Engaged worship lasts.

When you have nothing else to think about, what does your mind run to? This is a good way to test our worship and even our idols. If our minds run to a person, security, a career, something out there in the future, then maybe that thing is what we most long for—maybe that thing is an idol—what we’re worshiping. If our minds run to something we have (a person, thing, or experience), maybe that thing is an idol. It is easy to see when we’re completely still and our minds have nothing required of them, what do our minds move to? Career, pleasure, security, desire, person, smartphone? Or God himself? If you are a follower of Jesus, in love with God, and a worshiper of Christ, your mind should often run to the glory, grandeur, worth, praise, majesty, and beauty of God through Jesus Christ. 


As followers of Jesus who have experienced the gracious redemption of a glorious Savior, contemplating God through Christ is an act of worship. Anselm put it this way, "God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived." You will not think a better or more lasting thought today than any true thought you think about God in worship.


The two Journey Outcomes for worship are as follows:


Personal: Say or sing praise to God daily from Scripture and in prayer. 

Corporate: Engage intentionally in gathered worship. (Gather weekly, sing joyfully, listen attentively, take notes, give generously). 


Let me encourage you this week to make time to say or sing praise to God daily. Tell him his greatness. Ascribe to him his worth. Praise him for his glory. Thank him for his goodness to you. Daily worship and praise should be the way we live.


When you come to worship this upcoming Sunday, plan to be engaged. Sing, listen, take notes, give, and participate in worship.


To get very practical for a moment, let me make a recommendation to you. Would you take whatever calendar you use and put your Sunday morning worship on the calendar? This will do two things. First, it sets worship as a priority. Things that go on the calendar in our shared google calendar are things we don't want to forget. So just the act of putting your gathered worship on the calendar is a way to set a priority. Second, it will remind you that you're missing worship if you put an event on your calendar that overlaps on a Sunday. I understand there are reasons we can't have perfect attendance for gathered weekly worship (work, sickness, travel). But I'm afraid too many professing Christians treat gathered worship as something to do if nothing else is happening.


Biblically, it is untenable to be a Christian who does not regularly gather for worship. It is impossible to follow Jesus without worshiping Jesus. Gathered worship for the follower of Jesus should be a priority.


You may find it beneficial to put your daily devotion (Bible reading, prayer, and personal worship) on a calendar as well. I have it on a weekly calendar that I use for personal scheduling and keeping my life on track.


Let's put this past Sunday's sermon into action and worship personally each day and corporately as we gather this upcoming Sunday.

Following Jesus Begins with Worship

By Chris Hefner • September 9, 2025
Church family, following Jesus begins with worship. The culmination of our journey as followers of Jesus will be worship in God’s presence in heaven. This means that it is biblically untenable for a Christian to live life without worshiping Jesus. You might be a Christian and not worship Jesus; that is possible. But you cannot be following Jesus and not worship Jesus. Thank you for gathering with us this past week in corporate worship. If you weren’t able to make it, I would encourage you to watch the sermon online this week. The first step in our mission of leading our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus is worship. The two journey outcomes for worship are: 1) Say or sing praise to God daily from Scripture and in prayer. 2). Engage intentionally in gathered worship. (Gather weekly, sing joyfully, listen attentively, take notes, give generously). Let me encourage you to put a few things on your personal or family calendar. First, I would suggest that you put Sunday AM worship on your calendar. If it’s important enough to be on your calendar, it will be a good regular reminder to gather with fellow believers. Second, please put September 21 at 5:30 on your calendar for our 5th Member Meeting of the year. We have several items for the members to address. Grace and Peace, Dr. Hefner

New Sermon Series: Follow Jesus - Living a Life that Lasts

By Chris Hefner • September 4, 2025
Church Family, This Sunday, we begin a four week sermon series entitled, Follow Jesus: Living a Life that Lasts. While we will look at complementary passages, this four week study will focus intently on Jesus’ Great Commission from Matthew 28:16-20. This series is intended to be a reminder of our mission: leading our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus, and our four mission steps: worship (Sept. 7), learn (Sept. 14), serve (Sept. 21), and replicate (Sept. 28). We follow Jesus at WBC by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. Our aim is not just to be attenders or even members, but to be followers of Jesus. In this series, we’re going to invite you to consider where you are on your journey as a follower of Jesus and to take the next step. Pay attention to our church communication over the next weeks. We’re going to provide you with practical outcomes for following Jesus in these four steps and assessment questions for your own spiritual journey. Let’s follow Jesus together and invite others to begin their journey as Christ-followers. Grace and Peace this week, Dr. Hefner

Following Jesus Journey Outcomes

By Chris Hefner • September 3, 2025
Follow Jesus: Living a Life that Lasts

Mercies of the Book of Psalms

By Chris Hefner • August 29, 2025
Church Family, Our summer sermon series, Sovereignty and Struggle: Hope from the Bible’s Songbook , has been especially meaningful to me. I’m deeply grateful for God’s mercy expressed in the book of Psalms and trust that you have been encouraged as well. In the Psalms, we discover God’s invitation to emotional vulnerability and analytical thinking. More importantly, we find reasons to praise and glorify God as Creator, Redeemer, and King. In Psalm 34:18, David testifies, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” There are many in our church family who find themselves brokenhearted and troubled in spirit. Would you pray for them today? If you are not already reading the Bible every day and listening as God speaks to you through his Word, would you begin reading and praying through the Psalms daily? Consider reading one to three Psalms each day. Pause when a verse stands out. Pray it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Let God’s word speak to you regularly. Grace and Peace this week, Dr. Hefner

Deacon Ministry Banquet

By Chris Hefner • August 20, 2025
Church family, at church on August 17, our deacons hosted their deacon ministry members (widows, widowers, shut-ins, etc.). It is a blessing to be a part of a church that serves! In Acts 6, you can read about the first deacons waiting tables and ministering in the first church. Our deacons yesterday modeled that approach. Watching them bring meals, coffee, desserts, host tables, and have conversations exemplifies the serve step of our church mission. Thank you deacons for serving here at WBC! I also want to thank the women’s ministry care team for all the meals they provide church members in need. Landon and Ashley House, as well as deacon leaders and their wives, thank you for planning, coordinating, decorating, and organizing yesterday’s meal! It is an honor to serve alongside you as we care for our church family and lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus. Grace and Peace this week, Pastor Chris

Pray for El Salvador and Church Updates

By Chris Hefner • August 13, 2025
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

Missions and Leadership School Update

By Chris Hefner • August 7, 2025
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 Church Update

By Chris Hefner • July 30, 2025
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

Member Meeting Update and Mission Teams

By Chris Hefner • July 23, 2025
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

Baptism and Member Meeting

By Chris Hefner • July 15, 2025
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