faithrunner

Climb to Camp Muir 2013 was a year of transition for me. I retired in June from local church ministry as Senior Pastor of Legacy Church, Plano, TX after 26  years of service with them. That same month I begin to serve with B. H. Carroll Theological Institute as Vice President for Advancement and then in October of this year I was elected to serve as their President . My climb of Mt. Rainier in August was easier than those changes in many ways. Transitions are part of life, and how we navigate them is the key to our success and our ability to stay faithful to God's call on our lives. Someone once said, "Change is easy. It's the transitions that will kill you." God is a God of change. God creates it and allows it to happen in our lives. As a servant leader who serves a group of people who are on mission with God, transitioning to adapt and embrace those changes is the bridge to how well you move forward together. Here are six rules of transition I have learn...

Sunday was my last day as Senior Pastor with the people who are Legacy Church . They blessed my family and me beyond what we deserve or expected. My oldest daughter reflected on the event and her time at Legacy. I'll let her tell you... On 
Remembering 
Legacy ...
by Storey Wilkes Cook 
 Sunday, June 2, 2013, served as a beautiful tribute to my father on his last day as Senior Pastor of Legacy Church after 26 years . I was four years old when my daddy stepped into the position, I have witnessed changes, stretching, and growth of this body throughout my life from a front row seat. A constant I have observed through the years is the unwavering character and dedication of Gene Wilkes, my remarkable father, and his steadfast and supportive partner, my mom. Thank you, Greg Sankey for dubbing my daddy as ‘remarkable’. It is a befitting and well- earned title. Kendall Brown is a man who has weathered storm upon storm with my dad and has remained by his side. It is fitting that Kenda...

This past Sunday I announced my retirement from the pastorate with Legacy Church . After 26 years of partnership with the people who are Legacy to help people trust Jesus , I am humbled to step onto the trail with B. H. Carroll Theological Institute in June to equip "men and women called to serve Christ in the diverse and global ministries of His church." B H Carroll was formed in 2004 , and I have been been a Resident Fellow with them since 2005. Soon after that, Legacy partnered with Carroll to join its nexus of Teaching Churches . In 2011, I was elected to the Board of Governors for the Institute . So, you see, I have been on the journey with them for some time. Their core strategy to return ministry training and theological education to the local church has made it possible for me to equip current and future church leaders while providing biblical and leadership studies for the local church community and the members of Legacy. Why would we make suc...

What are the symptoms of spiritual illness? How can you know if your religious and life activities are squeezing out your spiritual vitality? Here are some symptoms you may find in your own life.             Shortness of breath – this indicates you are able to spend only a minute or two in prayer at a time; wandering thoughts and a short-lived attention span are key characteristics.             Spiritual obesity – this symptom occurs when you spend too much time in religious activity at the church so that you have no time to minister to those Jesus has called you to serve.   Other symptoms include knowing more names of church friends than those without Christ or spending more time at potluck dinners at church than at neighborhood block parties to meet your neighbors.             High blood pressur...

Occasionally, as Legacy Church , we set aside days of prayer for different reasons. As we enter the season of Advent and complete our series SENT , we invite you to join us to take today t o prepare your heart for the Coming of the Christ Child at Christmas . May the Holy Spirit speak clearly to you today through these meditations. Morning Devotional: Worship To worship something is to give it a place of honor or importance. Worship = worth (of value, importance) + -ship (position). Human beings are geared to worship: the star athlete, the talented musician, the charismatic personality, the successful business leader, the creative author, the generous philanthropist, the intelligent theorist. When humans fail to impress us, we can always turn to money, power, lust, success, acceptance, love, adoration. Sometimes we even worship the reflection in the mirror. The question, then, is not “Will you worship?” but rather, “Who or what will be the object of your worship...

Ready to Serve It's Thanksgiving , and Legacy Church hosted its annual Thanksgiving Dinner for the students and families connected to the English Language Program . As a Pastor, I am seldom more proud of Legacy than when we provide the food, table hosts, and loving atmosphere for the international families in our community.  Lue Kraltchev, our Literacy Missions Director ,and her team planned and served the meal to over 400 students, their families and friends. Over 50 Legacy volunteers cooked, served and donated all the food and drinks except the ham and turkey meat. Full Plates and Hearts Legacy members and ELP faculty members also served as table hosts . They were the English experts for those who sat at their tables. I sat by two families from China, and we shared as much as we could about our homes, families, and language while sharing traditional, homemade Thanksgiving food. These table talks were where life connected to life, and hearts opened to the love of God...

Team Wing@Chosen Half Marathon This weekend was one of service and fun. Saturday I ran with Amber (Jason) Wing in the Chosen Half Marathon in New Braunfels, TX . The Wing's are working toward adopting a child from China and the run helped raise funds to do that. This was Amber's first half marathon , and she did great! The quote of the run was about mile 9 when she said, " I can't feel my legs! " Amber, every runner has said that some time in a run. Congratulations! I ran this same run with Team Bowen last year , and almost to the day, they brought their adopted son, Nik, home from Russia. You can read about their journey in their blog, Our Adoption Journey . I am honored to run with these families, and I look forward to running with a new family next year and seeing to which child God will lead Team Wing to adopt. Can I say how proud I am of Legacy Church ? After a wonderful gathered worship experience as the church, we headed out to a local school ...

Baker Books The Legacy Church LifeGroup Team is attending a 1-Day conference with ForgeDallas , a subset of ForgeAmerica . The main speaker is Michael Frost , who is known for his work and writing in the missional church movement. Ryan Hairston is a friend of Legacy, and he is our host. I'll be blogging from the conference throughout the day to give you a flavor of what we are seeing and hearing. The team is ready to go! Return the adventure to the venture! "I have come from your future to tell you are on the same decline as we [in Australia] are...that is why we formed Forge." David Bosch the mission of God is "to alert all people to the universal reign of God through Christ." God could not reign anymore if he wanted to! It is already total, complete, unfettered and utter. "Our God reigns!" Isaiah declared during captivity. Still true no matter the evidence to the contrary. Gods people are to be a trailer [movie preview] of the ag...

WCA REVEAL Survey Cally Parkinson of the Willow Creek Association recently contacted me saying she wanted to write a case study on Legacy Church because they had observed the improvement in our church's spiritual growth through the comparison of our two REVEAL surveys taken in March, 2010 and March, 2012 . I was surprised by the request since we had nothing to compare our progress to except our two survey results. So, we gathered some of our "spiritual growth team" around a conference call with Cally, and we told our story.  Rather than describe the case study, here it is in its entirety. I am thankful to the ministry directors, church leadership team, and two members who made up our spiritual growth team , and to the staff and members who implemented their plan to "help people trust Jesus." --> Legacy Church, Plano, TX Case Study (c) Willow Creek Association, 2012 Picture the nation’s 70 th most populous city—one named, in ...