Love That Acts: What Liberty’s 40th Anniversary Brought Back to My Heart
This morning at Liberty Church’s 40-year anniversary, something hit home with me in a deep way.
Frank Peacock shared two passages that stayed with me:
John 13:35
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And 1 Corinthians 13:1–3:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
Above all else, we are to keep fervent love toward one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. That hit me today because I did not just hear it spoken. I saw it demonstrated.
Yesterday, Mr. Frank said something at the 40th anniversary lunch. Though he thought it may have offended me and didn’t want that, he came back to make sure I was not upset by it.
What he said did not offend me at all. I took it exactly the way it was meant: endearing, caring, playful, and true.
He said, “Travis, that boy is the only person I know that if you ask him how to play a C#m, not only will he tell you, but he’ll give you three ways to make it and a music theory lesson too.”
I laughed, because honestly, that is absolutely me. But what moved me was not the joke. It was the fact that he cared enough to come back the next morning and check on my heart.
That meant something to me.
It is one thing to say the right thing. It is another thing entirely to walk it out. It is one thing to speak about love, faith, and concern. It is another thing to circle back and prove it with action. That is the kind of love that reflects Christ.
It reminded me of the truth that faith is not just something we claim. Faith moves. Faith acts. Faith shows up. And through Brother Frank, I saw a beautiful picture of the love of God being lived out.
God has been so good to me, and it has been such a blessing to think about all the people who have come through Liberty Church over the years.
Growing up, I spent a lot of time around the Stokes boys, my cousins. It became a running joke that I was trying to be a Stokes. I even joked with Ashley before we got married in 2019, “Babe, if you want, I can just be Travis Stokes.” Of course, it was all in fun.
But beneath all of that is a deeper story.
There was a season in my life when I completely walked away from God. I laid down my salvation and turned away from the Lord, the Body of Christ, and ministry. From about age 22 until around 37, I wandered in the wilderness of my own making. Pride, lust, anger, bitterness, hatred, a sharp tongue, and rebellion marked those years. I was mean. I was cynical. I was full of hurt and unforgiveness.
But even though I walked away from the Lord, the Lord never walked away from me.
Then in 2017, Pastor Andrew and I crossed paths at Alexandria River Fête. He was there with Ashley—his sister, who is now my wife—along with Erin and his daughters. He asked me if I still played music. Of course I did. Then he asked me to come play drums whenever I was home from the oilfield.
I told him I would love to.
What stands out to me now is that he did not interrogate me about where I was spiritually. He trusted God. He believed the Lord knew exactly what He was doing in my life.
So I started showing up on the Sundays I was in town. I started giving the Lord time again, the way I had when I was younger. And little by little, God started working on me—showing me who I was, what I had become, and what needed to change.
The truth is, even though I was funny, outgoing, and silly on the outside, I hated myself. And because I hated myself, I had grown to hate people too. I carried wounds and resentment toward the Body of Christ because of past hurts involving ministers and church people. But the issue was never the Lord. It was my own unforgiveness and pain.
By the grace of God, I repented.
And I have walked that road ever since, through all the twists and turns.
Ashley became my wife in 2019, and before we got married, she had already embraced our children, through first fostering and then adoption, with love and commitment. She told me, jokingly but seriously, “Trav, if we do this, we’re all going to be Wilkinsons.”
I said, “Sign me up.” After we were married, I adopted our children, and we all are in fact “Some Wilkinsons.”
And that is exactly what happened.
God used the love of someone who trusted Him enough to invite me back into the fold, and it changed my life forever. Now I am married to an incredible wife. I have two beautiful children who carry my last name. I have a church body I am deeply thankful for. I have gifts I do not deserve. I have opportunities I never could have created for myself.
And when I look back, I realize this:
If Papa Charles Stokes had not been obedient in 1986, I may never have been called back in the way that I was. I may not be here. I may not be doing any of the things God has allowed me to do. I may never have grown in music theory, in knowledge, in serving the church, in building systems, in opening a recording studio, or in becoming the man I am today.
God, You are so good.
Thank You for my church. Thank You for the love You have shown me through this body. Thank You for teaching me that this life is not about me. It is all about You. Thank You for the gifts You have given me. Father, may I never abuse them or take them for granted.
Thank You.