I was once told that when you remember someone that has died, the most important thing is that hyphen. They were born, and they died, but that hyphen - represents what they did with their life. Mike Wilshire had a wonderful hyphen!
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| Me at 19, on the left with the guitar |
I became a Christian when I was 18 years old. I had played guitar for five years in high school bands. I studied music. So I decided I could write some songs, and I wrote at least a dozen or so pretty good songs.
I once went to an event called Spiritual Revolution Day that occurred in March of 1971 and met a lot of like minded Christians. At the time they were called, “Jesus Freaks”. They had a similar experience as I did. They were searching for answers and found them in God’s Word;
The Bible.
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| The Jesus Movement |
The media called this The Jesus Movement. Looking back, it was the Fourth Great Awakening of The Holy Spirit. In my opinion in this diverse age where everything is tied up in politics, racial divides, and justification of sexual identity we could sure use a Fifth Great Awakening. I have no doubt it will come.
I was able to travel around to churches, coffee houses, and events and share my songs and thoughts and listen to those of other Christians. One afternoon I went to a local park that had a band shell where outdoor concerts were occasionally held. Two guys were playing music there and that is where I met Mike Wilshire and Blainey Shepherd.
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| Mike Wilshire - Photo by Paul Niehaus |
I later saw them at prayer meetings, and some other places where local Christian artists could perform. I pretty much have learned to play guitar by watching and listening to other players, so I was able to learn some of Mike's songs and added them to my repertoire. One song called "Make Me Over" had the most interesting chord changes. It started in D major, the went to D# major, and resolved back to D major in just a few short bars.
I shared it once in a song writing class and the teacher brought his teacher in just to hear it.
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| Sally and Mike Wilshire |
I eventually got to meet Mike’s wife, Sally Wilshire. Sally grew up in Virginia, and you could sure tell by her lovely Southern draw. It just radiated from them that both Mike and Sally were very special souls. Their love of God and sweet spirits just shown through. And they were both hungry to learn more too.
I was invited to their home. They were living in an upstairs bedroom at Mike’s mother’s house. His mother and sisters occupied the lower floor.
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| The Denems |
The band's drummer was a guy named Steve Belew. One summer Steve became very ill and his father bought him a guitar that he could noodle around on while he was bedridden. Steve became VERY GOOD on the guitar.
Belew then joined a band named Adrian. That band didn’t last long, but Steve liked the name so much that he changed his own name to Adrian Belew. He became so good that he was hired by a few artists and got his break by touring with Frank Zappa and David Bowie. You might have heard of him. But I digress.
Another friend’s brother eventually replaced Mike Wilshire in the Denems as the bass guitarist after Mike left.
Mike had left high school at age 15 and ran away from home to start playing in bands in NYC that were managed by the mob. He played in bands that toured with little Richard and Jimi Hendrix, before Jimi was “Jimi Hendrix” and not yet famous. Jimi was just little Richard’s guitar player on the road.
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| 1970 Hippy Commune |
He met and married Sally during the time at that commune. But nothing he did ever rang true until he encountered the God of the Bible, and that changed his trajectory forever.
After he and Sally dedicated their lives to God they attended a large congregation in Virginia Beach called Rock Church.
A friend of mine who has pastored a few churches and was the drummer for the Christian band, Prodigal tells his story about Mike.
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| Dave Workman |
Dave went on to play drums in the band I have mentioned, "Adrian", and recorded a few songs at The Fifth Floor Studios in downtown Cincinnati. The bass player later left to play in a Pittsburgh band called Borrowed Thyme. The group members moved to Kentucky.
Dave Workman said he was invited to audition for Borrowed Thyme. Their main guitar player at the time was Sid McGinnis, who went on to be a session guitarist in NYC and play in the Dave Letterman Show band. The other guitarist was J.P. Pennington who went to Nashville and became a record producer. One of his big hits was with the band Exile. It was called Kiss You All Over.
Dave was passed over at the audition.
So Workman found himself one day in Kentucky hitch hiking when Mike Wilshire stopped and picked him up and started sharing his faith. Workman said he thought this was sort of cute and totally weird, but it bothered him. He continued to think about Mike's words.
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| Prodigal (band) 1975 |
Workman got a job at a local department store called Swallen's, and it was there he bumped into Mike Wilshire again. Mike asked him what Bible he was reading. Dave, not knowing there was more than one translation or version simply said, “A white one.” Mike suggested he get The Living Bible, which was quite popular at the time. It was conveniently available at Swallen's.
Since those days Dave Workman has been a Christian drummer and a pastor for at least 50 years now at a few churches and now has his own ministry called Elemental Churches. He is married to a wonderful lady.
After Mike Wilshire and his wife Sally had a baby they decided to move back to Virginia Beach. This was around 1974.
By then Rock Church had started a Bible College. Mike and Sally both attended and graduated. I believe Mike was an associate pastor for awhile at this church.
In 1976 Mike and Sally started their own church called Cornerstone Church in Roanoke, Virginia.
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| Sally and Mike Wilshire |
They were co-pastors at the church for over 30 years. During that time Mike’s health deteriorated. I believe he had contracted a terrible disease called histoplasmosis, which is a severe fungal infection that can have adverse effects on a person’s lungs, and sometimes even result in blindness. It was so bad for Mike that he underwent a double-lung transplant some time in 1995. It is truly a miracle that he recovered and was able to go back to preaching and pastoring his church.
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| Mike Wilshire |
Mike Wilshire passed away this past October 16th at the age of 72. He leaves behind his wife Sally, and son Micah.
Sally is the pastor emeritus of the congregation, and son Micah went on to a career in music. Micah did some recording and then started a band called Wilshire, and later became a record producer in Nashville.
I have to say that during my brief time spent, during my youth, with Mike and Sally, I truly learned so much about being a Christian, a guitarist (I started to learn finger style guitar from him), and later on about being a married man. Both Mike and Sally were such an inspiration and I doubt they ever realized the impact they had on this man's life.
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| Micah Wilshire |
Recently his son Micah wrote, “My dad was called home to heaven Saturday night at the age of 72. (Michael Wesley Wilshire). But I didn’t lose him. He was just upgraded. I know God smiled when he entered heaven and told him “well done thou good and faithful servant”.
"The last 26 years of his 72 were wrapped in physical struggle after his double lung transplant... then later congestive heart failure, loss of one kidney and functioning on 30% of the last one. He was the toughest man I’ve known.
He was a pastor for 33 years. He positively affected thousands of lives directly and indirectly. He shepherded with humility, grace and with an intellect I’ve only seen once. But before that he was a drugged out hippie musician.
He taught me everything I know about music. How to sing, play drums, guitar and bass, and how to write. And most importantly how to navigate through this world and know the one true God.
I’m beyond thankful. I love you dad."
Mike Wilshire's Celebration - His Favorite Song by Don Moen
"When It's All Been Said and Done"
Well done thou good and faithful servant.
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