Our People: Repairing the world

Rev. Keith Wilks was born and raised in Los Angeles. He grew up with four brothers and was raised in the Catholic school from grades 1-8. His father worked for the postal service and his late mother worked for the school system.

He began his ministerial life in 1988 in Yuma, Arizona. Wilks earned his master of divinity from The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He has ministered for 29 years in many towns across southwestern states like Arizona and New Mexico and further south in South Carolina and Georgia.

He has served eight years as a hospice chaplain and has also served as hospital Chaplain. He authored a book about addiction in the pulpit and has written several articles about grief and recovery.

Rev. Wilks has been pastor of First United Methodist Church in Portales for two and a half years and has lead the traveling ministry for nearly two years.

What do you like or enjoy the most about your ministry?

Participating in the transformation of lives for the betterment of the world.

What is the most difficult part about being a pastor today versus when you first started ministering?

I would say its easier pastoring today than it was when I started. Certainly I've seen churches and the world change but one of the difficulties, if any, is helping the church stay relevant in such a global technologically advanced world. Before, the pastoral focus was our neighborhoods. But now, because people are so much more enlightened ... How do we (the church) maintain relevance?

What's your idea of a perfect day?

When I get to work with people who are excited about doing Kingdom work together, where we can impact lives where there has been a lack of hope and providing what they need spiritually and emotionally, is my idea of a perfect day.

When you were a kid, what did you think you'd be doing as an adult?

I thought I'd be an attorney or psychiatrist. This is what I wanted to be in my youth years.

If you could master one instrument, what would it be?

I think it would be the piano because it has been so instrumental in my worship life, and to be able to play that would be awesome for me.

Tell us about your greatest individual accomplishment?

That's hard to say because there's always been God and other people helping me, so it's hard to answer from an individual perspective. There's always a growing process. Whatever I accomplish is a pathway to share and continue in my own growth, so there's no pinnacle to it.

Tell us about a time you cried?

What comes to mind is losing my mother. The grief I felt with the death of my mother. She was very supportive of me throughout the years. There are times when I want to call her and there are times I still cry.

What is your epitaph?

"Rev. Dr. Keith Wilks worked with God and people in repairing the world." There's a Jewish phrase called Tikkun Olam. We partner with God in repairing the world. It's a Jewish concept defined by acts of kindness. That's what I would want as an epitaph for my life.

What is one of the most important theological premises in your life?

I would say it is the theological premise of imago dei: The theological term that all humanity is made in the image of God and, because we are, there's nothing that can merge that image. Our value is not based on our productivity, ethnicity, our social standing or economic position in life. Our value is being in the image of the divine. The more we see that divinity in ourselves and each other, the more we can live out the principles of Christ - to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.

What do you envision your life being like in 5-10 years?

I am learning to surrender my will to God's will for my ministry life and my personal life. Having lived in the traveling life for 29 years, I have the mindset to go where I'm sent. I've learned that I cannot always envision what God has for me because, five years ago, I would have never thought I'd be at one of the greatest churches in the state in Portales. Because God has led me here is teaching me to learn to trust God with my future.

— Compiled by CMI Correspondent D'Nieka Hartsfield