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An Inside View of Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc.
Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc.
1328 Mt. Ulla hwy
Mooresville. NC 28115
Phone:
Cell Phone: 704-791-1189
The purpose (s) for which this corporation is organized is/are to operate as a religious institution and for such other purposes are allowed by law for nonprofit corporations.
This corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501 ( c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
2. Activities and Operational Information
Description of all the activities of the organization
Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc is an old ministry concept taking on new responsibilities. It has been 13 years that Rev. Compton began a ministry in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church called Methodist Motorsports Evangelism (MME). MME is still a vital ministry in the United Methodist Church as it is a way to reach out to people. MME is under the Witness Commission of the United Methodist Church and is supported by the United Methodist Church, individuals, and sponsors. (The United Methodist Church is a 501(c)(3) organization.) Rev. Compton is a United Methodist minister serving Jones Memorial UMC in Mooresville NC, and he is trying to carry the same concept (ministry) he began in the United Methodist church on to other areas and tracks. He realized that it was time for this type of ministry to grow and Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. was the way the Lord laid upon his heart.
Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. (STM) is, at this time, is focusing it’s ministry on the Concord Motorsport Park in Concord North Carolina where Rev. Compton is the track chaplain and the program is catching on fast as it is reaching the needs of the people there. The volunteers who put in many hours of missionary work make the ministry available to the public free of charge. Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc is being recognized by various track officials and owners as a vital ministry not only to the drivers, but to the fans who attend the race events. Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. offers free Christian counseling and pastoral care for people while they are at the track and in their homes if needed.
The purpose of Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. (STM) is to provide for the fans, drivers and crewmembers a means of spiritual strength and help. We are committed to meeting people where they are, ministering to their needs (spiritual or otherwise) while they enjoy the sport of racing. For the un-churched we try to reach them and introduce them to a church in their area. Our mission is to share the Good news of the Gospel with everyone and teaching them the basics of Christian conversion and discipleship. Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. will remain a free service available to the public and the public has access to educational materials and religious literature that furthers their use of Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. while attending the various tracks.
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ and through local ministries such as STM disciple making occurs. Our task is to obey Jesus as He said in the Gospel of Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
The STM team make disciples as we: proclaim the gospel, greet and gather persons into the body of Christ: lead folks to commit their lives to God through Jesus Christ and nurture persons in Christian living through Bible studies, prayer and other means.
The STM team has an educational and religious mission. It will, for example, organize early worship services at the tracks, produce and distribute religious materials. STM will provide counseling after a crash or in the event of a death. We try to conduct ourselves as any ministry organized in that we reach out to every race, color and creed and STM is ecumenical in that we try to reach all people of all denominations.
Because there is no charge for our services and no registration/membership required, it is difficult to estimate the number of people we can touch each week and I mean worldwide. There are thousands, who see the car, who hear the prayers prayed each week and a large number of people receive our services each week. As we continue to make ourselves visible, people are beginning to respond to our presence with them.
The Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. serves as a beacon of light in an otherwise dark area and operates under the Faith-Sharing Model of ministry. As STM’s popularity has grown, the scope of STM related needs has also grown. For example,
· · Because STM is a team of people who minister and teach, there is increasing demand for educational materials, such as the R.A.C.E Guide. Since March 27, 2004, the first race event of the seasons, the team has handed out over 60,000 R.A.C.E. Guides, 1000's of Upper Rooms, 1000's children’s booklets, and 1000's booklets for teenagers and Bibles that have been donated to the ministry. The STM team works together to get this material prepared and to the track each week. We are always looking for free material that we can distribute to the fans and drivers.
· · Because STM is aimed at doing the work of ministry and filling the needs of the people more and more demands have been placed on the ministry. We currently have over 300 prayer stickers placed on cars. These stickers help STM team members know who wants a special time of prayer before a race. When the cars line up on the starting grid, team members get on their knees beside each car and hold prayer for the driver, crew and family members.
In addition to holding a prayer for the drivers during the drivers meetings and praying with the race fans at the pre-show, we counsel individuals, share with folks, comfort people, ride to the hospital with the injured (when needed), and the sick.
Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. plans specific activities such as: Faith-Sharing Classes, singing groups, youth programs, a web page www.stministry.org, foreign missions (Misison trip to Jamaica), use of faith-sharing tools that make us visible(three cars) , the R.A.C.E. Guide (informative and religious piece), and preaching.
Faith Sharing Classes:
Since it’s beginning, STM has been a great model of the Faith –Sharing concept of ministry. ( this came as a result of trainging that was offered in the United Methodist Church. The motive for sharing faith of course is love. The idea is simple: Counselors teach how God uses ordinary people to speak to ordinary people. The class offered is a six-hour class open to everyone. (Students are required to buy their own books)
Organization of witness groups each week.
The STM team has the privilege of scheduling various groups of people who will not only entertain the fans through singing, but will give personal witness to those who wish to listen. There is never a charge for this event, but we encourage love-offerings.
Youth Activities and Programs
We intend to hold a yearly “God is Good Celebration Conference”: This event will be geared towards the people who understand that ministry takes place outside the church walls, and knows that ministry uses different types of tools to get the message across in a non-threatening way. Our first event was held at the Agri-Civic Center in Albemarle NC, on August 28, 2004. The Agric-Civic center is run by Stanly County and by using the center we were able to keep the cost down for the event. There was two contemporary groups, one gospel group, clowns, an evangelist, racecars that displayed Biblical messages, and drivers who were willing to lift up God’s presence in their lives.
Having this event requires Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. to take a significant financial risk. Volunteers to run this event would come from the STM Team and from the local United Methodist Church. This event was open to the public at no charge. A love offering was taken.
We are hoping these links will create public interest in the ministry. We have high hopes of having a good site in the future so that it will provide downloads, documentation, educational information, news, email forums, and so on, all for free. We do have a web page: www.stministry.org
Foreign Mission Trips
Starting the second week of March 2005, members of the STM team went to go to Jamaica to begin a children’s ministry. While in Jamaica, the team worked on building relationships, preaching the gospel at night, and during the day helping to complete various building projects. (the team departed on Feb 22, 2005 and returned March 1, 2005, the mission was greast)
Being Visible
If you are familiar with the concept of Faith- sharing, then you understand that sharing of the faith requires using various tools. Every church ministry uses their building as a tool, a means to share the faith; they use church vans and church buses as tools to help attract people to their church and people contribute to the use of these vehicles. Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. works outside the walls of the local church and it requires different tools than the regular things that are seen in your typical church setting. We don’t have a church bus or van, yet a valuable tool in this ministry is the use of a replica of a 1960 model of an Indy Racecar (sold and have a 1973 Nova, Chev). The car is an important tool for it helps us to reach people in the name of Christ, and it helps us to be visible. It is our street sign, our marquee, that lets people know who we are, it displays the prayer line number of the Upper Room in Nashville, which is a 24 hour a day prayer line that people can call in for assisted prayers. (1-800-251-2468) It is a great tool to use at a racetrack to reach kids, young and old alike. Another use of the car is to let kids have their pictures taken while sitting in the car. (They love to pretend) While we have the parents and kids attention, we have an opportunity to create a relationship and it gives us the chance to explain how the Faith-Sharing concept works. Our slogan is “lifting up the name of Jesus, one lap at a time.” Our ministry is viewed by thousands of people who watch the race on TV. And each time it makes a lap around the track it becomes a reminder of whom we are and whom we are to serve. I wish I had some way to have documented some of the driver’s comments as to their thoughts to when they see the car in a race.
When I am not in the church building preaching I use the car as my pulpit at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, at the Dirt track at Lowe’s and at the Concord Motorsport Park. The car is used at Concord Speedway as a form of pulpit where I am the track Chaplin. Just as any minister uses his or her hardwood pulpit in the church building, the car is used . The car can be used in the public schools sharing how it is possible to use racing as a means of sharing the faith. The car is used simply to tie the racing community to the local community and to the church. I use it in parades to witness to the faith by letting others see how sharing Faith can be done in any arena. In the real world (outside the church walls) people have trouble sharing their faith. They are fearful because there are so many negative comments and feelings against the Faith. So I want to teach people how to share in a way that is positive.
The concept is so simple that a ten-year-old boy understood it and it was God speaking through him that gave me the courage to go forth and put Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. together in this way. I had been asking for prayers about building relationships between drivers and the fans and I knew what it would take to get the job done. This was confirmed by the ten-year-old boy who said, “If you get one, you become one of us.” I use the car as a tool that helps me to bridge the gap between the fans, the drivers, and the almighty God and praise God it is working! Faith sharing is practical and that is what I teach using various tools to prove the point.
This car is entered into races so that it can be seem by the thousands of people at the race and on TV. The car is owned by Sons of Thunder Ministry and in 2005 STM purchased a new car that runs in the Hornets Division at CMP. New for 2006, is a 355 cubic. in. Chevy that will run in the Pure Stock division at CMP. The way we do the winnings (if any) goes to the ministry. The cars display the businesses of thsoe who help us in some way. The cars are a faith-sharing tools that is needed. Kids love the cars, parents see the religious slogan and references sited on the cars and it raises questions that we can offer answers about ones faith and how they come together. I have taken the car to local schools and filled it with Bibles and let kids take one if they so desire. Kids love racecars and it opens doors that otherwise religious leaders would not have if it were not used. The key to faith sharing is to create a relationship with the people around you. When I am visiting someone new and wanting to invite them to church I serve, I visit them in their homes and look around to see what they may have displayed in that room. You know, looking for something that we have in common. It may be a picture of grand kids, pictures of racecars, airplanes, whatever, but at least that is where I begin to form a relationship with that family. The same is true of the racecar. As the ten year old said, “you become one of us”, that is tool I use to start a relationship with drivers and fans.
The R.A.C.E. Guide
In reference to the R.A.C.E Guide. The race guide is printed each week and our plan is to be able to give it to every person who comes in the gate and in the pits. But at this time we have very little money to print the number of copies we need to give everyone a piece of the Word Of God. so we are looking forward to the time when people start to really help us make this possible. The piece does contain writings from the scriptures that I am going to preach on in the local church on Sunday morning, points, schedule of events, (Just like the order of worship in a church bulletin.). The reason I print the scripture each week is so that everyone can have a piece of the Word of God. Many years ago there was a young woman who went to Russia and she came back with this story of how people were taking the Bible and tearing it apart so that each person could have one piece of the Word. They would then share it with each other. Of course in America more than-likely-you will never see a struggle over the Word of God, but I pray we can at least put it in the hands of the people, even if it is one hand at a time.
Sources of financial support
The STM Team has three sources of financial support:
(a) We are searching for sponsors to help with the R.A.C.E. guide.
STM is looking for groups or businesses to assist us who do not mind have having their name on a religious piece, and they would be willing to help us with the printing cost each week of the R.A.C.E Guide.
(b) Individual donations
At this time STM has volunteers who have committed to donate money each month. STM has already had some folks to give in Honor and Memory of folks who love/loved racing.
(C) fundraising
The STM Team intends to solicit contributions from individuals and organizations to fund the activities of the Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. The fundraising activities have just started, and are carried out by a Stewardship Committee set up to raise funds. At this time we are selling tee shirts and caps to help raise money. We hold Bar-B-Q's and for 2006 we will be holding half and half ticket sells to raise funds that will assist people in various needs, (drivers or track workers).
In addition to cash contributions, Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. plans on benefits from not only individual contributions, but is willing to receive material contributions toward the ministry and have suggested that people give to the various parts of the ministry as they so desire. (Directive giving just like the local church)
Names, addresses and titles of directors and officers
On July 7th, 2004, the Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc. Board met to re-elect officers and to try to comply with the letter we received. The following is the results of that meeting.
Board of Directors
President/Senior Pastor Rev. Hugh Richard Compton (Buddy)
Phone 704-791-1189
Vice President/ Rev. Mike Roseman
Associate Pastor
Secretary: Kathy Odell
Financial Secretary
Treasurers Larry Lambert
Assistant Treasurer Monte Compton
Stewardship Committee Ron Dry
Judy Lambert
R.A.C.E. Guide Editors Rev. H.R. Compton
Larry Lambert
Audit Committee: The audit committee is composed of the following positions of the board: Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Stewardship Chairpersons, Events Coordinator, and non-board member, Financial Consultant Elisabeth Little (CPA)
No one is paid for his or her services or work rendered. Everyone is a volunteer.
To send your donations send to:
Sons of Thunder Ministry, Inc.
C/0 Larry Lambert, Treasurer
20085 Efird Road
Albemarle, NC 28001 ![]()
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