The Wilkes Team

[svgallery name="jtth08"]

The distant rising sun was only just peeking up upon the cool, frost blanketed morning as our group of 20 arose early Tuesday morning. A tinge of excitement was in the air as we began this Journey in the Northwoods. In fulfillment of Christ’s Command to ‘Seek Ye First,’ each one spent a season of time with the Master. The second Journey had begun aright.

As the week would move on, the hand of God and His still small voice were manifested to not a few in our midst. Through the leadership of Chad Paine & James Staddon, guided by the Holy Spirit, we embarked upon an incredible journey into our hearts with the ever pure candle of the Lord, searching all our inward parts (Prov. 20:27). We discovered just how deceitfully wicked our hearts truly are (Jer. 17:9).

The blessing of one of accord that comes through confessing our faults one to another was present the very first session when Chad lead the group in a time of praising the Lord followed by a season of confessing any and all competing affections. Revelations 2:4 bears a stark warning to the church for losing their first love. Competing affections can be discerned through honestly evaluating the true delights of our heart. For “where our treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt. 6:21).”

Further study lead us to discern whether or not 6 bad hearts were present in our life (murmuring, fearful, adulterous, deceitful, uncircumcised, & prideful hearts). Through such soul searching questions as the following, we realized the true� wickedness of our hearts & thereby our need for the Holy Spirit and the all cleansing Word of God:

- Do you complain about frustrating situations, rather than ask God to bless the people involved with needed qualities and creative solutions?

- Do you refrain from prayerfully and lovingly confronting friends who violate Godly standards?

- Do you spend more time with temporal things than eternal?

- Do you secretly desire “forbidden fruit?”

- Do you have hidden sin that you are afraid to confess?

- Do you envy those you think are more attractive or talented?

- Do you enjoy telling people of the failures and troubles that others are experiencing, thus making you look good?

This was followed with beginning a powerful study on 12 good hearts every Christian should develop (clean, pure, wise, broken, tender, meek, circumcised, large, faithful, perfect, sound, and merry hearts).

Members of this Journey to the heart walked away with a greater desire to seek the face of Jesus, a recognition of their need to conduct regular heart checks, and a keen awareness of the true condition of their hearts.

Lives were touched as the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit worked in our midst. God was truly glorified and we stand in awe of His powerful doings to those who humbly submit themselves to His grace.

6 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports

Following the weekend inspection of week three, two vans full of Life Focus students & leaders with all their gear exited the east entrance of ITC’s parking lot for the beginning of two incredible journeys – one to a physical destination and the other to the heart.

Our first stopping point was IBLP’s Headquarters in Chicago. We were welcomed by warm hospitality almost the moment of our arrival. Our lodgings (a spacious home at 4006 Adams St) had neatly made beds, clean towels, boxes of food, & plenty of space for our team of weary, hungry guys.

Our 36 hours in Chicago were full of dynamic preparatory training for the week that lay ahead. Lead by Dr. Gothard and his enthusiastic support team, we received timely instruction on the rewards of making personal vows, the effects of music, God’s will for our life, the blessing of being completely open with our parents, the power of one accord & how to achieve it, and so much more.

Director Ritchie did a super job keeping our entire team punctual to all meetings. Monday morning the vans were loaded up and everyone arrived at the PC by 7:45 for the daily staff meeting.

It wouldn’t be long before the Journey would continue. A quick picture following the meeting, a word of prayer with Dr. Gothard,  one more stop at our house, and Life Focus was on the road by 10am!

The hours ticked quickly by. We arrived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan around 8pm at IBLP’s Northwoods Conference Center. Our 2nd journey, a journey to our hearts, would begin the next morning. God has great things in store!

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13

4 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports, Photography

Week three of Life Focus was centered around discovering keys to resolving the root causes behind conflicts people have with authority, their design, siblings, moral purity, suffering, etc through the teachings of IBLP’s Basic Seminar.

For example…

Can you recognize the basic steps in the breakdown of a parent and child relationship?

Do you know what one of satan’s goals is for your life?         To fulfill God’s vision with human effort.

How does God use problems, irritations, & responsibilities for you to reach your full potential?

Know two critical points that should be considered when debating points of doctrine? 1. What verses (multiple) confirm your point? 2.How does this doctrine lead to Christ-like living?

Four insights into finding God’s specific will:

1. God’s will involves people: John 3:16

2. Fear of people must be overcome – see needs (1John 4:18)

3. God’s special concern is Christians, because demonstration is better than information.

4. Key to finding God’s will: Dedication to God’s reputation

These are but a few snippets of the dynamic, life changing principles we learned. 32 hours of seminar can be a lot to digest. Thus, each student was encouraged to walk away with just one or two key principles to apply.

There continued to be opportunities to serve peppered throughout the week. Both teams joined forces for a detailed cleaning of the van Green team took to Eagle Springs the week before. A focus of the project was to go for excellence vs. the norm as dirt was cleaned from all sorts of nooks & crannies. . The same energy was exerted later on in the week, when both teams were awakened in the middle of the night for an extensive, detailed 4+ hour kitchen clean-up. Finally, Blue Team worked on digging two holes (3 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep) through the asphalt for new parking lot entry gates.

And of course, we couldn’t let boss day (October 16th) pass without honoring our bold & faithful leader,”Director Ritchie.” We appreciate the sacrificial effort he  has put in to make Life Focus XVI a blessing to both the leaders & students.

Life Focus hit the road again for what  would be the beginning of 2 Journeys. Stay tuned for more as we continue to bring the latest for   Life FOCUS XVI. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Foundational Opportunities Centered Upon Christ!

1 Comment » | posted in Ministry Reports

Snakes can cause all kinds of reactions from a person!

We found one outside recently and I was reminded of the snake adventure I had a couple years ago!

I was working quite quickly one night in the basement. There were some toys and things that had been left out and I was picking them up and putting them away. I was doing this all in very low lighting (trying to conserve energy)   I was scooping up some toys when something slippery and slimy slid through my fingers. I gasped and dropped all the toys back on the floor and went for a light!

Low and behold there it was! A SNAKE! I had picked it up unknowingly! It was then I remember that all my knights in shining armor where out for the evening! And Mom and the little kids were all in bed.

This meant I would have to take him on myself! For I could not think to leave a snake in the house!!! I ran upstairs and grabbed a plastic container. Praise the Lord is was just a small snake! I ran back down to the basement, went to the spot where I had dropped it annnndddd…. It was GONE!

O, NO! I pulled back the carpet and there he was! I gripped my container firmly and in one swoop and a bang the snake was under the container. I had a lid ready to put on the container.  I tilled the container, pushed him in, sealed the lid securely and put him out on the back deck for the guys to view and take care of. Whew!!

As of today that was the last encounter I have had with a snake in the house. And I do hope it will be the last.  

Ephesians 4:26 came to mind. “…Let not the sun gone down upon thy wrath.”  For this snake was defiantly something I could not let wait till the next day to take care of. Because of the bad affects it would have on our home!

May we deal not only with physical things that could harm us in the day that we hear it but deal also with hidden issues of our hearts before the day ends! Prov. 4: 23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence: for out of it are the issues of life.”

2 Comments » | posted in Family News

Mom turns to Kenan, Adam and Markie and says " We only have 20 minutes to get all of these apples from that bin into the van. Because they are about to close. Do you think we can do it?"

The bounty of apples is in!

One of the things we love about fall time is that apples are ready to be picked and then turned into many delicious things! From apple sauce, apple jelly, apple butter, and apple pie filling!! 

Mom, Kenan, Adam, Hannah, and Markie (the rest of the team were away for the week) went to a couple different orchards to find the best deals on some apples.

They pulled up to this one orchard and Mom jumped out to check on their pricing and apple types when the owner of the orchard said they would be closing in 20 minutes.

Mom looked at the apples and saw the price and  type and realized that these were the ones that we should get. But we had a problem. We only had 20 minutes to take the apples from the huge bin to the van with only the help of a single small box.   And if we did not get them today we probable would not be able to get them at all. Since we live at such a distance from this orchard.

Mom turns and shares the situation with Kenan, Adam and Markie. Who eagerly and with all enthusiasm took on the challenge of running back and forth with this box loading our van full of apples. They had a blast and at the end of 20 minutes they had 8 bushels of apples in the back of the van!!!

The man who owned the orchard was so encouraged, and impacted by the diligence of these three young men that he offered all three of them a job right there! He asked Mom where we lived and wanted Kenan, Adam, and Markie there the next day!

Diligence, joyful, responsible, enthusiastic, alert, obedient, enduring, and honoring young people is not the norm in our society today.  Learn the character of Christ! Deepen your walk with the Lord. Spend time with Him. For it is only through the help of Jesus that we will be able to truly bless those around us.

What an encouragement Kenan, Adam, and Markie were to us in their joy of serving their Lord by helping their Mom! And because of that God received honor that day! A man was mightily blessed by the godly character in these young men. And we as a family received the joy of being used by God and encouraged to continue looking for opportunities to bless others!

And that is the way it should always be!!

2 Comments » | posted in Family News

Ssshhhhh!!! We don’t want to scare the deer!

Some of the Wilkes team woke up real early Thursday morning to go bow hunting on the land.

Others came out later and as we drove up to the land I was encouraged by some other eager hunters in the car to drive as quietly as possible and to stop before I reach the top of the hill.

Communication between those out on the property hunting and us in the car was made through walkie talkies. This was just the beginning of a great day!

We dropped off some at the land and picked up others and went and met with our builder. We are still in the paper stages but getting closer!!

We came back to the land and had a great picnic lunch. Hoping that maybe someone got a deer but, not this time.

It was such a beautiful day! The farmer who takes the hay off our property had just gathered the hay in bails. And there is nothing prettier than seeing a field of green grass and bails of hay sprinkled throughout it!

Daniel and Kenan checked on the bees. They are doing great.  Dad did some finally mowing for the year.  And the younger ones had a blast in the hay fields!

It was a wonderfully relaxing and joyous day together!

4 Comments » | posted in Family News, Farming 101

“Everybody up! You have 3 minutes to be in PT gear and in the hallway. Let’s move!” Sunday morning of week 2 started with a surprise wake-up. Once in the hallway, everyone knocked out a few push-ups & flutter kicks before positioning ourselves in the flaming chariot position with hands straight out, palms up. Moments later, ATL Freeman & ALC McClary came around the corner with an unexpected breakfast of homemade cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. Needless to say, Mrs. Ritchie became an instant favorite of our team .

An objective of Life Focus is for each student to center his life around Christ while developing a focus on the needs of others. Countless opportunities are provided over the course of the program unto this end.

Week two of Focus revolved around IBLP’s annual Counseling Seminar. Tuesday evening an army of mighty young people & parents gathered in ITC’s auditorium for the opening session.

Powerful Moment #1

Each member of our team walked away with life changing insights & motivating principles. Team meetings throughout the week provided opportunities to give testimony of how God was working. A meaningful moment was Wednesday evening when each team member prayed a beautiful blessing over their Dad. Asking God to bless them with love and the power to communicate.

Powerful Moment #2

While the students have been diligently working these past two weeks, others have been watching. One recent day, the owner of several local McDonalds in Indianapolis stopped by the training center. Looking out the window, he eyed the wholehearted work of the students and was so impressed by their servant’s hearts that he invited the team down to one of his McDonalds for a full meal at no cost. This left a powerful reminder that when we wholeheartedly serve with no thought of gain, God takes joy in abundantly blessing!

Powerful Moment #3

Mr. Gross, the Chef here at ITC, encouraged our team to engage in a team building project: singing! We had our first practice Wednesday afternoon and quickly realized it would require some work for our team to harmonize. Mr. Gross had requested that our team sing a song after the final dinner (Friday) of the Seminar. But at this moment, the probability of doing so was low. Friday morning, the team hustled up the stairs to floor 13 for another practice session. Rather unexpectedly, the team began to harmonize together. One of the students, Jonathan, has a gift of singing and provided key tips for helping us blend. The result was a beautiful rendition of “Be Thou My Vision.” Mr. Gross’s word in due season provided a meaningful project that drew us together, revealed the power of team work, & manifested the mighty hand of God.

Highlights of the week:

Jennifer quickly became another blessing to our team after she helped Mrs. Ritchie cook up a delicious batch of Apple Dumplings. Not too long after the students went to bed Friday evening, we woke them up & ran up to the 13th floor kitchen for apple dumplings & milk. Good work Blue Team. Way to serve the Counseling Seminar attendees! There is joy in serving others and abundant when Christ is central.

7 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports