Guitar-playing Rev. Mark Wilson wants church to be welcoming and
his sermons accessible
Gilroy – The room was packed with worshippers.
Worshippers in the back bowing their heads together as church elders prayed with them.
Worshippers sitting with family members and friends, one or two hands raised in the air as they followed along to the gospel songs.
And up on the stage stands the Rev. Mark Wilson, looking most un-pastor-like in his casual attire of soft slacks, button-up-shirt sans tie, strumming his white electric guitar. The choir surrounding him sings, some shake tambourines, one bangs drums and periodically taps the cymbals.
The lyrics scroll down two huge screens skirting each side of the stage.
“Wash over me as your presence builds this place, wash over me in your mercy and grace.”
Church members sing along while sitting, until suddenly one and then another stand. Within seconds, more than half the room is standing. Then Wilson asks everyone to stand and the few sitting members rise.
“We stand before you as imperfect people,” Wilson says.
Emphasizing that he’s a flawed individual is a point The Foothills Foursquare Church pastor tries to weave into his sermons.
“I don’t want to be on anyone’s pedestal,” he said. “I’m no better than anyone else.”
There’s no dress code at the Gilroy church. On Sunday, members are welcome to arrive in jeans and T-shirts or whatever else they throw on that day.
Mark Wilson’s wife Joani Wilson explained that the church emphasizes the “born again” experience, wherein “you’re born again in the spirit of the Lord.”
“The word says that we are all sinners,” said the 43-year-old.
The church has members from all walks of life, even an actual, real-to-life rocket scientist, she said.
Members are encouraged to read the Life Application Study Bible, which breaks down the meaning of the Bible into easily digested pieces and highlights Jesus’ words in red. When Wilson delivers his sermons he doesn’t use fancy phrases or vague metaphors.
During his Sunday sermon Wilson said that one of the reasons some people are so adverse to church is because they grew tired of being judged and of hearing the saintly church-goers click their tongues in disapproval when they messed up.
“Because wherever religion is you have to add comparison,” he said.
Wilson understands the aversion to church, the reluctance to commit to the Christian way of life, because not too long ago, he too was walking in those shoes.
Born in Lusk, Wyo. on Aug. 15, 1960 to a strict Mennonite family, Wilson’s dream was to play pro baseball. His family moved from Wyoming to Grand Junction, Colo. and then Dallas, Ore. The pastor graduated from high school and pitched for George Fox University, a Newberg, Ore. Christian college founded by Quakers.
But Wilson wasn’t interested in studying or focused on his goal of making it to the big leagues. And it didn’t take long before his partying got in the way.
“I went there as long as they let me,” Wilson said with a laugh.
The affable minister returned to Grand Junction and enrolled at Mesa State College. His parents had started attending the Foothills Foursquare Church there and Wilson, who had never been attached to the Mennonite religion decided to attend try the new church.
“And it just clicked with me, it made sense,” he said.
In May of 1981 at the age of 20, Wilson found the Lord.
He moved to Los Angeles and began attending LIFE Bible College. In LA, the pastor with a wild past, met and fell in love with his wife, Joani Wilson, of 23 years (24 in June they both point out).
The couple have two sons. The oldest is serving in the U.S. Army and the youngest attends Gilroy High School.
Accessible Sermon
Wilson no longer harbors guilt for the sins of his past. He asked and received forgiveness from Jesus Christ. He mentions his mistakes, his errors of judgment freely.
But when Wilson turned to the Lord, he didn’t dispose of those personality traits that made him the socially-at-ease guy, the kind prone to choose a good party over a lecture on biology. And that humor, charm and accessibility is an integral part of his sermons. When Wilson read a scripture that referred to the “libations of blood,” he said the whole bloody scenario “kind of freaked me out.”
After he read the passage in Matthew 11:4-6 “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.’ ” Wilson simplified Jesus’ words.
The Lord was saying “Look at what I’ve done – tell me I’m not the Messiah.”
Then the pastor elaborated, touching on all the miracles mentioned in the scripture. He noted that he doesn’t know of anyone in the church who is blind but that we need to see clearly, to use our “hindsight, foresight and insight.”
Wilson also addressed the issue of being physically fit but not spiritually well. Every living being deals with stress, sadness and tribulations, he said.
“There’s nothing like doing right that helps you sleep at night,” he said.
When Wilson noted that a group of children and adults were set to be baptized outside the church, after the service, he compared the process to dipping a piece of bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and, for a few moments, relished the thought of the snack.
At one point he even broke out in Billy Joel lyrics singing, “Don’t go changing to try and please me.”
Washing Away of Sins
A group of children and adults lined up after church, decked out in flip-flops, T-shirts and shorts, ready for their baptism. One at a time, the Christians stepped into the water-filled trough, some cringing at the coldness.
Witnesses held umbrellas to shield themselves from the afternoon drizzle. One onlooker began crying when asked about her own baptism one year ago.
When Lupita Garcia witnessed one of the Foothills baptisms at Sunset State Beach at the south end of Santa Cruz County, where the church performs most of their baptisms, she was incredibly moved.
“I have this beautiful feeling,” she said. “I said ‘Lord this is of you and I know I’m going to be healed.’ ”
Even though she was always afraid of the ocean, the 56-year-old Mexican native who was raised Catholic, was baptized in the salty waters.
And, she said, the back ailments she’d been fighting for 25 years, miraculously disappeared.
Pastor Profile
– Mark Wilson
– Age: 45
– Church: The Foothills Foursquare Church of Gilroy
– Family: Wife, Joani; sons, Brooks and Chad Wilson
– Married: 23 years
– Serving as senior pastor since: 1999
Church Profile
– The Foothills Foursquare Church of Gilroy first opened in 1990, with a total of 15 members. Today the church has about 1,000 members.
– The church holds two services on Sundays but Rev. Wilson said they may add a third to accommodate the growing congregation.
– The Foursquare Church was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. In 1923, she opened her 5,000-seat Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.
