Church family, I want to thank the Personnel Committee and Elders for granting me a sabbatical. I will be in the office this week (January 5-11) and will preach on Sunday, January 11. My sabbatical will be January 12 through February 16. During that time, I have plans to read, write, rest, and refresh my soul.


You can be confident in the leadership and teaching/preaching while I’m out of the office. Your affirmation of our qualified elders has been a great blessing to me and a measure of health for Wilkesboro Baptist Church. On Sundays, Tad Craig and Steve Robinson are scheduled to preach on the book of James. On Wednesdays, each elder will take a Wednesday teaching slot working through the virtue list in 2 Peter 1:5-11.


Also, every Wednesday afternoon, an elder will be available in my office for counsel, prayer, or meeting with prospective church members. That schedule for elder availability will be posted in the Beacon and Worship Guide. During those five weeks, you will continue to see my family at church. I will be disconnecting from much communication during this season.


If you have a critical need, you can trust our pastors and elders to care for you. Here are some ways you can help me and WBC through this season. First, lead others to follow Jesus by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. Second, find a place to serve. If you aren’t serving, make time to talk to a pastor or elder about where you can serve. Third, pray for pastors, elders, deacons, and staff during these weeks where they will increase their workload. Fourth, pray for me during this season that I will rest in God and hear from God. Thank you for your prayers and support.


Grace and peace to you this season.

Pastor Chris

The Church We Aspire to Be?

By Betsy McNeil • 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

Student Mission Trip Update

By Chris Hefner • July 15, 2026
Church family, We hope you can join us Sunday, July 19, as we hear from our students and El Salvador mission team. We will also have our Member Meeting on July 19 at 5:30 pm. This past Sunday, as we looked at Numbers 21, we reflected that the course we're on is tainted by grief and sadness, littered with difficulties and battles, and often jaded by the lengthy journey. Some of us are going through situations right now. Others have been through them recently. All of us will face difficulties and trials in the coming days. I've tried to write regularly to encourage others and for the benefit of my own soul. The following post comes from the Bible study on Wednesday July 8 and the condition of my own soul. I pray it helps and encourages you through situations and circumstances. https://chrishefner.org/2026/07/10/medicine-for-a-deserted-heart/

Taking Time to Pray

By Chris Hefner • July 8, 2026
Church family, As God's people, we should be amazed by God's grace and goodness in making us his own. That we belong to the Lord, we should pray for our nation. One of the most effective things we can do for others and for our country is to pray. This week, would you make time to pray for our church, for those who don't know Jesus, and for God to send a revival to our nation? Also, pray for our church mission team heading out to El Salvador early Thursday morning. Follow my blog for a post later this week on prayers you can pray for our mission team. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris Eight Prayers You Can Pray for Our Mission Teams

Sovereignty and Freedom

By Chris Hefner • July 1, 2026
Church family, This week our nation will celebrate 250 years of freedom. We ought to rejoice in the freedoms we have as we lament the amoral condition of our country. As you go about your week, look around you for evidence of God's sovereign interventions. Be assured of his sovereignty. This coming week, I will share two additional posts to my blog. Monday's meditation is about courage and following God even out of our comfort zones.  On Wednesday, I'll share a Christian perspective on our nation's 250-year celebration. I would encourage you to follow the link below for a post about God's sovereignty. At the bottom of the post, subscribe, and you'll get each of my posts sent to you. Grace and peace, Pastor Chris

VBS Recognition

By Chris Hefner • June 26, 2026
Church family, what a great week at VBS! Our children traveled to Rome to see Paul in prison for the gospel. A great shoutout to our Minister of Children and Families, Danielle Hicks, our VBS Director, Rachel Rogers, and the nearly 100 volunteers and leaders who made this year's VBS possible. We had several children make decisions to follow Jesus and many more continue conversations with leaders and parents about Christ. Parents and grandparents who are reading this, let me offer this advice to you: "Lead your children to follow Jesus one conversation at a time." Ask them what they learned at VBS or in Sunday school or in Awana. Ask them what it means to be a Christian. Ask them if they would like to hear how you became a follower of Jesus. Those kinds of questions keep the conversation going about following Jesus. Whatever we do for the gospel, we do "for the sake of his Name." https://chrishefner.org/2026/06/19/for-the-sake-of-his-name/

Camp and the SBC

By Chris Hefner • June 17, 2026
Thank you church family for your prayers last week. Our students had a great time at camp, and we will be planning a baptism soon! The Lord answered our prayers. Thank you for praying for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. I will be giving a report on Wednesday evening, June 24, at 6:15pm. There will be time for questions as well. You can read some of my initial observations below. For this week, keep all the VBS workers and children in your prayers.  Pray for energy, strength, patience, and clarity for the workers. Pray that the children who don't yet know Christ will hear the gospel clearly and respond by following Jesus.

Summer at Wilkesboro Baptist

By Chris Hefner • June 12, 2026
Church family, Summer is here! The next few weeks are significant for our students and children. Our students will be at camp. Pray for them to experience God and for those who don't know Jesus. Remember to register your children for VBS and consider registering to serve at VBS. Pray for our leaders, volunteers, and especially for the children who don't yet know Jesus. I believe the next couple of weeks for many of our children, students, and adults will provide opportunities for divine appointments. We should anticipate the appointments ahead of us. Let's make the most of this summer. Maximize Your Summer: Spiritual Growth Tips  Grace and Peace, Dr. Hefner

VBS and Spiritual Life During Summer

By Chris Hefner • June 4, 2026
Church family, the summer months are here. Next Monday (June 8 ), our students will go to camp. Sunday, June 14, begins VBS . Would you take some extra time over the next few weeks to pray for our children, students, leaders, and families? Camp and VBS are important opportunities for the gospel to bear fruit in hearts and lives. As we navigate the start of summer, keep in mind God's command to gather for worship weekly. We know that many of us will be traveling, but plan to gather with us regularly for worship. Practicing our Journey Outcomes that flow from our mission will help us remain faithful even during the busyness and traveling of the summer. #Say or sing praise to God daily. #Engage in gathered worship. #Listen to God daily through Scripture and worship. For more on practicing rest and worship, see the post below about Sabbath. https://chrishefner.org/2026/05/29/sabbath-a-noun-or-verb/

Reading Recommendations

By Chris Hefner • May 28, 2026
Church family, thank you for the opportunity to take a sabbatical earlier this year. The rest and opportunity to be refreshed could not have come at a better time. During my time away, I was able to read, be refreshed, and do some writing. Several of the books I read during that season intersected with each other. In the blog post attached below (if you're reading the emailed version of the Beacon), I've shared some thoughts about how Christians can respond in part to the critical theories and technological challenges of our day. Grace and Peace, Dr. Hefner