Church Family, Pray this week for our mission team serving in El Salvador. Pray also for students, teachers, and parents as school begins this month. Here is a word from the Elders. At the July Member Meeting, we noted the Sixth Revised and Amended Bylaws for your review. After that presentation, we received a friendly amendment to the presented bylaws. The amendment sentence is found in Article III Church Membership, Section 6 Church Discipline, in the final paragraph of the section. The added sentence is the next to last sentence in the paragraph and reads: “Any member who is currently involved in the church discipline process as determined by the Elders may not voluntarily terminate their membership until the church discipline process has been completed.” We believe this recommended edit clarifies the expectation for church discipline and have updated the revision to include this sentence in the version to be voted on at our September 21 meeting. We will resend the updated versions of the bylaws (one with visible edits and clean copy) by email to the church congregation the week of August 11. Our bylaws require a thirty (30) day notice before voting on changes. Consider this announcement notice of the amendment. Please note that on Wednesday evening September 3 during our regular adult Bible Study time at 6:15PM in the Fellowship Hall, we will have a town hall question and answer concerning the proposed bylaw revisions. Please bring questions to this town hall meeting on September 3. If you would like to have a conversation with any of our Elders privately regarding these proposed bylaw revisions or generally about the church, please know that we will make ourselves available. The simplest way to request a meeting would be to contact an Elder directly or to contact Barbara Adams at the church office. Grace and Peace to you this week, WBC Elders

Church Family, Thank you for your ongoing support of missions at WBC! Your regular giving allows us to allocate 20% of our annual budget to mission partners, local and global. We heard yesterday what great things God did through our student ministry mission trip to Avery County. On August 6, several of the team members who went to Moscow, VT, will be sharing about the work done on that mission trip. To all our teachers, Bible study leaders, discipleship group leaders, etc., we want to invite you to register for the fall semester of our Leadership Courses . Our topic is “Teaching to Change Lives.” At WBC, our mission is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. Our Leadership School is designed to replicate leaders in the life of our church. Those of us responsible for church communication and teaching want to improve and grow our capacity for teaching. Consider this post an invitation to register for the Leadership School Fall 2025. You can find more details and the course syllabus here on our website. Grace and Peace, Pastor Chris

July was a pretty amazing month for WBC. We had people join the church nearly every Sunday, celebrated baptism, welcomed Brian Price to our church staff, had a meaningful Member Meeting, and had two mission teams serve our neighbors in Avery County, NC and Moscow, VT. Remember, our mission is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. Engaging and investing in our mission leads to the gospel being shared, followers of Jesus being encouraged, and mission work being accomplished. Thank you for your ongoing support of the mission of WBC by gathering to worship with us, learning alongside one another, serving others, and replicating the life of Jesus in our neighbors and the nations. Pray for one another and for the programs and ministries of our church as we move toward our regular fall programming in the coming weeks. Grace and Peace, Pastor Chris

Church Family, Our Member Meeting on July 20 was an eventful one. Our church approved additional repair expenditures for the Mission House up to $15,000 and approved a part-time Women’s Ministry Director Position. We celebrated our hospitality team and care teams, gave several property and ministry related updates and heard an update from the Strategic Planning Committee. In response to Sunday night’s meeting, let’s be thankful. Since we purchased Helen Elledge’s house (the Mission House), it has been used by a church intern, by the Associational Missionary, by a family whose house burned down, by a refugee family, by a missionary family, and now by our Minister of Music and his family. The faithfulness and forward thinking of the church has allowed us to meet very real needs and show hospitality. In response to last night’s meeting, let’s be prayerful. Pray for the student mission team in Avery County and the adult mission team in Moscow, VT. Pray for the right person to serve as our Women’s Ministry Director. Pray for the church as we consider the Sixth Amended and Revised Bylaws. In response to last night’s meeting, let’s continue to be faithful in giving. Whatever current/future growth course is recommended by the Strategic Planning Committee to the Elders and whatever the Elders might recommend, renovation, expansion, and property acquisition will be costly. If you are able, consider making a donation to the WBC Vision Fund. The purpose of this fund is for current/future growth options. Grace and Peace, Pastor Chris

Church family, w e will gather for our Member Meeting on Sunday afternoon at 5:30PM. At this meeting we will provide updates on several important items for our church: membership, Bylaw revision, student and children’s ministries, property, mission trips, and Strategic Planning Committee. We also have two motions for the church to address. The first motion concerns renovation/repair expenses for the Mission House. The second motion is a recommendation from the Elders to create a part-time position entitled Director of Women’s Ministries. Members, it is our obligation to be engaged and involved in the life of WBC. Our polity, congregational with Elder leadership, means that final decision-making rests with the congregation. By attending and participating in Member Meeting decisions, you are fulfilling your responsibility as a church member. Please bring a side dish, finger food, or dessert, so we can gather as a church family afterward. See you Sunday! Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

Church Family, July 13 marks the first Sunday of Rev. Brian Price’s tenure as our Minister of Music. As he begins this week in worship preparation, practicing with praise team and choir, getting to know us, and facilitating musical worship, would you pray for him and his family. Pray for their transition here. Pray for Brian in his role as musical worship leader. Continue to pray for our Elders, Deacons, Staff, and other church leaders as we navigate a busy summer season. Mark your calendars for the July 20 Member Meeting. We have some important updates for you on several items. Grace and Peace, Pastor Chris

What a week at VBS! Thank you to all the servant-leaders who gave of their time last week for the children in our church and community. We journeyed to Egypt with Joseph to learn how God gave Joseph wisdom and the grace to forgive. Several our children continued conversations about the gospel, and we had one to make a profession of faith. Our mission is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus, and the time invested last week by teens and adults helped dozens of children forward on their journey as Christ-followers!  Thank you for participating in our mission!

We’re in the middle of VBS as I write this. Annually, VBS is one of our most significant children’s and outreach events. This year, we’re traveling with Joseph to Egypt following his journey from the pit, to Potiphar’s house, to prison, and finally to the palace. It is so encouraging to see so many children involved whose parents want them to learn the lessons about deliverance from God’s Word. It is even more encouraging to see the small army of servant leaders (students and adults) present and engaged in ministry this week.  Our mission at WBC is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. This week, we have around 100 student and adult leaders giving the equivalent of a part-time job to the communication of Scripture to children and their families. If you’re one of those serving , THANK YOU! May God bless and use our service this week to spread his gospel and bring children and their families to faith in Christ. Grace and Peace, Pastor Chris

With last Sunday being Father’s Day, I wanted to include some ideas that I shared in my sermon yesterday. If you are a parent or grandparent, the post below details several of the specific and intentional values that I’m trying to imbed in my boys’ life. I would commend to you the books referenced and the values listed as a defining point for you being intentional about parenting and grand-parenting. Excerpt From Chris' Blog Titled Intentional Parenting "Last year, I read Jon Tyson’s book, The Intentional Father. Tyson writes about raising sons with courage and character in a world whose values are often in direct competition to biblical values. As a father of two sons, his book challenged and convicted me. Our children are learning so many things from the culture around them. Most of the technologies that we interact with are simply not neutral. See Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation. The values of the culture are more often shaped by the “prince of this world” (Ephesians 2:2) than they are the Bible’s values. These realities convicted me to be more intentional about what I’m teaching my sons." Read More Here