Conference Articles

Bob Elliff and his wife Ruth have been attending Light & Life Christian Fellowship in Long Beach since 2001 and Bob has been serving on the pastoral staff for four years. He became a Conference Ministerial Candidate at this year’s Southern California Annual Conference. Bob finds his responsibilities fulfilling and his position keeps him busy but he learned many years ago that one way of keeping our Christianity vibrant is to be involved in some sort of ministry away from the church. This helps Bob keep a better perspective on the life of the un-churched person and keeps him from that subtle yet powerful tendency to isolate from those who do not go to church.

Bob grew up in a Christian home in the Long Beach area and as a pre-teen he and his dad began attending various forms of auto racing at nearby venues. It wasn’t long before he decided that someday he wanted to be a race car driver. He still recalls the disapproving look on the faces of church people when they would ask him, “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” and Bob would boldly say, “I want to be a race car driver.” Bob’s dad, now 95 years old, still remembers telling them, “Well, can you think of a place that needs the gospel more than racetracks?” Bob never became a race car driver but he’s always enjoyed his contact with the sport.

About 5 years ago he had the opportunity to join the team of Chaplains that minister at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California where he gained experience serving the needs of the local race car drivers and their support teams. Bob said, “The Chaplain ministry combines my love of auto racing and my love of the Lord.” Two years ago he became a member of Motor Racing Outreach Association (MROA). Motor Racing Outreach was founded in 1988 to serve the NASCAR auto racing community. Late last year he accepted the offer of MROA to be the Chaplain for the NASCAR Elite Southwest Series beginning in January 2005. As the Chaplain to this traveling racing series he serves the needs of a group of well over 100 people that travel to races in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. A MRO chaplain’s duties begin with building relationships and also include conducting chapel services, counseling, trauma intervention, hospital calls, and praying with the drivers and crews prior to races.

The 2005 season for the Southwest Series is already past the halfway point with 3 races plus the two day championship which will be held at nearby Irwindale Speedway. There has definitely been a learning curve for Bob on his “rookie” season and he’s had plenty of surprising moments. At the race in Stockton California Bob was asked to pray the invocation before the race. The public address system echoed so badly Bob heard each word he spoke three times while having a TV camera in his face moving around to get different angles as he tried to concentrate on praying. In Colorado in June the weather was so miserable, 40 degrees with wind and heavy rain, that they postponed the race until the next day. Bob had to change his travel plans to come home a day later. The next day the temperature was nearly 100 degrees, a change of 60 degrees in 24 hours. In August, at the same speedway the track surface got so hot that they had to water it down to keep the asphalt from sticking to the race car tires. The Colorado the summer heat also affected the drivers with one collapsing after a race and one going to the infield care unit for treatment of a 2nd degree burn caused by the high temperature in the car. He’s also helped settle nerves after disagreements and had a calming affect after a race when a crew is down and discouraged after a long day of hard work only to load up a broken car.

One of the best results of this first year of ministry with NASCAR has been the beginning and building of relationships among this racing community. They are opening up and getting to know Bob’s pastor’s heart. He has had opportunities to say hundreds of prayers with drivers as they get strapped into their race cars before each race. He’s also lifted up the Lord in his prayers following each drivers meeting. As these relationships deepen there will be opportunities for more prayer, counseling, and above all he’ll be able to help them develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “These people are an unreached people group,” Bob said of those whose livelihood is connected to racing. Life in the NASCAR Southwest Series takes them to different cities throughout the year making church attendance nearly impossible. The racing community is a close-knit family of people who must live between the emotional extremes of high-risk winning and heartbreaking losses. According to Ann Schrader, wife of NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Ken Schrader, MRO chaplains “truly are the glue of this whole crazy circus. They are the people you call in a crisis, good or bad. They are here because they love the Lord.”

Paul writes in Romans 10:14 & 15; “How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” One aspect of “being sent” into the chaplain ministry was fundraising, something Bob was not looking forward to. Motor Racing Outreach does not have the resources to offset Bob’s considerable travel costs and other expenditures. But it is not uncommon for God to use one ministry opportunity to open our eyes to another and that is what fundraising has become for Bob. If all the financial needs of any ministry were easily met then self reliance can set in. God desires to use Bob in this unique opportunity but it’s also His will that he not do it alone. Fundraising has become the development of a support team with whom Bob is building relationship and ministering to, a ministry that, like his chaplaincy to NASCAR uses his God given gifts.

Bob will continue his ministry at Light & Life Christian Fellowship as a staff pastor. If you’d like more information about his ministry to NASCAR you can call the church office (562) 630-6074 or e-mail him at bobe@llcf.org. Additional information about Motor Racing Outreach can be found by visiting their web site at www.gospelcom.net/mro.