Wilderness Church

In this message, Travis Wright begins a three-week teaching on marriage from Ephesians 5 by carefully unpacking what Scripture means—and does not mean—by submission. Rather than rushing a culturally loaded passage, the message traces the tension back to Genesis 3, showing how sin distorted both submission and leadership, and how the gospel redeems what the Fall broke. Drawing from Ephesians 5 and...

In this Vision Sunday message, Travis Wright invites the church to pause at the start of a new year and consider where God may be calling each person to take a next step. Rather than focusing on resolutions or pressure, the message highlights how God often uses small, obedient decisions to change direction over time. Drawing from Scripture and personal experience, Travis affirms seasons of anonymi...

In this Christmas message, Lead Pastor Travis Wright challenges the common assumption that peace is something we feelrather than something God has done. While Christmas often brings warmth, tradition, and a temporary sense of calm, Scripture reveals that true peace is not atmosphere management—it is reconciliation. Walking through Ephesians 2, the message shows that peace with God was accomplished...

In this message, Lead Pastor Travis Wright walks through Ephesians 5:15–21, exposing how many of our biggest regrets don’t come from intentional rebellion—but from quiet carelessness. Paul’s call to “walk carefully” confronts the subtle drift that happens when we stop paying attention to our time, our thinking, what fills and controls us, and how we relate to one another. This sermon explores the...

In this message, Lead Pastor Travis Wright walks through Ephesians 5:1–14, where Paul calls believers to “walk in love” and “live as children of light.” Using a headlamp-in-the-dark illustration, Travis highlights the contrast between the darkness of our culture and the identity believers now carry in Christ. The sermon explores how counterfeit love, deceptive words, secret sin, and spiritual drif...

In this episode our guest speaker, and friend, Ken Brumley points out the story in scripture on the man laying beside the Pool of Bethesda trying to be healed. The interesting this about this story isn't the folklore or the fairytale belief on the power of the pool, but instead the emphasis in this story comes from a simple question that Jesus asks the man. "Do you want to be well?" This question...

In this Thanksgiving message, Lead Pastor Travis Wright revisits key themes from Ephesians 1–4 to show that gratitude is not a seasonal feeling but a transformational way of life for followers of Jesus. Drawing from the historical context of Thanksgiving being established during the Civil War, Travis highlights how gratitude has always been God’s remedy for divided nations and divided hearts. The...

Sometimes we become oblivious to the roles that certain emotions or feelings play in our life. We know that we feel them, but we miss how those emotions can become a driving force in how we act, respond, talk, and trust. In this episode Operations Pastor Jarrod Hill talks through how feeding into our emotions, especially fear, can cause us to sink in our faith. If you struggle with allowing fear t...

In Rooted + Rescued, Part 11: A New Way to Love, Lead Pastor Travis Wright walks through Ephesians 4:30–32, showing how following Jesus means taking off the old self—anger, bitterness, and rage—and putting on the new self of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Through a mix of humor, honesty, and real-life stories (including one from duck hunting season), Travis reminds us that bitterness doesn...

In Rooted + Rescued, Part 10: A New Way to Talk, Lead Pastor Travis Wright unpacks Ephesians 4:25–29, showing that when grace transforms your heart, it should also transform your speech. Paul teaches that words reveal the condition of the heart—so followers of Jesus must learn to “talk like someone who’s been made new.” Travis explores how honesty builds trust, unresolved anger poisons relationshi...

You can’t live a new life with your old mindset. In this message, Travis unpacks Paul’s challenge in Ephesians 4 to stop thinking like the old self and begin living with a renewed mind. Using vivid analogies—from muddy trails to highway habits—Travis illustrates how transformation begins internally before it ever shows up externally. This isn’t behavior modification; it’s heart renovation through...

In this message, Travis unpacks what it really means to grow up in Christ. Ephesians 4 shows that spiritual maturity isn’t automatic—it’s the destination of every believer and every church. Real growth leads to unity, stability, truth spoken with love, and a body where every part does its work. Through honest confession, real-life stories, and everyday analogies, this sermon explores the differenc...

In this message from the Rooted + Rescued series, we look at how Christ designed His church to grow—not through hierarchy or performance, but through equipping and participation. Ephesians 4:7-12 reveals that every believer has received grace to serve, and that church leadership is one of the gifts Jesus gives to help the body mature. Travis walks through what these leadership gifts look like toda...

In part six of the Rooted + Rescued series, Lead Pastor Travis Wright unpacks Ephesians 4:1–6 and Paul’s call to unity. Paul writes from prison, urging the church to “live a life worthy of the calling” by embodying humility, gentleness, patience, and love. This message confronts counterfeit unity—whether through shallow tolerance or rigid tribalism—and points us back to the seven “ones” that hold...

In Part 5 of our Rooted + Rescued series, our Lead Pastor Travis Wright walks through Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14–21. At the hinge point of the letter, Paul stops to pray—not for easier circumstances, but for strength through the Spirit, deeper roots in Christ’s love, and the fullness of God experienced together as His people. This week’s message also includes a powerful personal testimony fro...

In week four of our Rooted + Rescued series, Rooted in Mystery, our Lead Pastor Travis Wright takes us into Ephesians 3:1–13 and Acts 7 to unpack the mystery of God’s plan. Stephen proclaimed it before the Sanhedrin, Paul explained it from prison to the Gentiles, and now that same mystery has been handed to us — the church today. This message confronts the tension of freedom, confidence, and suffe...

This message marks a pivotal moment in our nation, the global church, and our local family at Wilderness. In light of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Pastor Travis pauses our Rooted + Rescued series through Ephesians to address one of the defining moments of our lifetime. Drawing from Acts 7 and the martyrdom of Stephen, we remember Charlie Kirk as a Christian martyr who boldly proclaimed the g...

This week you will hear from our friend Stek Steck. Stek serves as the Executive Director at Grace Place Properties in Duncanville, Tx where he and his team focus on reintegrating once incarcerated individuals into society. In this talk Stek digs into the cultural importances and original language context woven in the Ephesians text we have been studying. As we go through this text together we see...

In this message from Rooted + Rescued (Ephesians 2:1–10), we see Paul’s stunning clarity in describing the gospel: we weren’t bad people who needed to be better — we were dead people who needed to be made alive. This passage takes us from the graveyard of sin to the throne room of grace, showing the depth of our condition, the greatness of God’s intervention, and the purpose He has prepared for us...

In part two of our Rooted + Rescued series, we walk through Ephesians 1:15–23 and Paul’s powerful prayer for the church. He reminds us that faith and love are the foundation of authentic Christianity, and that prayer connects us to the resurrection power already available in Christ. Too often we live like our spiritual battery is at 1%, forgetting to “plug in” to the Source. This message challenge...

In Part 1 of our Rooted + Rescued series, Pastor Travis launches our verse-by-verse journey through the book of Ephesians. Using the vivid illustration of two puzzles — one with the box lid, one without — he shows us how life often feels like a pile of random pieces with no clear picture. But in Ephesians 1:1–14, Paul lifts the lid and reveals the big picture of God’s plan: the Father chose us bef...

Pastor Travis Wright closes out the summer with a message on how seasons change our priorities—and why God must remain our first love above even our own children. Using vivid illustrations and passages from Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 127, Luke 14, and Genesis 22, he challenges parents and the church to raise Kingdom-rooted kids who are strong in faith, resilient in character, and aimed at God’s purposes...

In this episode you will hear from Wilderness Youth Pastor Jarrod Hill as well as youth students; Wyatt Martin, Kendall Kitchings, and Lawson Swinford. These three students will talk about different facets of our youth ministry and how those different areas have impacted their life. As a church, we believe that our children and youth are a vital part of not only our church, but The Kingdom of God...

As we finish our series on "Killing the King" we are reminded that there isn't room for us to have any king other than King Jesus at the head of our table. In this episode, Travis talks about how Jesus invites everyone to have a seat at His table—no matter who they are or where they've been. Using the last supper and the rag tag bunch that had a seat at Jesus' table, he shows how God's love is ope...

This week, Travis continues the Killing the King series with a powerful message from Daniel 4 on The King of Being in Control. We look at the life of King Nebuchadnezzar—arguably the most powerful man on earth at the time—and watch what happens when pride convinces him that he's untouchable. But the real danger isn’t ancient—it’s internal. Most of us aren’t ruling empires, but we’re still trying t...