The Money Gap .... or, what the Church can learn from NASCAR

I was talking with a parishioner after services on Sunday and somehow we got on the subject of the Church and NASCAR ... stay with me.

Most congregations are running at some sort of a deficit.  The one we are facing is manageable; it's certainly not ideal, but we are optimistic that we are on an upward swing.  Other congregations are facing deficits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How might we be able to cover these deficits, we wondered.  And after a bit of back and forth, I suggested that maybe our answer could be found in NASCAR.

"NASCAR???" she asked incredulously.

"Sure . . . Think about a car race.  Other than seeing a bunch of cars going really fast to the left, what do you notice?"

She thought for a moment and said, "Advertisements."

"Bingo.  Every car has a major sponsor.  Every car has a multitude of minor sponsors.  Every car's paint job is covered with advertisers.  So is the driver's fire suit and helmet.  The driver will never talk about 'my car,' but about the advertiser's car ... as in, 'Yeah, the Nationwide car was running really good today on those Goodyears.'

"So what if we sold advertising space for things in church?"

In short, we developed a way to get people to buy sponsorships for the various seasonal hangings (Christmas and Easter costing more than say, the 14th Sunday after Pentecost), the stoles I wear, the Advent candles, etc.  And then she decided we needed an electronic hymn board.  Every year during the Season after Pentecost we take hymn suggestions and incorporate them into Sunday services.  We could begin selecting hymns based on the highest bidder and advertise that on the electronic hymn board.  "The opening hymn today is 618, brought to you by Nancy Davidson."

I drew the line, though, when it was suggested that Communion be sponsored by Bud Light.