et cetera.

And then the second race I did by myself, and that was at the Road America. And then of course, uh, then 2020, Daytona was wonderful. And then I went to St. Petersburg for our SRO race and the GT4 cars were on track and about 20 minutes into their session, the world stopped, the race was canceled, track went silent and everybody go home.

That’s not exactly the way they put it. We kept racing that year. So I did the COVID year and I did 2021 and here I am now. And so anyway, was God married those, you know, I told my sweet wife, Karen, how does a person get a gig like that? I guess just pray and be patient. And it took God a while, you know, 25 years, but God made it happen.

And here I am getting to do something that I love to do ministry and [00:08:00] motorsports. That’s my story. And I’m sticking to it.

Crew Chief Eric: So listeners, if you’ve been to many races, you’re probably familiar with the fact that at the opening ceremonies of many of the events, Especially the larger events. There’s always some sort of dedication by a pastor.

You look at things like petite Lamont or the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500. There’s always some sort of short little service or blessing to the entire crowd, to the drivers, et cetera. I’m assuming that’s just one of your responsibilities here at SRO. So what do they have you doing throughout the weekend while you’re here?

Pastor Tim Stewart: Let me say two things. One, we don’t have. invocation, a prayer at the beginning of our SRO races out on the racetrack. We don’t do that. And two, Motorsports Ministries is not a part of SRO. SRO is a gracious, gracious host for us. And they support us. And they welcome us. I’m not in a position, and neither is Motorsports Ministries, to say we’re going to have an invocation before the start of each race.

Who are we to say something like that? And so we don’t. Interestingly, there’s another sports car [00:09:00] racing series in our great nation that does have an invocation before that. And I’ll go to another venue this summer as I did last year, and I will pray there will be the presentation of the colors and the Star Spangled Banner performed somehow or the other, either by instrumentally or someone will sing it, and then there will be an invocation and a prayer, and I was invited to do that in another venue in another.

in our great nation. It’s a wonderful observation and a great question to which I don’t have an answer with respect to our SRO series because we don’t do that yet every single race.

Crew Chief Eric: So let’s speak in generalities. What does a motorsports chap do? Yeah. Let’s say, you know, across all the different disciplines of motorsports, I’m sure you’re busy every weekend with different organizations at different tracks.

So What are your responsibilities?

Pastor Tim Stewart: Yeah, well, there’s some time at home doing stuff, and that’s preparing a chapel service, deciding what I want to do. Then there are logistical things that need to be done. Where and when is chapel going to be? We were fortunate this weekend, as I [00:10:00] mentioned, I got to pray at the beginning of the driver’s meetings, and that’s where we talk, yeah.

I got to mention the when and the where and tell everybody about them, which was fantastic. And then to advertise. I, you know, a lot of people resist using that word with respect to things, uh, ecclesiastical things to do with the church, but it is advertising. If I know ahead of time, when and where I can make these wonderful four color posters and put them out.

And I only had one poster this time and it’s between the men’s room and the women’s room over there. Well, but that’s a good spot because everybody’s going to, so many of the fans are going to see it. Now that’s for the fan to reach out to them and let them know. Yeah. Cool. for the people on the inside. I mean, the drivers and the crews and all that stuff.

I have mentioned it, like I said, three times at driver’s meetings, but also we have this wonderful app. Do you have the SRO MA GT America app on your phone? And it’s wonderful because, and it’s free at the Apple store. So I don’t think I’m giving away a, you know, a trade secret or anything. And you get all the notifications.

You know, you see who’s in trouble, and you get a picture of the penalty, you know, Tim [00:11:00] Stewart got a penalty for causing a red flag or something. And so, I’d use it very judiciously, but I’d take a, a JPEG of the poster that I’m going to put out, make it the right size so it’ll fit into the window on that app, and then send it out.

So everybody who receives all that other information receives a color poster of when and where our chapel’s going to be. So that’s how I get the word out. At the racetrack, when I get to the racetrack. If I have posters to distribute, I’ll do that like on a Thursday night or early Friday morning and just walk around and meet people and talk to people.

A lot of the ministry is personal, relational ministry to see with people. It’s neat. It’s gratifying to be asked out in the paddock when I’m walking around to a pastor coming or Tim, I like Tim. Tim, it’s worked for 69 years, so I prefer Tim. Tim, come and pray with us, and I love to do that. I’ll walk on the grid, you know, and I’ll just look at drivers and give them a thumbs up and say hi.

You know, I don’t want to be in anybody’s way. I get it. They’re in their office, they’re working, and so I want to treat that in the right way. I pay attention at the [00:12:00] race, and when the track goes silent, we either have a yellow flag or, worse, a red flag. And so at that point, I begin to focus my attention on the medical center.

Sidebar, I’m going to try to see if my old Bearcat scanner that I took to NASCAR races, bring it here and let the fellas at the Racing Electronics trailer see if I can listen to the race control. And that way I’ll know if there’s someone being transported to the medical center. But pretty much now, you know, you can see the lights, you know, it’s easy.

And so I go to the medical center and see if, uh, I’m wanted or needed. I was there three times yesterday because we had people who were take the obligatory ride over to the medical center. So I do that. And again, it’s just a ministry of presence and being with people and making myself and what I do available.

Crew Chief Brad: You mentioned The advertising, you advertise, you put it in the app, which means the general audience can see it if they have access to the app, as well as the drivers, because you’re also in the drivers meeting. Is there a separate [00:13:00] service for the audience? Absolutely not. No,

Pastor Tim Stewart: no, it’s one service for, and in fact, on the bottom of the bill.

poster. It says everyone is invited. It says it’s a non denominational. I have a denominational affiliation. I prefer interdenominational service, but everybody knows what we mean by non denominational. And so, yeah, that everybody’s invited. Everybody’s invited.

Crew Chief Eric: Going back to the medical center scenario that you painted there.

Pastor Tim Stewart: Yeah.

Crew Chief Eric: For those that are unfamiliar with the Christian faith, that’s to be there in case you need to do last rites or laying on of hands or anything like that.

Pastor Tim Stewart: Protestants don’t do that, but we affirm two sacraments. In the Protestant Church, to only be real specific, in our Presbyterian Church. And it’s, uh, the sacrament of baptism, whether it’s an infant or an adult, and the sacrament of Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, whatever language people want to use.

That’s it. So we don’t have the unction at the end of life. We don’t do that. You know, I’m not burning on that. I’m just saying, no, I just go to see [00:14:00] if someone wants a prayer. My boss, Terry Borcheller, told me, I’ve used this line a hundred times, and it’s absolutely true. He said, Tim, if you go to the medical center, and the drivers, or the driver, are, or is, okay, all you’re going to find is an angry driver.

And you know, he’s about right. There’s someone I saw yesterday, and I pulled out that story, and the driver, and I said, So, I called the driver by the driver’s first name, and said, Are you angry? And the driver said, Well, yeah. But I’m angry at what happened. I’m angry at whatever this driver meant by that.

But then there are some times that I see someone who, you know, I said, would you like to have a prayer? And so, yeah, absolutely. And so it’s that driver and I praying that before family has come in and the medical people. It’s very gratifying to see them fall silent. Sometimes they will bow their heads and close their eyes, not necessary, but they’ll do that.

But in other words, there is still some respect, even in this day and age of clergy difficulties and clergy getting sideways with the [00:15:00] law and with the law of God. You know, there’s still a wonderful respect that I see for. The church, not me, not Motorsports Ministry, not the Presbyterian Church, but the Church of Jesus Christ, and that’s a good thing.

Crew Chief Eric: So Motorsports Ministries itself is comprised of a collection of different clergy from different backgrounds as well?

Pastor Tim Stewart: Yes and no. We have several different chaplains. Some are clergy and some are not. I’m one of the few. Motorsports Ministries was the brainchild of the late Richard Anderson. Richard died a few years ago.

Terry Borcheller was a chaplain with Motorsports Ministries. And of course on the weekends he wore, to be cliche, he wore a cap and a helmet. You know, he was a chaplain and he was also out there, you know, battling it out on the racetrack. And when Richard died, we have a board of directors. The decision was to ask Terry, if Terry would consider if Terry would be the president of motorsports ministries.

And he said, yes, of course, that’s a lot more obligation, but Terry wasn’t racing as much as he was [00:16:00] in prior years. That’s the Genesis and the current situation with motorsports ministries. And it’s motorsports ministries address. Is Terry’s house and then in Vero beach.

Crew Chief Eric: So if there are other members of the clergy, priests, pastors, et cetera, that would be interested in doing what you did, you know, combining their passions, maybe they do have a background in motor sport or they’re retired.

They’re looking for something new to do. Are there opportunities to join up with motor sports ministry? Eric,

Pastor Tim Stewart: that’s above my pay level. I don’t know the answer to that. Certainly a call to or a communication with Terry Borcheller.

Crew Chief Brad: So if people wanted to find out more about Motorsports Ministries, do you all have like a social media or a website or anything like that where someone could go to find more information?

Pastor Tim Stewart: No, our website has been in the oven for many months now and again, I don’t want to veer outside my lane, but no, but no, we have a Facebook presence and we don’t do any other social media. Terry’s racing this [00:17:00] weekend. My boss. Yeah. Terry’s driving the number 21, uh, super in GT four and his co driver is Nick Shanny.

Yeah. Terry’s out there. Not right this minute, but he’s out there on the racetrack.

Crew Chief Brad: So you talk about your love for motor sports, always downs to stock car and drag racing. Have you ever had any aspirations of being a driver or is it just for the love of cars in general?

Pastor Tim Stewart: That’s a good question. I had the privilege of doing skip barber racing school twice.

I did the elementary school, what the beginning school. And I did the advanced school. I did both of them on the high banks of the Daytona International Speedway. Our first school, we were able to use the full 24 hour course. When I went back for the second school, we were doing it at the same time that NASCAR was testing.

And so I can legitimately say, That, yeah, I was driving a race car on track the same time Jeff Gordon was. But of course, we’re in the infield, just in the infield course, and I’d be driving in the infield, looking up on the high bank, and there goes number 24, the rainbow car. And so, uh, I like to tell people that [00:18:00] when my Skid Barber experience was all said and done, my instructors told me not to quit my day job.

No, I have no aspirations because I don’t have the chops to do that. I don’t have the gifts. I have the love, but I don’t have the gifts. But I have to admit that after finishing the Skip Barber school and I live in Florida, so we don’t have a lot of twisty roads, but today coming from the hotel to the racetrack in the past three days, doing that, I kind of look for apexes.

But the thing is, you can’t, you know, it’s talking about staying in your lane. You kind of got to do that because there might be somebody coming the other way. But no, no aspirations, and I’m not a gearhead. I have a neat little Audi TT that has some aftermarket stuff under the hood. My wife bought that car for me and gave that car to me.

It’s an old Audi. It has been tweaked by a company called APR. You know APR? Okay, it’s got some APR. It’s got a stage 3 kit and, uh, I can say those things. Mine makes 396 horsepower. She is a demon. And it’s wonderful. I’m an old man and someone said, have you taken it to the racetrack for one of those track days?

No, because my car is 18 years old. It’s a 2004 [00:19:00] car and that means everything’s 18 years old. To go to Sebring and to drive and to go down the Alderman Strait and no one’s gonna be driving that without the accelerator matted and go down from 16 to 17 and the race car drivers I’ve talked to say no one has ever gotten turn 17 right.

Ever! Ever. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but imagine going into turn 17, it’s a right hander and the front suspension give way on that old car. Who knows what could happen? You know, the car has no roll cage, no protective stuff. So no, no, that would not be wise on my part to do something like that. So long answer to a short question, but I tend to do that.

Crew Chief Eric: So you mentioned before your boss, Terry is here. He’s running as part of the SRA motor sports weekend. So he doesn’t have you turning wrenches in the paddock, huh?

Pastor Tim Stewart: Oh my word. No.

Crew Chief Eric: No. Since you brought it up many times before, what’s the connection to Audi? What gets you excited about that? How did you get into that?

I know how I got into Audis growing up in a VW Porsche Audi family and watching Group B [00:20:00] rally and things like that as a kid. So where’s your connection? You know,

Pastor Tim Stewart: that’s a, that’s a good question. When Audis were ruling the roost, Alan McNish, and Dindo Capello, and Mr. Lamont, Tom Christensen. Yeah, back in those days, I was kind of thinking, man, this car wins everything.

You know, kind of like the Green Bay Packers won everything, and the Jeff Gordon wins everything. You know, there’s sometimes a kind of animus that can be built up against that. But then, I don’t know exactly what the deal was, except that we bought an Audi. We used to have just two door cars. And so we bought an adult car, and it was an Acura, and we sold that to our child, and bought an Audi, an A6, and it was a 2014, we didn’t buy it new, but anyway, so I became an Audi owner, so that probably was it, and then there’s this place in Port Charlotte, Florida, called Avenue Garage, they’re the best in the world, and that’s where we have had our cars serviced for 15 years, maybe 20 years, and the owner, Kurt, amazing black Audi TT coupe, not a [00:21:00] convertible.

I’m not a convertible guy. And every time I’d go, I’d say, is that all broke down Audi for sale yet? And he would always say no. But this one time I went to get my car service. I asked him that he said, well, yeah. And so we talked about it. Long story short, he said, make an offer. I did. I didn’t hear from him.

So I figured he had decided not to do it because he had added all that APR stuff. It was kind of his baby. I didn’t know that my wife had involved herself in the conversation. And so on Christmas day, 2012, we had guests at, you know, two or three o’clock or something. And so I helped clean up. I was doing dishes.

And my wife went outside, and she came back in and she said, Tim, can you come show me how to turn the Christmas lights on outside? I remember saying, OK, sweetheart, I’ll be right there. She remembers me saying something like, Can’t you see I’m washing the dishes? She was probably right. Anyway, I went outside and in our driveway was that Audi with a big red bow, you know, like [00:22:00] 18 inch bow on the windshield.

She bought that car and gave it to me. You know, it’s just, it just went from there. And then so I’ve watched races. I’m an Audi owner. So guess what? I’m an Audi and now Audi’s, you know, is exiting. The sports car world, I understand. I’m not talking about the LMDH stuff and all that kind of thing. Supercars and whatever.

I’m talking about GT cars. And of course, we don’t have any. We have a few. There’s Tom, you know, the car number 930. Big Audi found. I don’t know why. We’re members of this little Audi club in our part of the world. And go to Audi dealerships and get a swag bag and some information about new cars that are coming out.

Okay,

Crew Chief Brad: so if you could be a chaplain at any track, what would For the weekend, spend the weekend at any, any of these amazing tracks that we’ve got around the world. Where would you do service?

Pastor Tim Stewart: You know, that’s a wonderful question. I’m the most boring person in the world. Just ask my wife, we’ll do something.

She said, well, you’re no fun. I said, sweetheart, I told you that 30 years ago. My needs are so easily met, but the bucket list, [00:23:00] the real answer should be something like spa or Lamont or the Nürburgring,

Crew Chief Brad: boy, that’s it.

Pastor Tim Stewart: I’m way too open with people. I have a fear of flying. There’s not a chance in this world.

I’d get on an airplane and fly across the ocean. And that’s a horrible thing for a person of faith to admit shame on me. But flying, you know, my wife will say, you know, when it’s coming up on a race weekend and I’m packing, she’ll say, you excited about going, I’ll say, no, I’m not excited about going or coming, but I’m excited as heck about being there.

So, my need is, my bucket list need is met. You know what my bucket list would be? I’ll tell you what it would be. It would be to have this room full of people for a chapel service. That’s it right there. Irrespective of the venue, to have a room full of people for a chapel service. That would be the coolest thing.

It’s not about numbers, I don’t mean to imply that, but it would be cool.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, on that note, Pastor Tim, it has been an absolute pleasure to get This side of motor sports sometimes [00:24:00] overlooked, but it’s part of the larger ecosystem here. Sometimes, you know, the big Rue Goldberg machine that makes these weekends successful, right?

There’s so many different pieces and facets to the motor sport weekend, and you’re one of those. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you about your corner of the motor sports world, what you’re doing with motor sports ministries. And we can’t thank you enough for coming on the show. It’s been a

Pastor Tim Stewart: pleasure.

An absolute pleasure. Thank you guys. This was fun.

Crew Chief Eric: Thank you.

For those of you still tuned into this episode, we want to first thank you for your continued support and let you know that in the second half of this episode, we have a live in service recording from one of Pastor Tim’s Motorsports Ministries Sunday morning meetings for worship. Understanding that our listeners come from different faith communities and backgrounds, you have the option to stop listening now as you’ve already reviewed the majority of the content for this episode.

But we also invite you to stick around and sample what a Sunday service is like trackside. Please note that the service [00:25:00] will commence momentarily. Good

Pastor Tim Stewart: morning. Good morning. Clock is not ticking yet. And so what I normally do, well, of course, it doesn’t matter. Got a mic on. I sit out here with the folks, you know, if we had a room full of people. Morning. Remember the old churches that had that wooden rail across the, before the, the front pew? Remember that?

That’s called a privacy rail. And so people kind of liked it. Yeah. I thought it was a kneeling rail. Oh, no, no, no. It’s, it’s just, it’s like a fence, like a wall, like a wall, yeah. And then behind that is a kneeling rail, of course, at every pew, at every row. You know, when we ordain and install people in our church as officers, if they’ve never been ordained before, they kneel and we lay on hands and pray over them.

And I tell them, you know, if your doctor says you have no business kneeling, don’t [00:26:00] do it. But if you do want to kneel, we’ve got some people right here to help you get you back up. Non linear digital audio editing, right? Is that what it’s called? So you can put it all, yeah. Remember the days before that when you had to actually, no, you guys are too young.

People had to cut tape and, and, er, yeah. Yes it is. This may be us, but that’s okay. Let’s have a prayer. Gracious Lord. Thank you for this gorgeous day. Holy smokes. What happened overnight? It’s uh, not chilly, but comparatively speaking it is but we thank you for that. What a breath of fresh air So be with the folks today.

Oh God as we enjoy ourselves. We have people here who are spectators coming for fun And we have people whose business this is and everything in between. So I pray that you would protect anyone, oh God, who is here for whatever reason. May we have a good time, a good fellowship. May, uh, people meet other people whom they’ve not met before and begin at least an acquaintance.

Who knows? Maybe even things like that will blossom into a friendship and that’s a good thing. Oh, thank you for the opportunity to set apart a few minutes and have a Christian chapel [00:27:00] service. Thank you, oh God. Thank you for the fellows, oh God, who are here to help promote GT racing and even this particular flavor of GT racing that we’re doing this weekend.

Bless us and keep us, oh Lord. Cause your face to smile on us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Are you guys going to stay for a communion? If you have time. So the answer is yes, if you have time. All right, then let’s get her going. I wanted to do just a devotion that had relativity with respect to communion.

There’s a great story. Think back to Easter day, Jesus has been raised from the dead and people are excited and some people have actually seen him on all that sort of thing. Sometimes. We read scripture and just let the scripture speak to us without having to say a whole lot about it. I may say a thing or two, but listen to this wonderful story from the gospel of Luke.

It’s the story of the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus. And so here, listen to the word of the Lord. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they didn’t find the [00:28:00] body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee?

The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. Ah, then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven disciples. Eleven? I thought there were twelve. Yeah, Judas is dead. That’s exactly right.

Judas is dead. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the others with him who told this to the apostles. But they, the apostles, didn’t believe the women. Imagine that. Because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Imagine that. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away wondering to himself, what in the world has happened?

Now, on that same day, this is still Easter day, uh, [00:29:00] two of them, now we’re not talking about two of Jesus eleven disciples, we’re just talking about two other followers. Two were going to a village called Emmaus, which is about seven miles from Jerusalem. They’re walking, seven miles, they’ve been in Jerusalem and they’re walking home, okay?

They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. If Jesus were a Southern boy like him, he’d say, Hey, y’all wait up a minute. And so Jesus caught up with him and walked, but they didn’t know who he was.

Interestingly, the scripture says they were kept. From recognizing him, some will say that it was the Lord God who was keeping them from recognizing him until the right time. Some say just in their grief that sort of clouded their understanding and they were just so burdened with grief that they were kept from recognizing him because of that.

I go with the former, frankly. Jesus asked them, what are you discussing as you walk along? And they [00:30:00] stopped dead in their tracks, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened in these last days? What things Jesus asked?

Jesus is just, you know, setting the hook. What things Jesus asked? About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death. And they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

And what is more, it’s the third day since all of this took place. What’s important about that? But Jesus had said, you know, destroy this temple and three days later. And so they knew something about three days, but it’s been three days. It’s Sunday, it’s Easter Sunday. To their knowledge, nothing has happened because they weren’t, you know, a part of the people in Jerusalem who were able to witness the Lord.

They continue. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision [00:31:00] of angels who said that he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, but they did not find Jesus.

The companions were, of course, Peter and John. And John talks about, in his gospel, about running toward the tomb. Peter set out first, and John followed, and John got to the tomb. Remember what he did? He bent down and he looked in. But Peter, the impetuous one, when he, finally got to the tomb, he went right inside.

Right inside and looked around, you know, that’s a, that’s just a great story. Finally, after hearing all of this, Jesus said to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, in other words, all the way back through the Old Testament, Jesus explained to these two what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.

The seven miles are about up, and as they approached the village to which they were going, [00:32:00] Jesus continued on as though he were going further. And so they said, Wait, stay with us, for it’s nearly evening. The day is almost over. So Jesus went into their house to be with them. You know, these two men on the road to Emmaus, or two people on the road to Emmaus, we know one of them has a name, and it’s Cleopas, and that’s a male name.

The other person’s not named. A lot of people think these are two fellas. I don’t. I think it’s a husband and wife. Because they go into the house where they live. That’s not to say that, you know, people of the same sex can’t, you know, share a house. But I think they’re husband and wife. Plus, they don’t mention the other person’s name.

And of course, in this day and age, a woman was not the same status as a male. And so that for my money, Cleopas and his wife are the ones who were joined up by Jesus. And they said, come on inside. And Jesus went in with them. When he was at the table with them. So they did what you did in that part of the world and that you fed someone a meal.

Yeah. Now listen to this. What’s this [00:33:00] sound like? When he was at table with them, they’re just eating. He’s at two new acquaintances house and they’re just eating. He took bread. He gave thanks. He broke it and he began to give it to them. What’s that sound like? Communion! Sounds exactly like the words that you hear, that we all hear, or some of us get to speak in a worship service, and we’ll hear it in a few minutes.

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And then he disappeared from their sight. Interesting choice of words. It doesn’t say that he got up and excused himself and said, See y’all later, I gotta split. He disappeared from their sight now remember this is the risen Lord, and it was an interesting existence There are books about all of this that won’t try to bore you with anything, but Jesus has his heavenly body after the resurrection But of course he hung around because the ascension wasn’t for 40 days and so for 40 days Jesus was walking around in this interesting brand new body that The scriptures [00:34:00] say we will receive one of these days.

Anyway, he disappeared. And they asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us? You know, burning in the Bible sometimes is not a good thing. But sometimes it is a good thing. Like a passion. A good sort of passion. This is a good one. Were not our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and did what?

And opened the scriptures to us. Weren’t our hearts burning when we heard the voice of the Lord and when he opened the scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. How far is that? Seven miles they walked seven miles home. They had this amazing experience, which I would imagine was a fairly Energizing experience and they said we got to go we got to go back and and and be a part of all of this And share our story and hear the other people’s stories there.

They found the 11 And those with them assembled together and saying, it’s true. The Lord Jesus has risen and he has appeared to Peter. Then the two told what had happened [00:35:00] on the way to Emmaus and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke bread with them. You know, that’s a great story. Doesn’t need a lot of attention and a lot of, you know, it doesn’t need me to explain it at all.

That’s for darn sure. But there are some things that we can take out of that. It certainly sounds like when Jesus took bread and he blessed it and he broke it and he gave it to them. Certainly sounds like communion. It wasn’t. It wasn’t, it was just a meal, but maybe Luke, when he wrote that, you know, fashioned it in a way who, you know, remember Luke wasn’t, wasn’t, it was his gospel.

He was writing this up, but he wasn’t standing there watching it. So he had to hear about it from someone. And so maybe he heard about it from Cleopas and his wife, who knows. And then I think the salient part is when they said how our hearts burned within us, when we heard his words. And you know, right now today, and I’m not going to talk about other people’s experiences, but I’ve never experienced the Lord speaking to me in an audible voice, like you’re hearing my voice right now.

But [00:36:00] people have said that and they claim that and I affirm that God is God and God can do whatever God wants to do with respect to, you know, communicating with God’s people. You know, typically when I say to someone, well, the Lord spoke to me, I’m talking about a feeling that I feel in my bosom. that I really feel the power and presence of God’s spirit.

The power and presence of the spirit of Christ are prodding me. I believe that with all my heart, but I’ve yet to hear a voice in my head. Like you said, when we first walked, yeah, Pookie walked in the door and she called my name or something, and she said she Was afraid that I might think that was a voice in my head.

No, it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t. You know, this is one of the passages of scripture that people use to talk about a service of Christian worship. I come from the Presbyterian tradition, which is a little more liturgical than some other traditions. That’s not a boast. It’s not a lament. It’s just the truth.

And our worship service does have, dare I say it. Structure. In the Presbyterian Church, there’s a structure to the worship service. And the [00:37:00] structure is the gathering. When people gather in the name of the Lord, and you have things like a call to worship, and an opening hymn, and an opening prayer, and a confession of sin, and an assurance of pardon, that’s the gathering.

And then following the gathering is the proclamation of the word. When scripture is read and proclaimed, preached about. And then there’s a response. And sometimes the response involves the celebration of the sacrament of Holy Communion, the celebration of the Eucharist, whatever word someone is familiar with.

That’s what we’re talking about. If in a church tradition like in mine, we don’t do communion every Sunday. And some traditions, if you’re a Roman Catholic or Episcopalian or Luther’s communion is every Sunday, and I’d love to have it every Sunday, but You know, you get some blowback because guess what? It takes a few minutes longer, et cetera, et cetera.

After the proclaiming of the word, there’s a response to the word. Sometimes it’s communion. All the time, it’s usually that’s when we, uh, hear from people about what the mission work of our church is. You know, like a moment for mission. Sometimes you’ll see that in the printed [00:38:00] bulletin. And of course, the offering is received during that time as well.

A response to God’s word. And then we have a prayer and then we sing. And then the last part, some people call it the dismissal. I prefer the sending. Dismissal says we’re done, y’all go home now. Sending says go and do. Go and put into practice, out there in the world, what you feel you should do as a result of our fellowship together and our time spent listening to the voice of Jesus, metaphorically or maybe literally, or certainly listening to God’s word.

And then we go home. So that’s what I wanted to share this morning. Just a devotion that kind of has relates to the sacrament to communion. And I want us to focus on, do our hearts burn within us when we hear the voice of the Lord and when scripture is opened? to us. When I say open to us, I don’t mean it has to be interpreted by some clergy person.

I mean, when we read scripture on our own and do our own devotion, when we read God’s word, does it speak to us? You know, that’s what Jesus was [00:39:00] talking about. And that’s what those two pilgrims were talking about. Didn’t our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us and when he opened the scriptures to us, that’s the thought I want you to carry with you today, it would have been better to.

Put this day before yesterday because it was so blasted hot outside. But anyway, if you get cold today, think about your heart burning within you because of the words of the Lord. Alrighty, let’s have it now. Is everyone going to stay for communion? You’re cordially invited. As I said. At the driver’s meeting, in my tradition, anyone who is a believer is invited to the table of the Lord.

And so, I know that different faith communities understand communion differently, and I certainly don’t want this to be off putting to anyone, but it is a Protestant communion service, and anyone who is a believer is invited. And some of these words may be familiar to you. I don’t know. I want you to know that, oh, let me show you something.

Half a dozen years ago, church supply places came out with something new. And we clergy [00:40:00] thought it was the silliest thing we had ever seen in our lives. And it’s a kit. You ever seen one of these? It’s a communion kit, and at the very top is a clear plastic thingy that you peel back and expose the wafer.

And then when it’s time for the cup, you peel this little purple tab back. Be careful because, you know, you can spill it. And that’s the cup! We thought, who in the heck would ever use something like that? And don’t you wish you had bought stock in that? But then along comes COVID 19 and churches bought them by the truckload because they really work nicely and they’re sanitary.

And I want you to know also that in my tradition and this morning, the beverage that’s in there is in fact grape juice. And that’s important because if someone came expecting grape juice and it was wine and he or she was in a situation in life where that’s not a cool thing, that would not be a cool thing at all.

Alright, and we’re going to do a very short Eucharistic prayer. I don’t know if you know the responses or not, but in a church when, when the person up front says, the Lord be with you and also thank you. Okay. How about do we go a little [00:41:00] further and lift up your hearts? Oh, you are so good. Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.

So let’s pray. Blessed are you, O Lord, our God. You come with power to save us, destroying the works of the wicked. So we praise you, joining the song of the Universal Church and the Heavenly Choir, when we say together, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus fed the hungry, cast out demons, healed the sick, liberated the oppressed, and extended your grace to all people. Remembering your goodness and grace, we offer ourselves to you with gratitude as we share this joyful feast. For great is the mystery of faith, that Christ has died, Christ is risen.

Christ will come again. So pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon this bread and cup. Make us one in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Teach us truly to love our neighbors, honor every person, and tend to the needs of all. Through the [00:42:00] Lord Jesus Christ, the unity of the Spirit, we bless you, God of glory, now and forever.

So as our Savior has taught us, hear us as together we pray that familiar prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Amen. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. You’ve heard the words a hundred times a year on the night that Jesus was arrested and betrayed in scripture. We read that he took bread and after giving thanks to the father for it, he broke it and he distributed it to his disciples. And he said, this is my body given for you.

This is my body broken for you. Take. And then we read that during that meal that they shared together, Jesus poured a brand new cup and gave it a brand new name. And he [00:43:00] said, this is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood for the forgiveness of sins. All of you. Jesus said all of you drink of it for as long as you eat this bread and drink this cup You proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns sisters and brothers the gifts of God for the people of God You may go ahead and take the bread in the cup when you’re served We don’t have to wait till everyone is served Be careful the little clear one on top you peel back and expose the wafer Like I mentioned the purple one you peel back and expose the cup Jesus said, I’m the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty. The bread of life. Amen. Jesus said, I’m the vine and you are the branches. But if you cut yourself off from me, then you can do nothing. The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation, and let’s pray. God of glory in this meal that you have made for us, you have made us one with Christ.

And with that great multitude of the faithful, those [00:44:00] who hunger and thirst no more and worship night and day in your temple, we are also one with them. Lead us in the paths of righteousness and guide us to the springs of the water of life until we join the choir of the redeemed saying salvation belongs to our God who was seated on the throne and to the lamb, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen. We forgot to pray for Dominic Darkweather. Had a crash yesterday in the, in the GT4 race, yeah. Went into the tire wall and tore, in the Supra, that’s right, that’s right. And I saw him in the medical center yesterday. And then, uh, I saw, I said the three, Samantha Tan and Sada? Is that his name, the Ferrari guy?

And I can’t remember who was driving the 93, I don’t know if it was her or him. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And they were in and out of the care center. So, uh, y’all be careful out there. Don’t let anyone hit you and don’t hit anybody else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If we were in church, you would hear the person say, like they did in the New Testament times before they left that upper room, they did [00:45:00] what together?

They sang a hymn. We’re not going to do that, okay? But go in peace, serve the Lord, enjoy your day, go fast, and stay safe. Again, I’m an outtie guy, I’m an outtie guy, so I should be non partial, you know, but go outtie. And you all stay safe out there, and God has blessed you with a cooler day, that’s wonderful.

It’s only going to be 140 in the car today. No problem. God bless you all. And I’m Tim Stewart and I represent that which I believe. I am privileged to do it through Motorsports Ministry. Thank you all. Thank you for coming this morning. Thank you. This is wonderful. Yeah. And what time is it? 8 24. Yes. Yeah.

Take care, man. All right. Go Audi.

Crew Chief Eric: The following episode is brought to you by SRO Motorsports America and their [00:46:00] partners at AWS, CrowdStrike, Fanatec, Pirelli, and the Skip Barber Racing School. Be sure to follow all the racing action by visiting www. sro motorsports. com Or take a shortcut to GT America dot U S and be sure to follow them on social at GT underscore America on Twitter and Instagram at SRO GT America on Facebook and catch live coverage of the races on their YouTube channel at GT world.

Crew Chief Brad: If you like what you’ve heard and want to learn more about GTM, be sure to check us out on www. gtmotorsports. org. You can also find us on Motorsports. Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call or text us at 202 630 1770 or send us an email at crewchief at gtmotorsports.

org. We’d love to hear from you.

Crew Chief Eric: Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here. We really hope you enjoyed this episode of [00:47:00] BreakFix, and we wanted to remind you that GTM remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge. As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies, and GTM swag.

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None of this would be possible.

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 Introduction to Break/Fix Podcast
• 01:21 Meet Pastor Tim Stewart
• 01:41 Tim’s Early Motorsports Memories
• 02:35 Journey to Becoming a Motorsports Chaplain
• 08:02 Role and Responsibilities of a Motorsports Chaplain
• 17:10 Personal Reflections and Audi Passion
• 24:26 Transition to Live Service
• 25:01 Sunday Morning Worship Begins
• 26:20 Prayer and Fellowship
• 27:21 The Road to Emmaus
• 39:25 Communion Service
• 44:19 Closing Remarks and Blessings
• 45:44 Episode Sponsors and Final Notes

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