In nearly 10 years in the Christian ministry, Dale Beaver has learned that spiritual growth, as much as physical growth, is an ongoing proposition.

And because of that Beaver, who was familiar to many in the NASCAR community -- both insiders and fans alike, through the seven years he spent as a chaplain serving the Cup Series; was compelled to tie those experiences and the potential for spiritual growth together in a book.

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I think that it's human nature to get to a place like [NASCAR] and to think that all my dreams have come true and it's going to be gravy from here on out -- and it's not. There's still more to be done and that's what you help them do.

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DALE BEAVER

The 109-page work, titled Before the Thunder Rolls: Devotions for NASCAR Fans, includes forewords from two-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and fellow competitor Ryan Newman and weaves spiritual lessons with racing lingo.

That's not surprising considering Beaver came to Motor Racing Outreach in 1999 after he graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary and moved to Kentucky, where he was pasturing "a little rural church" when a mutual friend from Interstate Batteries in Dallas connected him with MRO.

Beaver, who visited the series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier in the summer, is now an associate pastor at Christian Fellowship Church in Evansville, Ind. He spent seven years with the group that criss-crosses the country for more than two-thirds of the year and remains what he calls "an ambassador for Motor Racing Outreach, because I still believe very much in the ministry that they're trying to do out here."

MRO, in addition to conducting chapel services at all Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series events, also conducts other programs, including day care for the children of NASCAR competitors and other outreach programs for family members.

"They walk among the people, they love the kids of these people who are on the road all the time and they're involved with the wives that have to stay home," Beaver said. "They're helping marriages stay strong and helping guys to fulfill their potential, not just in their careers but also as a father and a husband and as a guy who should know that God loves him and wants to walk with him."

Beaver's style led him to willingly accept the call to travel with NASCAR. He came with preconceptions, and they were part of the basis for his book.

"The assumption that I had, was that they just showed up in trucks, everybody got out their stuff and they just put on a race," Beaver said. "I had no idea of the preparation, the level of commitment and of sacrifice -- I had no idea of the work that went on to make this thing happen; from the media people who are here, to the corporate people to the actual race people who get out there and do it.

"I had no idea, and that was a huge surprise. But probably the most pleasant surprise that I had and the most encouraging thing about this environment was that it was the same neighborhood, in just a different town every week.

"It was the same people that I rubbed elbows with, and it had a developing story line that was part of the relationships, part of their lives that was being forged because they were together every weekend. And I saw this as a tremendous potential to see a group of wonderful, wonderful people -- with my role being to walk among them and to remind them that life isn't all about racing, that certainly God is at work in our midst here and there are lessons to be learned."

Beaver said he saw -- and with the book also hoped to provide -- a bridge to an understanding, or a patch of a hole in the normal quilt of life that was torn open by being constantly on the road and away from regular church services on the weekends.

"I think what you see at this level is because this is the brass ring of our sport," Beaver said. "And everybody, once they get here, feels like they've realized a dream at some point and once that happens I think what you see is that people start to ask, 'is this all there is? This is great, but there are some holes there that still aren't getting filled.'

Reaching out to fans

Former Motor Racing Outreach chaplain Dale Beaver reaches for the hearts and souls of stock-car racing's 75 million enthusiasts with his new book 'Before the Thunder Rolls: Devotions for NASCAR Fans.'

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"And so, to be able to walk people through this stuff and let them know that there's a bigger picture out here, a bigger world out here that I need to be involved in and I need to be considering -- [that] God is at work in relationships here at the track and also away from the track that I need to give priority to -- and it was just an awesome privilege to help people find and bring balance to their lives and the need for that is great here, because I think the disappointment is great.

"I think that it's human nature to get to a place like this and to think that all my dreams have come true and it's going to be gravy from here on out -- and it's not. There's still more to be done and that's what you help them do."

Beaver said he found his time amongst the NASCAR crowd wasn't akin to quicksand sucking in more disciples or an octopus with a hundred tentacles looking to entrap more followers.

"The way I am by nature, I'm laid back and I like to walk among the people and just see what God does," Beaver said, smiling. "The late Randy Dorton [Hendrick Motorsports' engine director, who was killed in a plane crash in October 2004] reminded me, when he said 'you're like a steeple here -- you're the one guy we know here that's walking among us and reminding us that our eyes need to be somewhere else and not just here -- don't ever take that for granted and don't ever lose your identity in that, if for no other reason than God has you here for that reason.'

"That was a tremendous thing for me to remember when the times got hard for me, because they do get kind of hard [because] you walk around here sometimes and people don't want to talk to you. You walk around sometimes and you leave on weekends and you ask 'why in the world was I there?' You have to be encouraged that, OK, what you may not have seen was something much bigger going on. And I had to trust God with that."

And part of that was what led to him putting together the book.

"I think what it will connect the fan to," Beaver said. "I start out the book by saying, 'I want to ruin your perspective on your favorite sport.' And what I mean by that is, I want [them] to come to a race or watch a race now and realize that the things that are going on have spiritual significance [because] I believe that all of life is spiritual at some level.

"And I'm trying to help the race fan to connect the dots and to realize that everything that goes on to prepare these racecars and everything that goes on that they see on the racetrack is a part of something bigger, and I use those racing metaphors to try to connect them.

"And I'm also trying to show the actual people that I served here, when a media person or a crewman picks up this book, I want them to remember what they have here, because it's something much more special than they want to take for granted."

Even though Beaver has moved on from the racing realm, he says the journey continues for him.

"Maturity for us, in a spiritual development is similar to a physical one," Beaver said. "We've got our inward part of our lives that needs to be developed and so to help people see that every victory, but also every challenge and every defeat -- all that fits into the greater part of their story.

"[It shows that] God is at work in the victories as much as he is in the disappointment, and vice versa. So there's a maturing process that I'm inviting people to take in the book, in that I walked among the people in the garage on a short term basis; and I'm doing it in the book and hoping that race fans will remember that it took me seven years to do it out here in the garage.

"So I'm definitely trying to build on every experience that these guys can grow and mature in."

And with the book, he's tried to weave a lot of NASCAR elements into lessons race fans of all levels can relate to.

"In my chapel messages, what I always try to do is weave some sort of racing, or life situation usually and attach it to a biblical truth -- a spiritual scripture that people could draw some eternal hope from," Beaver said. "And then at the end of the book I'm asking them to consider one or two questions.

"How can this apply to your life? And what can you do with this? Maybe there's something you can stop and pray about here for a moment that may benefit you as a result of reading this book, and so in doing so I'm asking and inviting the reader to go on a deeper journey than just interacting with their favorite stories about their favorite drivers or their favorite crew people."

Beaver makes it easy by including snippets with not only Johnson and Newman, but also Kasey Kahne, Dale Jarrett, Jeff and Ward Burton and the late Dale Earnhardt, among others, in the book's chapters.