WADE BURLEIGH: Carving out a ministry_112204
Posted: 11/19/04
| Evangelist Wade Burleigh carves a bust of Christ–complete with a crown of thorns– from a rugged cedar log. (George Henson Photos) |
WADE BURLEIGH: Carving out a ministry
By George Henson
Staff Writer
MARSHALL–Evangelist Wade Burleigh's hands make as deep an impression as his voice–and maybe even deeper.
Burleigh communicates the gospel by chiseling works of art out of cedar logs, spinning pottery and hammering swords out of steel like a blacksmith.
Burleigh grew up as a Baptist pastor's son, and he never thought he would become a preacher. But as a young teenager, he grew interested in woodcarving when he began watching a neighbor sit in a lawn chair carving.
He began carving on his own when his mother bought him a woodcarving set for Christmas when he was 14 years old.
After marrying and working as a cabinetmaker and carpenter, and later as a teacher of woodworking at a school in Corpus Christi, he put carving aside for about 10 years.
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| Jennifer Burleigh tells a Marshall church that God has to "knock off the rough edges" of people's lives, while her husband, Wade, illustrates by knocking the rough bark from a cedar log before crafting a work of art. |
“Then I got to the place where I was looking for a diversion, and we started doing carving at craft fairs and art festivals,” he said.
After awhile, he started making Christian art his focus.
One day, he was preparing one of his signature pieces, a likeness of the head of Christ, and as he started to apply the crown of thorns, he began to sing “The Day He Wore My Crown.”
When he finished singing, he noticed a crowd of about 150 had gathered at this public arts festival.
“I just felt led to ask, 'Would anyone like to know why I would do a carving like this?' A lot of the people said 'yes,' and I shared the gospel with them.
“One after another of them said they knew about Jesus and that he had been crucified, but they had never heard why–that he was crucified to take away sin,” Burleigh recalled.
While that day in 1997 was the one that gave Burleigh his clearest push toward ministry, God began the steering process even earlier.
Six years before, he fell from a roof and broke his hip. By 1994, the arthritis in the hip had grown so bad his doctor told him he either had to find work that didn't require as much standing or have hip replacement surgery.
“God used all that to begin redirecting us. By 1995, I was teaching from a wheelchair,” he said.
Burleigh saw that day at the arts festival, when he first shared the gospel without any premeditation, as providential. He was nearing the completion of negotiations with Stihl Incorporated to do chainsaw carvings at state fairs and other festivals fulltime. Before that process was completed, however, he felt God's call to ministry.
About that same time, Burleigh and his wife, Jennifer, traveled with a group of Texans to Indiana to participate with a lay team leading a church there in an Experiencing God weekend.
On the way home, they stopped by Eureka Springs, Ark., at a village of craftspeople working with first century tools to demonstrate the way people lived and worked at the time of Christ.
The Burleighs decided they wanted to become part of that village, and two weeks later, Burleigh was ordained to the ministry by First Baptist Church in Ingleside.
After two summers at the village, the Burleighs began traveling as full-time evangelists.
On a recent Sunday morning at Clearview Baptist Church in Marshall, Burleigh carved the likeness of Christ with a crown of thorns using a hammer and a number of chisels. That evening, he crafted pottery on a spinning wheel.
His wife does much of the explanation as he works–pointing out how God knows just which chisel to use on his children to fashion them into the likeness of his Son, among other things. But Burleigh also typically lends his baritone singing voice and evangelistic oratory to the message.
Burleigh's other messages include a hand carved from a log with a chisel and then pierced with a spike.
Sometimes he chisels an eagle out of a cedar log. He also uses a flame to forge a sword from a piece of steel.
He said he is careful, however, never to become the focus of the service.
“What we do is very dramatic, and it would be easy to start feeling good about what we do, so we are even more careful to keep the focus on Christ and on his sacrifice. He's the one that changes lives–we just want to be his servants,” Burleigh said.
All the artwork created during the services stay at the church.
“It's exciting to believe that you are leaving something visible and tangible behind so that God can continue to use it,” he said.
His father-in-law, Maurice D'Herde, a member of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Waco, told him about the most striking incidence of artwork being used to fulfill God's purposes.
D'Herde put an ad in a paper that he had free firewood for anyone who would cut it and take it home.
One man wasn't looking for firewood, however, but for wood he could carve.
D'Herde told him about Burleigh's ministry and mentioned specifically the head of Christ with the crown of thorns.
The man was shocked and told him he had seen the piece on the morning that changed his life. He felt called to the ministry but was running from the calling, he said.
The conflict within grew to such proportions that he decided not to go to church, but then wound up pulling into a church he had never visited before.
Upon entering, he saw one of the thorn-crowned heads of Christ that Burleigh had carved and left behind. The artwork so convicted him, he went back to his car and arrived at his own church just as an altar call was being given. He went forward that day and surrendered to the call to ministry.
Burleigh said he is certain he could make creating Christian artwork a full-time vocation and make more money than he does as a traveling evangelist, many times ministering in very small churches. But it wouldn't be as rewarding.
“There's nothing like the satisfaction that you cannot have apart from God and especially from being of service to him,” he said.
“This is definitely a calling. We could make a $1,000 a day carving, but that's not why we do this.”
Which also is why the Burleighs minister in smaller churches.
“That's one of the things we've made a commitment to. We don't let finances close the doors God opens. Thank God for the mega-churches that have us in, but praise God for the smaller ones too.”
The Burleighs minister across the country, and often are booked more than six months in advance. For more information, call (254) 760-2357, or go to their website at www.firstcenturyministries.com.
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