the    sides

This guy right here has probably had more influence on me as a pastor than any other man – minus my two dads (Ron and Big Tom) – in my life.

I’ll give you the quick bio about him. His name is Gene Wilkes. His bride is Kim. Gene is the pastor of Legacy Church in Plano. He’s written Jesus on Leadership and Paul on Leadership. Impressed yet?

Yeah, neither am I. What impresses me about Gene is that my wife caught him singing Billy Ocean tunes at the top of his lungs when she went to babysit for him. (It was the ’80’s and hey – we all sang Billy Ocean tunes…Get out of my dreams, get into my car.)

He’s in town to do a Men’s Retreat for us and we’ve had all day to hang with each other and it’s like we never were apart. He started quoting Napoleon Dynamite during dinner. Gosh! Eat your food Tina! I got him addicted to wireless internet at Java, thank you Best Buy.

This is not going to turn into a Gene Wilkes Appreciation Blog, but I do want to challenge us leaders this way. One thing Gene did that still is part of my DNA – access. Gene gave me access to his life, his failures, his success, his insecurities, and his insights.

I still think that is the best way to do disciplship, the best way to lifewalk transformationally with others.

Thanks, Gene-O. You can go back to your Billy Ocean hits.