One Prayer + NASCAR = Vision lesson  

We wrapped up our one prayer series last week and it was interesting to see how people reacted on a number of levels. There was the aspect of the teaching being video based vs. live, most people didn’t have an issue with this but it was cool to see people getting into the message and forgetting they were watching a video. Then there was the aspect of having a different person doing the teaching each week, definitely some differences in teaching styles. The last aspect was the content of the message itself. While we had different teachers with different styles teaching different messages, the underlying theme was the same. It was about unifying Churches across the globe with one vision to reach those far from Christ.

I’m a huge NASCAR fan and a Tony Stewart freak (start the hate mail now) and this really struck home with me this weekend while I was watching the race Saturday night. Almost midway through the race Stewart had to get out of the car due to severe dehydration from battling with flu like symptoms prior to the race. He had been doing a great job, all things considered, and was running in the top ten when he came out and J. J. Yeley climbed in to finish the race. I was thinking to myself, do I still root for the 20? Am I a Stewart fan or a JGR fan? The thing that spoke to me was thinking about this from the pit crews’ perspective. I didn’t see the pit crew leaving because the driver was gone; they are committed to the vision of the race team which is, to win races. They were not concerned with who was driving, who was on top of the pit box as crew chief or even who the sponsor was. There goal is to do whatever it takes to get their teams car to the front of the pack and across the finish line first.

We have to make sure we are committed to the vision. Not the location, the music, the children’s programs, a team or even the pastor. Over time these things will change to help fulfill the vision but the vision itself never changes.