Church family,


What an Easter weekend! Easter should be big because it represents "the event" in salvation history. We ought to celebrate our risen Savior gloriously and greatly. Attendance records for Easter 2026 were broken, having to put out chairs for the 390 people that came to the 9:30 service! For me, the weekend did not go as I planned. After two painful days of stomach pain, I went to the ER early on Friday morning, April 3, to discover I had an infected and inflamed gallbladder with a gallstone blocking a bile duct. Over the weekend, I had surgery and came home late Sunday evening to recover. I was able to watch and worship during the live stream at the 9:30 service.



Church family, we need to recognize that God is doing something special at WBC. Lives are being changed, believers are becoming followers, and God is preparing us for what he has in store. Let me offer some special thanks for Sunday. Thanks to Pastor Tad for preparing an Easter sermon on 48 hours' notice, along with all his normal logistical work. Thanks to the choir, praise team, musicians, and our Minister of Music, Brian Price, for leading us musically in all three services! Sunday's music was outstanding and celebratory.


Thanks to the ushers who made extra space available at 9:30. Thanks to those in Sprout (nursery) for their availability at 9:30 and 11:00. Thanks to all the volunteers who made all the moving parts of Sunday's worship work. While I deeply missed you all in person on Sunday, I'm so grateful to be a part of a church and leadership team of elders, staff, deacons, and servants who helped make Easter so meaningful. May God continue to bless Wilkesboro Baptist Church. Keep inviting friends and acquaintances. You never know what God may do this week.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Chris

Mission Offering Report and Sunday School

By Chris Hefner • October 8, 2026
Church family, We need each other. Our mission offering on Sunday, October 4 is to send the gospel through mission partners to places and people where we cannot go. We need mission partners. We need friendships, accountability, and encouragement. We get that through the relationships we have in Sunday school, discipleship groups, Bible studies, and ministry partnerships. If you've not been to your group recently, you are missed. They'd love to see you again. If you attend regularly, don't lose sight of how important you are to others. Join us Sunday, October 11, for our church picnic at the Wilkes Community College Watson Stage at 5 pm. Participate in your group by sharing what you've read and learned this week from God's Word. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

Mission Offering

By Chris Hefner • October 1, 2026
Church family, Sunday, October 4, is our Mission Offering Sunday. Everything you give this Sunday will go to missions: 25% to the International Mission Board; 25% to the North American Mission Board; 10% to the Wilkes Pregnancy Care Center; 10% to the Honduras Mission Trip led by Dr. Joe Pinkerton; 10% to David Easler with Greater Europe Mission; 10% to local benevolence; 10% to Samaritan's Kitchen of Wilkes. Also, on October 4 at 6:30 PM we will have our first "extra" teaching session from the book of Revelation. To complement our series "Word and Witness: Vision of the King from the Book of Revelation," Pastor Chris will be teaching through Revelation 6-22. This is the first of 4 sessions to complete the book (Oct. 25, Nov. 8, and TBA). Here is an encouraging thought: God wants to speak to you today. He wants to have a conversation with you. It is our obligation to pause long enough to listen.

Introducing Elder Candidate Landon House

By Chris Hefner • September 28, 2026
Introducing Elder Candidate Landon House

Member Meeting Recap

By Chris Hefner • September 23, 2026
Church family, Thank you for your participation in our Member Meeting on September 20. You are a big part of how we're growing numerically and spiritually and how we're caring for one another. At the Member Meeting, we approved two motions. The first changes Tad Craig's title to Pastor of Administration and elevates Josh Pinkerton to the Minister of Students role. The second approved a new, part-time, position of Connections Director. We had a great Sunday of worship on September 20 and heard a fantastic message about "The Missionary Heart" from professor and missionary, Dr. Will Brooks. Each Sunday when we gather for worship, we have the privilege of engaging intentionally in worship. Here is a post about how we can worship faithfully . Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

Upcoming Guest Speaker

By Chris Hefner • September 16, 2026
Church family, This Sunday (September 20), we welcome Dr. Will Brooks as a guest speaker. Will shared at our church some ten years ago, as he and his family headed to serve with the International Mission Board. We've prayed for Will and his family as a regular mission partner annually at WBC. He’s now serving as a professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. As you listen to Dr. Brooks this Sunday, be prayerful about what God would have you give to our mission offering on Sunday, October 4. We have a Member Meeting at 5:30 PM on September 20 and will be sharing two staffing motions from our Personnel Committee as well as church fostering and church growth updates. As we think about the tensions in the world and remember 9/11 some twenty-five years ago , let's remember our obligation to hold and share the truth of the gospel. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

Introducing Elder Candidate Steven Mercer

By Chris Hefner • September 14, 2026
Introducing Elder Candidate Steven Mercer

Several Church Updates

By Chris Hefner • September 12, 2026
Church family, God is exceedingly good, and we should praise him. With church family suffering and struggling, God is answering prayers-we should praise him. With sinners believing in Christ and being baptized, we should praise him. With God working in our midst, giving us opportunities to trust him-we should praise him. Mark your calendars for the September 20 Member Meeting at 5:30 PM and Sunday, October 4, as our annual mission offering Sunday. For more on praising God, here is a post about saying or singing praise daily .

Baptisms and Fall Ministries

By Chris Hefner • September 2, 2026
Church family, We celebrated baptism at 9:30 this past Sunday! It is such a joy to see believers declare publicly their allegiance to Christ through baptism. We return to fall programming on Wednesdays this week (September 2) with Awana (children) and Squads (Middle School) at 5:45.  Adult Bible study meets at 6:15pm where we will begin a study through the book of Romans: the Gospel Defined and the Gospel Applied. Sunday, September 6 begins a new sermon series: Word and Witness: Vision of the King from the Book of Revelation. Remember to park as far away as you can and sit in the middle of the sections when you attend each week. Invite a friend to worship with you this Sunday! For more information about following Jesus through discipleship groups, here is an invitation for you.

Return to Summer Programing

By Chris Hefner • August 26, 2026
Church family, we're glad to be returning to fall programming in the coming days. As folks return to worship, we are experiencing consistently high attendance each week. Please park as far away as you are able, and when you arrive for worship at 9:30 or 11:00 move to sit toward the middle of the aisle. Check out the parking map below to see available parking options and help us make space for others. As we conclude our series "More Grace: How God's Interventions Make it Possible to Follow Him," we do need more grace for our daily journey. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

The Church We Aspire to Be?

By Chris Hefner • July 29, 2026
The Church We Aspire to Be?