Where the Checkered Flag Meets the Cross
There are 8.15 billion souls, and the Lord knows each one by name. He knows every fear, every dream, even every hair on their head.
Yet if we’re honest, division is woven into our nature. From the very beginning, humanity has fractured along the lines of race, religion, and pride. A “me first” mentality has carved the world into competing camps, leaving chaos and strife in its wake.
And still, in his creativity, God has wired us for community. Then he gave us sports.
Sports become bridges. They draw strangers into a unified roar, collapse differences in a single moment of celebration, and remind us that we were made for something together. For followers of Jesus, this is more than entertainment. It is an opportunity. It is a mission.
In the world of INDYCAR Racing, our mission field, there is real chaos, real division, real heartache. Yet beneath all of it burns a shared passion for racing that no rivalry can extinguish. Week in and week out, we enter the track as missionaries, carrying the hope of Jesus into a culture that desperately needs it.
We pray with drivers before they strap in and accelerate toward 240 miles per hour. We stand with crews who change four tires in seven seconds, their hands constantly moving even as their hearts carry the sting of defeat. There is power in presence. God has opened the door. Racing is the meeting point, and his grace is what moves through it.
Now consider your seat in the stands. Whether it is an MLB stadium or a T-ball game on a Tuesday evening, what if you saw it not as a place of entertainment, but as your mission field? What if you became a bearer of the Kingdom right where you are?
The checkered flag waves. The crowd erupts. And somewhere in that roar, Jesus is already present.
Will you join him?
By Jason Holt Exec. Director | Chaplain INDYCAR Ministry