C. Gene Wilkes's Blog, page 9

A Climb or Two with Friends

Last week I traveled with some guys from different groups at Legacy Church to NM and CO for some hiking and camping.

Goose LakeWe "warmed up" the first day in Red River, NM, Saturday, September 1, by hiking the Goose Creek Trail to Goose Lake and back. That 14.8 mile, about 3,000-foot elevation gain round trip almost did me in for the week, but it was worth it.

The next morning, I preached at the Red River Community House Sunday morning worship service, and then we hiked to Lost Lake, 11,400 feet. We camped there overnight and made the summit of Wheeler Peak, 13,160 feet, Monday morning. It was windy and cold, but did not hamper our efforts.
Wheeler PeakAfter we returned to our Lost Lake camp and packed our tents, we descended to Red River and had a delicious meal at Texas Red's and restful evening at the Banks' Cabin up Bitter Creek Road.

We took all day Tuesday, September 4, to travel from Red River, NM, to Grizzly Gulch Campsite outside Lake City, CO, stopping in Creede, CO, for the best fish tacos at Kip's Grill. (We stopped here again on our return trip, too!)

Wednesday, we drove over 4WD roads to the American Basin trail head and made the summit of Handies Peak (14,048 feet) by mid-morning.We returned to our campsite, and enjoyed dinner cooked over a camp fire complete with smores!

Handies' SummitThursday, we made an Alpine start in order to make both Redcloud (14,034 ft) and Sunshine (14,001 ft) Peaks. (See the video above for a 360-degree look from the summit.) Jack B and I returned the traditional route and beat the "book time" of 10 hours by 15 minutes. Great for a couple of old guys I'd say. Jim, Jon, and Jason took a more dangerous shortcut and made it down an hour or so sooner.


Friday was the long trip home to the Dallas area, passing through the Texas Panhandle during a dust storm that brought cooler weather to the south.

Grizzly Gulch CampsiteI tweeted earlier that "Accomplishment is a good thing, but community is what you live for." I am proud of our four days of climbing, 45.8 miles hiked, and 12,769 feet of elevation gain, but the real joy of the trip was the time spent with brothers in Christ in God's good creation. Few things match such an experience. Give it a try...

A Small Group Wins a Big Victory

This Side Up!I write and teach about leadership. There are as many definitions of leadership as there are those who try to define it.
But, if the essence of leadership is influencing a group of people to reach a shared goal, then Sarah Morris, the Director of This Side Up Family Center is a leader. She is what I would classify a servant leader because her leadership is clearly for the benefit of the families the Center serves, not herself or her family.
How do I know this about Sarah and her small group of volunteers and partners? 
Liberty Mutual, Dallas, hosted for a second year their Like My Community social responsibility project. Through the use of social media, local non-profits, who were nominated by the agents of Liberty Mutual, invited their supporters to "like" them on the company's facebook page. 
Sarah and her dedicated band of supporters out "liked" all the other non-profits, and This Side Up Family Center walked away with the most "likes" of all involved! 
Why is this important to an observer of leadership and the things of God?
The other top non-profits are excellent--and much larger--organizations. The North Texas Food Bank and Frisco Family Services Center both have much larger budgets, staff and history.This Side Up is just over a year-and-a-half old with no paid staff including Sarah! 
What was the difference maker? I believe the bottom line is this:
A small group of dedicated followers committed to shared mission can be more effective than a larger group who may lose sight of opportunity simply because of size and resources. 
Sarah's call to maximize effort to secure resources to move families from "surviving to thriving" became the battle cry during the contest. Need, faith and dedicated followers combined to win the race.
I do not want to minimize the faith factor in this deal. This Side Up is dedicated to giving God the credit for any and all that happens with them. And, Sarah has done that. Just as God used Gideon's 300 and Jesus' 12 to defeat larger forces, so I believe God has used the faith witness and commitment of a small non-profit to make himself famous in this community.
Thank you Sarah! I'll miss texting and liking every day, but I will be forever grateful for your servant leadership to God's mission call on you and your family's life.

The Song and Not The Shrine

Calvin Miller


I first met Calvin Miller via snail mail. I had read The Singer while in seminary, and his poetic imagery of Jesus as the Troubadour singing the song of God's love cut to the core of my beliefs about who I was as a follower of Jesus. The line that became Ground Zero for my revitalized relationship with Jesus and perspective on the church was:

Life is the Song and not the Shrine.

I wrote Calvin a note about what his book meant to me, and he wrote back--as he did I think everyone who wrote him.Our friendship had begun.

I had stayed in touch with Calvin since that first letter through other hand-written notes, so when he came to Southwestern, I asked if I could take him to lunch. He accepted, and I was surprised when we walked out to the parking lot and got into his red Fiero. Pastor, seminary professor, artist, author, driving a red sports car? But when you got to know Calvin you learned his taste was demonstrated as much by that car as it was by his art and writing. Lunch felt like a meal with a favorite uncle who was far more interested in me than I was in him. But, Calvin made everyone feel that way, and I was blessed to be among them.

I dreamed of being an author and Calvin was my favorite--and only one I knew personally at the time, so I began to risk sending him things I was working on and wanted published. Calvin was honest--brutally honest--and, as a writer (and friend) he sent what I sent him back with comments about my need to keep working on my writing and not to quit my day job.

I guess I worked enough because Calvin wrote the Forward to my first published trade book, Jesus on Leadership. He was more than gracious in his comments about who I was and what I had written. If Calvin believed in you, he'd say so. We traveled some together with LifeWay and B&H promoting our books. I remember that he wrote day and night, and I learned what "prolific" meant by his lifestyle. (Our hearts beat together about servant leadership. His book  The Empowered Leader: 10 Keys to Servant Leadership and my book echo many of the same themes.) I remain humbled and grateful for his encouragement and partnership in that message of leading like our Leader.

Calvin and Barbara blessed our family, too. When he spoke at Legacy Church once, he signed some of his children's books to our daughters. We still hold those as family treasures. A couple of times when I led a conference at Glorieta Conference Center, Barabara and Calvin, who were there for the summer, had us over for a meal or visit to their home. You knew you were in an artist's and Jesus-lover's home the moment you walked through the door.

I have almost every book he has written and have kept the Christmas cards of his prints he sent Kim and me. Those are even more valuable to me now that he has gone home to be with his friend, Jesus.

Our prayers are with Barbara, his true partner in all he was and did, and his family.

The kingdom of God on earth is one saint less, but heaven has another troubadour to praise the One who gave him the Song.

Self Image, Health, and Your Identity in Christ

Who Are We Really?I got an email from a family friend the other day telling me of her struggles as a wife and mother to get and stay in shape. Her main question was, "How do we restore our bodies, regain that strength and health with a Godly focus on the way?" 

She is not alone in her struggle. Our culture floods our psyche with images of what a "healthy" body and "successful" person looks like. Walk through the grocery store check out line and the images on the men's and women's health magazines make you wonder what the other people in line are thinking about you. Men wrestle with health and body issues, too. Right guys?

So, is there anything we as Christ followers can do about this?

Here were four things I told her that may help you:
 Make sure your identity is grounded in who you are in Christ Jesus. In Christ you are the adopted son/daughter of the King, and the demonstration of His love for you is his Son's sacrifice for you on the cross. (Romans 8:16, 17) No other identity reality should guide who you think you are. You are loved and do not need a certain body shape or image to be loved by God or His people. Your body is the "temple of the Holy Spirit,"and you are to honor God with your body. (1 Cor. 6:19, 20) When I realized that my body is the dwelling place of the Holy, then just as I would keep a room in my house clean for an important guest, so I would for the indwelling presence of God. This truth leads to my next suggestion:Eat and drink only natural things. Eat fruits, vegetables and lean meats--if you eat meat. You can get protein from birds and beans. Eat things that are part of God's good creation and drink things made from natural ingredients. If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it. If you can't make it, don't drink it. I have gotten rid of gluten, too--not in a radical way, but mostly breads, cookies and cakes. Eat when you are hungry. Stop eating when you are full. Be active, but don't kill yourself. Our ancestors who moved and worked all day would laugh at our gyms and machines we have for exercise. I use some of those, but situps and pushups and walking are still the foundation of health. Yes, I go extreme at times, and move more than most, but those spurts of activity are rare compared to my daily routine of walking, jogging, resting and just getting up and moving.Christians have an opportunity in our image-driven culture to remind each other whose we are in Christ and to encourage each other as we live outside the Matrix of this world.

What are some ways you stay healthy and treat your body in a way to honor God?

Let's Do the Hard Work of Love

I have been on a study leave for the past two weeks, and I am happy to be back online and in community with the people who are Legacy Church and with you in the blogosphere.

As I re-entered my routine, the media-hyped, social phenomenon of Chick-fil-a occurred. So much can be said about the misconceptions and perceptions of who said what and who did what, that my 400-word post won't cover it all. But, I do have one thing to say to my fellow Christians:

You can't reduce your relationship with Christ to whether or not you eat at a particular fast-food restaurant on a certain day. 

As I said, I'm fresh off a study leave in which I was immersed in Paul's Letter to the Galatians under the tutelage of Dr. JMG Barclay . The Apostle wrestled with a group of Christ-followers who insisted those who followed Jesus had to do certain public things to show you trusted Jesus. His conclusion?

 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal. 5:6 TNIV

Translated to last week:

For in Christ Jesus neither going through a fast-food line or not going through a fast-food line has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 

Paul "relativized" all outward religious activity and signs to a relationship with Christ that shows itself in love. This was so important to him, he wrote in the last lines of his letter, "what counts is the new creation" (Gal. 6:15)

Whether you did or didn't support Chick-fil-a on August 1, Paul would say, "Fine," but, he would remind you what counts is our "new creation" relationships with real people in real time, loving and serving them as Jesus would.

I am all for public displays of faith. Jesus was, too. (Matthew 5:16) However, let's make sure the impetus for our display is love and the motive is to help people trust Jesus--not in reaction to media-hyped sound bites and images. (I know there's more to it than that, but I'm afraid our response would have been different without "news" shows.)

Let's do the hard work of love in the relationships God has placed us in so we will be known in the public square in that way.

PS I know I can't cover everything in this post, so feel free to add your comments. 

More 'me' than 'we?' What about the church?

Despicable MeUSA Today recently reported on a study that concluded, "...U.S. society since 1960 has become increasingly focused on the self." I'm not sure we needed a study of 750,000 plus books written in the US the last 52 years to verify the shift from 'we' to 'me;' but, quantitative evidence helps the sometimes skeptical who may not be paying attention. Individualism is a prominent trend in our culture--and a threat to the church as it was created to be.
Let me jump to my question for discussion, "What does this trend have to do with the church, either the local church or as a movement of God's people?"
My first response is for us to look at the language of our worship songs and sermons since 1960. (Anyone out there looking for a PhD or DMin project?) My hunch is that our worship choruses have more "I's" and "Me's" than "Us's" and "We's." I do believe that trend is shifting some, but as a whole, I am certain that individualized worship of a personal God has dominated our worship scene over the last fifty years.
The threat? If it's all about God and me, where and with whom do I live out my individual relationship with God? You have your warm, present-in-the-moment God, and I have mine. So, how do we share a common calling or even a worship experience together? If it's about me and my God, then what does any of my worship have to do with you or others?
Sermons have turned from mobilizing a movement to helping the individual. My unqualified hunch is that preachers spend more time on helping people with their personal problems (with an occasional proof text) than they do interpreting the Story of God from Scripture in order to engage the called out ones in the world as the Sent Ones--not to be happy as a Blessed One. I'm afraid our culture's emphasis on 'me' has turned our pastors' heads toward helping 'me' rather than calling 'us' to be a distinctive movement of people who reflect the priorities and practices of God.
Our programs or "ministries" tend to be more about meeting the needs of those who are members of the group rather than serving others in the name of Jesus. Leading and equipping a people in a movement is different than managing programs to meet the needs of those who join up to receive our services. When care of the individual trumps the mobilization of a cared for people, the movement the church was created to be will halt. Only a revival of the first missional movement will restore our work together.
Yes, God called individuals and they had a personal relationship with God; but, that calling always resulted in a unique group of people, who as a group lived and loved as God's selfless ambassadors to a selfish world.  My goal is not to give you a definitive response to this trend but to let you know if it continues to invade the missional movement of the church, we will lose the power of who God called us to be as his people.
The church has an opportunity to call the individual to "deny self," follow Jesus and join his people in the movement to bring about the reign and ways of God among all people and to find a higher calling than simply caring for 'me.'

The Doomsday Calendar

Mayan CalendarsI have no scoop here. The buzz about the world ending on December 21, 2012, has been around a while now. Movies, websites, and documentaries have all examined the Mayan 'Long Count' calendar that ends 12-21-12. Interpreted, it means, "The ancient, obscure calendar runs out, so time must run out."
My question is, "So, why is the Mayan calendar the definitive dating of the end of things?" Many calendars have and do exist.

For example, according to the Christian calendar it is AD 2012, or 2012 CE. That would also make it 1433 AH in the Islamic calendar and 5772 in the Jewish calendar. The Jewish New Year begins in September, and the Islamic New Year is in November. The Christian New Year is in January. Throw in the Chinese calendar, and it is 4710, the year of the Dragon, and that new year will fall between late January to middle of February depending upon the lunar cycle.

Before we get to my point, where did the three major world calendars originate?The Christian calendar begins in the approximate year of Jesus’ birth and is a modification of the Roman calendar in use until the 16th century. The Latin words translated “Before Christ” (BC) and “In the Year of our Lord” (AD) mark the years before and after Jesus’ birth. With the onslaught of pluralism in our culture, many use “before the Common Era” (BCE) and “Common Era” (CE) for the same numerical years.  

Muslims begin their calendar in the year Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina, which was about AD 622 in the Christian calendar. AH are the Arabic letters that stand for the words “After Hegria,” which mean after the departure or separation.  

The Jewish calendar begins with the creation of the earth, some 6,000 years ago based on calculations in the Torah.

Each calendar has its own intricacies, and they share some common characteristics as to counting days in relation to the sun and moon, but those three calendars are the basic starting points for counting years of time for most of the world's population.

So, which calendar is definitive as to the end of time and how we mark the rising and setting of the sun?

A calendar is a culture's way of marking the natural movement of our sun, moon and stars. It is a way to add meaning to our lives and to mark meaningful events in our histories.

I am a Christian. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, is the definitive person-event in the movement of planets and people's lives from which I see and interpret the world. I take this stance not because of my ethnocentric world-view, which I admit I inherited, but because I trust Jesus is who he said he is: God's' Only Son, the Christ, the Resurrected Lord of the Universe.


When Jesus walked on earth, he told of the end of His-story, but he did not use calendar dates. As a matter of fact, he said, "As to the day or hour [of his return] no one knows, not even the angels, nor even the Son, only the Father." (Matthew 24:36) He came to offer peace with God and the restoration of all things. He did this through his life, death, burial and resurrection, and all Time converges on and expands from that epoch of time.

Trusting the One who will rule at the end of time is more important than knowing when the world will end.

So, enjoy the hype over 12-21-12, but put your trust in the One who will stand as Lord of Lords when time as we know it--or calendar it--is over.

By the way, I have a 2012 calendar on my refrigerator that ends on December 31, 2012, and I have no 2013 calendar. Does that mean time ends when my calendar ends?
You can read NASA's answer to the 2012 doomsday prediction here.

PS Up until this sentence the word count of this blog entry is 666. Does that bother you?

Definition of a Blessing

A blessing is...
...an unearned, unexpected gift from either someone you know or a stranger that causes you joy or happiness. Most of us think of it as the prayer before a meal or some words a priest says over us. The blessing we received was neither of those.

Kim and our family played in an unearned, unexpected gift given by Legacy Church last week. As part of their gift for our 25 years of shared ministry, they blessed us with two full days at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. No. Not just Kim and me, but our entire family!

The event turned out to be more than time away from ministry and a Sunday off from preaching. It truly was a blessing; a gift that gave us great joy that will linger for years to come.
The first day of our waterpark adventure began on Kim's and my 37th wedding anniversary date, June 28 (1975). We have celebrated our wedding anniversary many ways, but spending it at an indoor waterpark with thousands of our closest friends was a first. And, a great first it was!
While I prefer creation to manufactured environments and small groups over masses of people (especially in long lines), the fact I was with my family trumped both of those! 
AND, when you can see all of this through the eyes of a 4-year-old and 11/2-year-old, few things are as meaningful. Little things (like coloring with Lolli or walking floor to floor on a MagiQuest) become bigger-than-life and make memories both will carry for years to come.
While I loved the big slides (Quote of the adventure: Ryan after riding the Howlin' Tornado in the dark, "Is that even legal for kids?"), I loved hanging with Kim, my children and their families best. We ate meals together, watched gkids, rode rides, got sunburned, and on Sunday morning shared a short time of worship together. 
The definition of a blessing is a undeserving man like me who is given a gift that he can share with his both his natural family and his spiritual one. I stand amazed...

Camp and God's Good Creation

Sunset FridayI spent this past Friday and Saturday outdoors. The days were hot, summer North Texas days, but I was outside the walls of my fabricated environments I dwell in most of the time, so the conditions did not matter.

Friday afternoon I followed Chris and Jessica Branch up Preston Rd (289)  to Lake Texhoma outside Pottsboro to see and experience a youth camp they had attended and led since they were children.Chris' parents run the camp now.
While it was hot and humid and we all wore "camp glow" (sweat) on our faces, I re-lived my days of camp. Climbing out of the rut of your routine, stepping into God's good creation, hearing God speak to you in a breeze, a bird's song, a friend's voice or a passionate teacher changes your heart.I believe such retreats from the war of our days are required to refresh and restore the soul.
Lakeside PraiseI liked the Native America motif and Gospel message of Camp Straight Arrow. Jessica was the "Indian Princess" for the evening. Two braves (Chris and his brother) brought her to the campfire in a canoe across the lake with the beat of a tom-tom in the background. She told a story by the fire, which helped us all see the value of our work as an offering to God. Stories told by campfire have been how truth has been passed on for generations.
I woke up at daylight and drove from camp around the lake to Juniper Point to meet some friends and hike the Cross Timbers Trail. Some of us are planning a trip the week of Labor Day to climb some 14ers in Colorado and wanted to test our legs. I had run the trail several times, the latest this past February, but this was my first shot at hiking it with a full pack.
Sunrise Saturday The seven of us left from the trailhead about 8:15, a late start for summer in Texas. We found the trail well marked but overgrown from the rains of the spring. Poison Ivy and Oak grew like trees along the trail. (So far, no signs of having it on me.) I took point and had the privilege of meeting every spider face-to-face who had chosen to spin his web over the trail the night before. The banter and chatter was great among the group, and it was not long before we settled into our rhythm of laughter, walking, hydrating, and fueling. 
As always, I reflect on my trips, and here are some things I was reminded of this time.
A long hike outdoors is a great way to test your endurance. A 30-minute workout on the elliptical in a 72-degree gym gives you the false impression you are in shape - for your desk job, maybe, - but not for an extended activity outdoors.CrossTimbers is a tough hike. We'll go back again before we go to CO and return again before the end of the year when it is cooler. Want to try it?
Distance + terrain + heat = true character. The longer you walk, the tougher the terrain, and the hotter the day combine to reveal a person's real character. You can't hide who you are after 5+ hours of hiking 14.7 miles of tough terrain in 95+ degree heat. Friendships deepen or disintegrate after a long, grueling hike.I can say all of our friendships were deeper after this hike.
No cathedral exists like the ones God build in creation. Sunlight coming through the forest canopy exceeds any stained glass or robotic light show we can create in our manufactured houses of worship. Wind, sunlight, color, and the voices of wildlife draw our hearts to praise our Creator. Sing Psalm 19:1-6 today to join creation in praise of its Creator!
I was glad to rest in my air-conditioned home Saturday night with my wife, but I was grateful for the time spent with friends in God's good creation. 
When did you get outside last?

The Difference Maker

I recently watched the History Channel's mini-series Hatfields and McCoys. Anyone who is aware of Civil War era American history knows of this generational feud between these two infamous families. I recommend watching the series. Kevin Reynolds and Kevin Costner reunite to pull off an authentic, heart-tugging story of two men who preferred the taste of revenge to reconciliation.

Hatfields & McCoys DVDThe writers tell the story of "Devil Anse" Hatfield's desertion from the Confederate Army before the war is over. Randall McCoy, with whom Hatfield served, never forgave him for deserting. Add in a child of an unwed McCoy fathered by a Hatfield, a couple of revenge killings, and rivalry over timber lands, and you have the beginnings of a feud that lasted generations.

What caught my attention in the story was that Randall McCoy never let the Hatfield desertion go. He held on to it at every turn, and his hatred for Hatfield leaving him on the field of battle fueled every fire started between the two families. Revenge motivated by hatred consumed him from the time he came home until he died, and it ate up his heart and his family.


This past Sunday I talked about a young man who deserted a battle for the hearts and souls of people, and when the time came to go back onto the spiritual battlefield, the young man's mentor refused his help and labeled him a "deserter." (Acts 15:36-41) That young man was John, called Mark, and the Apostle Paul. Barnabas and Paul separated over John Mark, and we never read about them being together after that incident.

The rift between the young John Mark and the elder Paul could have infected the Jesus Movement like the hatred between McCoy and Hatfield spilled over into their families. But the biblical story is different in one significant way: Paul and John Mark did not hold a grudge or seek revenge for the hurt, but they experienced reconciliation. The difference maker was the miracle of grace that resulted in reconciled lives.

Paul wrote to his friends in Corinth about this hallmark of Christian faith in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. I'm sure Paul did not write those words in reference to his labeling of John Mark, but he clearly applied the truth to his relationship with the young man. We know this because at the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy to bring John Mark with him "because he is helpful to me in my ministry." (2 Timothy 4:11) 

Somewhere along the path of life, Paul and John Mark reconciled, and Paul's label of the young man went from "deserter" to "helpful." Only biblical reconciliation based on the person and work of Jesus can pull that off.


So, who are you? Randall McCoy or Paul, the Apostle when it comes to those who have hurt or deserted you? The answer to that question will determine the attitude of those around you for generations.


If you want to hear the message from Legacy Church, you can hear it here.

If you want to read the chapter from Character: The Pulse of a Disciple's Heart, you can get a copy here.