The Pit Stop

A pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops during a race for a number of services done by the team’s pit crew to optimize the car’s performance for the current conditions:

• The car is refueled
• The tires are changed
• Debris is removed from air intakes
• The windshield is cleaned
• Adjustments are made to tires, suspension and aerodynamics

The driver and the crew chief discuss strategy for the race and future pit stops. Typically, a pit crew will finish the services, get behind the racecar and push it from behind in order to give it momentum or a “running start” as it returns to the racetrack. The main objective of everything that happens during a pit stop is to increase the driver’s chances of winning the race.

This description is almost exactly the mission of Rocky Mountain Community Church. Here are the connections…

Loving, Following and Serving Jesus is a lot like a race

Acts 20:24
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Galatians 5:7
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

To win any race, you have to make sure you have the right equipment and resources

New Tires

In the great adventure of knowing, loving and following Jesus Christ, we need the right equipment… and that starts with knowing God’s Word. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells Timothy,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Refueling

There are so many people who think that the whole idea of church is for the weak or needy… people who can’t seem to figure out life on their own and need help. Nobody wants to be perceived as needy and dependent, so a lot of people go to church just now and then, maybe Christmas and Easter and a few other times during the year… or maybe just when things aren’t going well at work or home.

What if the racecar driver took this same attitude with regard to fuel? “Fuel is for wimps! Fuel is for those who need extra help… who can’t seem to get their racecar to go 500 miles on one tank of gas! If I need fuel, I’d actually have to pull into the pits and be dependent on this team of other people to fill my tank… No way! I don’t need anyone else to fill my gas tank!” Seems ridiculous doesn’t it? Yet that’s just the way some people treat church. In the Book of Acts 1:8, Luke writes some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples,

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

POWER is available to anyone who wants it. God himself wants to live in us and empower us to run hard in this race… all the way to the finish line.

Cleaning the Windshield

Seeing clearly what God wants us to do, how he wants us to do it, seeing where we’ve been and where we’re going is imperative if we want to become the individuals and the church that God intended us to be.

A church’s goal should be to “optimize the performance” of God’s people and “increase their chance of winning” the race.

Think of the three or four guys on the pit crew who, after the car has been serviced, get behind the car and push it. That’s what this church is all about right there. I want to get behind each and every one of you and give you a push so you can have the momentum you need… not only to get back on the track, but to win! There’s no need for me to push alone! We can get behind one another and harness the strength of the team.

I am not the only minister at Rocky Mountain Community Church and I don’t ask you to follow me. However, I am the leader of our pit crew and I do ask that you let me help you follow Jesus.

A racecar was made for the track, not for the pits

You were not made by God just to come to a church service one hour a week – even if that one hour is a blessing to both you and God. You were made for the track! Sometimes I see people and churches that get this mixed up. Everything they do revolves around the one hour on Sunday morning. All of the church’s energy and resources are poured into the building, multi-media productions, large bands and worship teams, state of the art equipment, and complex systems of governance and leadership.

Of course as churches grow and have more resources, some of these things just go with the territory…but let us never forget that Sunday morning church is just a pit stop! I want RMCC to be characterized by giving you what you need to succeed in loving and serving Christ out there the other 6 days, 167 hours a week! I want to give you real, practical, relevant teachings from God’s Word that will help you turn the “theory” of walking with Jesus into a way of life.