The Wilkes Team

Ps 139:14 says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

What an incredible blessing a baby is to a mother, father, and family! As we wait to hold our newest little member of the family we continue to lift praises to God for the blessing of life!

Each year our local Pregnancy Center hosts a walk for life in downtown Culpeper. It was with great joy and desire that we as a family went and served this powerful, life changing ministry in this endeavor.

What a blessing it was to see so many individuals from different churches represented that day. We all linked arms together in a cause worthy of our prayers, time, and resources.

It is sobering to realize that 42% of women have aborted at least once. 21% of those 42% have aborted more than once. We must be crying out to God that He would have mercy on us and bring a revival to our nation! Abortions wont stop till the needs, hurts, fears, and pain that women are facing in our culture are enveloped in the love of the Giver of Life -Jesus Christ. Through Christ, we can be used to bring that message of peace, love and life.

How will the world know us? By the love we have one towards another.

John 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Revival must start in our hearts first. May God give us a burden for the needy. They are all around us. Are we willing to walk along side them and help them carry their burden to the foot of the cross? 

The world is crying out for answers. People need help walking through their past. They are desperately seeking peace, hope, and joy. But where are the laborers? Do we see the need?

I have been extremely convicted lately of my lack of fervency for the lost. It is so easy to get caught up in my day to day activities that the bigger picture can become foggy. We must do a reality check often. We must ask ourselves – Why are we here? Christ could come at any moment! Are we fulfilling the work of God?    

Christ himself read these verses to the Jews present that day in the synagogue, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

This is what we are to be about! Go forward living by faith. Establish yourself in the truth. Live like it is your last day. Love the unlovable. Then watch God strengthen, establish, and settle you as you understand more and more His nature.

2 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports

Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Isaiah. 26:4

We rejoice over the goodness of the Lord demonstrated at the recent FEW Conference in North Carolina. Through the leading of the Lord, families gathered together for a truly uplifting weekend full of encouragement, exhortation, and wholesome fellowship. We all left the weekend full of joy and with renewed purpose and vision in re-entering the precious corners of the world that God has called us to.
There are still three more to go this year. We would love to have you join us. Feel free to contact with any questions, for additional details, or to register for any one of these conferences:

• Salem, WV – July 6-7
• Culpeper, VA – August 10-11
• Greenfield, NH – September 7-8

When we as families come to recognize our desperate need for our all sufficient Savior and surrender ourselves to His lead, the Lord gives us His grace to live our lives in such a way that others are drawn to Christ and God is glorified. During the weekend of the NC FEW, families were challenged and exhorted to seek God’s best and be prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. There is hope when our eyes are fixed on Christ. There is hope when we follow His ways. 
Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Persevere! Christ promised that in this world there would be trial and tribulation but we can be of good cheer for Christ has won the victory and given us exceeding great and precious promises to keep us from the corruption of this world. 
We look forward to the upcoming conferences and hope you are able to come. May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with and upon you all.

A Mother and Daughter Session!

www.FEWConference.com       info@FEWConference.com

7 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports

Make me a blessing,
Make me a blessing,
Out of my life
out of my life
May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O savior, I pray,
I pray Thee, my Savior,
Make me a blessing to someone today.

Out in the highways and byways of life,
many are weary and sad;
are weary and sad
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife
making the sorrowing glad.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love;
Tell of His pow’r to forgive;
His pow’r to forgive.
Others will trust Him if only you prove
true ev’ry moment you live.

Give as ’twas given to you in your need;
Love as the Master loved you;
Be to the helpless a helper indeed;
Unto your mission be true.

 
Earlier this month the Lord gave us an opportunity to go and serve one who has blessed our family in so many ways throughout the years.   

Uncle Bill had over 20,000 Shepherded Guides (a Christian phone/contact book) to mail and deliver. He had only two days to complete this task due to having surgery later on that week. When it was brought to our attention regarding this need, with joy, we piled in the car and headed to Maryland to help.

With many hands, a ton of enthusiasm, and joy, the job was completed in record time. The Lord truly oversaw the work of our hands. We were able to deliver and mail all the guides in two days!

Praise the Lord for opportunities to be a blessing!

_______________________________________________

May the love of Christ continue to abound richly in us all towards our fellow man. May His love empower us to go out and do His work.

A couple more pictures from our time together.

5 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports

Through a series of communication avenues, certain individuals, and the workings of Divine Providence, an opportunity arose for Sarah to play her harp at an event in Culpeper. She practiced and prepared and then the time came – Tuesday evening, 6:00pm. None of us in the family were actually sure what to expect at this event. We knew the Thanksgiving holiday was it’s impetus and we also knew they were going to have a guest speaker, U.S. Senate Chaplain, Barry Black. Nevertheless, the result of this event exceeded are expectations as we witnessed Culpeper coming together to give thanks to their Creator and Lord.

The service was initiated with the color guard and harp music playing in the background. Next, a series of introductory remarks were given, including gratefulness to our civil leaders (many of whom were present), a reading of the VA Governor’s Thanksgiving proclamation, and most importantly, praise and adulations to the Giver of all things, our God and Creator.

Then Rev. Black came forward and preached a sound, biblically based, and practical message on the importance of Thanksgiving. During his message, he alluded to experiences from his life relating to Thanksgiving. He shared how rough his beginning was of living in the hood of Washington DC and growing up in a single parent home. He also spoke of his mother instructing him in the scriptures and challenging him to memorize scripture. One day his mother brought him a recording of a Sermon preached by former Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall. Young eight year old Black listened to this message. Liking it so much, he listened to it again, again, and again. Then finally, he had memorized the sermon word for word. This young boy was inspired by this message not knowing in the least how God would place him in the exact same position as the Reverend who gave the message. These stories he shared with a true sense of gratefulness in how God had worked in his life. Another aspect of his message, which inspired the whole Wilkes team, was his Scripture memory. Verse after verse flowed from the man’s lips, verses that had been internalized and applied.

We are so thankful to have had the opportunity of attending this Thanksgiving service. It is an event we will remember for many years to come. We also are abundantly grateful for both church and civil leaders of the City of Culpeper who put this event  together, and their understanding of what Thanksgiving is truly all about.

5 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports

Two weekends ago the Stelzl family drove the long trip up from North Carolina to put on a workshop in Culpeper VA. A workshop specifically geared towards instructing families in raising entrepreneurs. The investment, the energy, the zeal, and the enthusiasm produced from the Stelzl family encouraged all who attended. Hearing from Mr. Stelzl’s wealth of experience and listening to the testimonies of his family helped put together a wonderful biblical perspective on how Christian families should view education, business and success.

In today’s American culture, entrepreneurship is slowly becoming a lost art. The modern education system doesn’t teach it. The corporate world purposes to have it extinguished. Even the federal and state governments often wield their regulatory power against it. Nevertheless, though it is attacked from many different fronts, Mr. Stelzl  passionately proclaimed that entrepreneurship is still alive and well in the United States. The potential opportunities are just waiting to be harnessed. So often, the only factor missing is the entrepreneur!

A primary focus of the conference was the Christian family.  Mr. Stelzl shared that Christ-centered families are so necessary.  They are the ones willing to bank upon the providence of God and use the gifts God has given them to meet needs through business. The family also is a prime environment for, handling failures, practicing innovation, and building businesses on the unchanging principles of God’s word.

    Exhorting – Encouraging – Brainstorming – Fellowshipping occurred all weekend!

Meal times!

  I don’t believe one attendee went away from the conference with out hope and vision for what the future could hold. Ideas were bouncing around the room, which led to thought provoking questions, and ended with good solid answers. It was a glorious time to consider how God would have us handle that wonderful and necessary activity called working for profit.

If you’re interested in gathering  further information about these Raising Entrepreneurs Workshops please visit the Stelzl family blog, Mr. David Stelzl’s blog, and also www.RaisingEntrepreneurs.net.

2 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports, On the Issues

The faithfulness of God isn’t dependent on man’s decisions, nor is it manipulated by temporal experience and physical events. The faithfulness of God is built on the unchanging promises of God’s word. A wonderful testimony of this truth recently came about in the form of the West Virginia Family Encouragement Weekend. Being the first of it’s kind in the wild wonderful state of West Virginia we we’re filled with excitement to see how God would work. From going through the weekend, we found God’s faithfulness glimmer through conversations, messages, and songs so frequently and so poignantly.  Now that the conference is over the memories cause us to rejoice again and again at what God accomplished. He accomplished His will, He performed His master plan, and we stand in awe. Thank you Heavenly Father for your faithfulness to us. We truly don’t deserve it but may we always be grateful.

2 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports