It's easy to be judgmental about other people's hobbies when you don't find them interesting. So I've tried hard not to be a snob about NASCAR. Still, even after concerted attention to sympathetic interpreters of NASCAR culture, I have a hard time seeing how it counts as a sport -- or as anything, really, other than a monstrous waste of fossil fuel.

But I suppose that a part of incarnational ministry is to embrace the culture amid which you minister, right? [DISCURSUS: So if you take a pastorate in semi-rural Oregon, you might, for instance, join the annual deer hunt, prompting your congregation to give you a hunting rifle to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of your service. I like to tell that story to my east coast liberal academic Christian friends, who take it for granted that baptism and NRA membership are mutually exclusive, just to see their eyes bug out. End Discursus.] And if you're gonna be a pastor in the heart of NASCAR country, you might just decide to participate in the Clash of the Clergy. With an event name like that, how could you refuse?