Church Family,



Thank you for your participation in leadership decisions at WBC. You should have received by mail the deacon nomination forms. Please prayerfully consider who you should nominate to be a deacon. We want to introduce you to a candidate for elder, Dustin Deal.


Grace and Peace this week,

Dr. Hefner


ELDER CANDIDATE


Dustin Deal came to Christ as a young child and began attending the youth group at Wilkesboro Baptist Church in middle school at the invitation of many of his closest friends. He became a member at the age of 16 in June of 2001. He is married to his high-school sweetheart, Whitney Deal, and they have three daughters: Glory Maeve, Mercer, and Ruthie. The Deals lived and worked away from Wilkes after college before finding their way back home (and back to WBC) in 2012. Dustin was a praise team volunteer for many years before joining our staff on a part-time basis as Minister of Music.



He served in that role from January 2022-September 2024. Additionally, he served on the Pastor Search Committee (2014-2015), as a Deacon (ordained in 2015), and as an adult Sunday School teacher. Currently, Dustin is active teaching High School Sunday school and still participates in the worship team. On Friday mornings, you can find him at Cagney’s in a discipleship great group. He holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree from NC State University and co-owns an insurance agency in Wilkesboro with his sister. He is a lifelong musician and music lover, an avid reader, a student of God's word, and loves life and adventures with his wife and three daughters.


Dustin will be sharing during the adult Bible study window on Wednesday night, October 15. He will lead in the confession and prayer time on Sunday morning, October 19. At both of those opportunities, Dustin will be available for questions you may have. The church will vote on Dustin Deal for the role of Elder on Sunday morning November 9.

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?

God is Sending You!

By Chris Hefner • July 22, 2026
Church family, Thank you for your prayers and support for our student mission trip to El Salvador! At worship yesterday, our students shared their experiences about how God worked in and through them. Josh challenged us to adopt Paul's mindset of embracing our identity in Christ, our responsibility to lead others to Christ, and the people to whom God has sent us. Do you realize God is sending you? Wherever you are (work, home, leisure, hobby), there are people who need to know the love of God and the goodness of his gospel. Will you look around you? Who is someone you can pause to pray for right now? Who do you need to set an appointment with to share the gospel? We should be deeply thankful that God sent someone to us with his gospel so we could experience his grace and redemption. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris God alone is worthy of our worship and adoration. For more, check out The Cure for an Idolatrous Heart