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Donald K. Wilkin, DDiv (hc)
Visiting faculty, Trinity College and Seminary, Churachandhpur, Manipur, India
Donald Karl Wilkin was born in 1943 in Bremerton, Washington. He grew up in the greater Denver, Colorado area.
Raised in a Christian home, Don received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of seven under his father's guidance. As he grew in spiritual maturity, he held to his belief in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, including the abundant mercy and grace of God, the deity of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of the Father, his redemptive work on the cross for the propitiation for our sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit and his work of sanctification. Living a life which increasingly honors God, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and is yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit is his life-long endeavor. He affirms the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Raised in a Christian home, Don received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of seven under his father's guidance. As he grew in spiritual maturity, he held to his belief in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, including the abundant mercy and grace of God, the deity of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of the Father, his redemptive work on the cross for the propitiation for our sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit and his work of sanctification. Living a life which increasingly honors God, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and is yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit is his life-long endeavor. He affirms the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Don attended the University of Colorado in Boulder where he earned a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and followed that with some post-graduate studies in the field. He also earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Santa Clara University. Don was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Trinity College and Seminary, Manipur, India in March, 2022,.
Julie, his wife since 1966, and Don have three children and eight grandchildren.
Julie has been a strong supporter and partner in their life journey regarding finances, both personally and vocationally. Together they have desired to manage money in a godly manner during their entire marriage. Having learned much in this area of life from their parents and many Christian pastors, teachers, counselors and friends, to whom they are very grateful, they wish to pass their understanding of biblical financial principles on to others in a form which is easy to teach and interesting to view.
Professional career: Don’s vocational career has spanned more than 5 decades in three areas: he was employed by a leading electronics firm for 24 years where he worked in a technical marketing department as a sales engineer, product engineer, product manager, and product support manager. He developed and taught a number of technical courses during his career. He also had limited responsibilities to influence the profitability of product lines to which he was assigned.
His second career began as a “moonlight” endeavor. Julie and he bought a condominium at a nearby ski resort and began renting it out to vacationing skiers. This developed into a full-time small business in vacation home rental management and continued for more than 33 years.
Thirdly, as an avocation and labor of love, he designed and managed a few residential remodeling projects and participated in the design and construction of two houses.
History of Biblical Financial Principles course development: This course was developed by God's grace through a combination of personal research of Scripture and other biblically-based resources, presenting the work of others, peer and student feedback from teaching his own work, and his life experiences.
He began his journey with an interest in a biblical perspective of money during his growing up years. His father taught him a number of biblical stewardship principles as a teenager. Julie and he began regularly giving to the Lord’s work and practicing biblically-based financial management principles from the outset of their marriage. For example, they considered as a top priority paying off Don's student loans and their home mortgage as quickly as possible. They gave priority to faithfully giving to Kingdom work. More recently, they established a Blessings Fund through the inspiration of Dr. Brian Kluth.
Beginning in the 1970’s he had a number of experiences that contributed to course development. His brother Bob developed a one-hour seminar on Christian stewardship which served as the basis for Don's seminar. He gained experience by serving his local church and district as financial committee chairman periodically during the next several decades. He served as a host/facilitator of Ron Blue’s “Master your Money” series and began developing his own seminars on biblical stewardship with short presentations. Though not a licensed counsellor, he worked with a number of families regarding the management of their personal finances. He also had fiduciary responsibilities for a close family member. Don is grateful for the wise counseling and teaching on money from Ron Blue, Brian Kluth, Dave Ramsey, and others.
In the early 2000’s, his course grew to several days in length and became more comprehensive in scope. He had the opportunity to present the foundations of his present course as a guest lecturer in NE India in a program called “Theological Education Extension Course (TEEC) sponsored by a stateside church. He presented his "prototype" seminar at the TEEC in NE India in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Further developments of the course occurred from 2011-2015 as Don became a visiting lecturer at theTrinity College and Seminary (TCS) in Sielmat, Manipur, India .
Don presented the current form of the Biblical Financial Principles at TCS each year from 2016 through 2019. The seminary has adopted it as a required part of their curriculum for their credentialed Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees. Due to Covid-19, the course was not taught during the 2020/21 academic years. HIs teaching of the course resumed in early 2022.
Don humbly confesses that, though his practice falls short of the high standard found in God's Holy Word, he is committed to faithfully teaching that high standard without compromise. And, as he teaches this course to others, he tries to point out his shortcomings to his students. Don readily admits that he is a life-long "practicing learner" or perhaps "learning practitioner".
His prayer is that through the means of this seminar, Christ-followers will develop a framework for practicing a biblically-based lifestyle and making righteous decisions in the area of their finances, bringing glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Julie, his wife since 1966, and Don have three children and eight grandchildren.
Julie has been a strong supporter and partner in their life journey regarding finances, both personally and vocationally. Together they have desired to manage money in a godly manner during their entire marriage. Having learned much in this area of life from their parents and many Christian pastors, teachers, counselors and friends, to whom they are very grateful, they wish to pass their understanding of biblical financial principles on to others in a form which is easy to teach and interesting to view.
Professional career: Don’s vocational career has spanned more than 5 decades in three areas: he was employed by a leading electronics firm for 24 years where he worked in a technical marketing department as a sales engineer, product engineer, product manager, and product support manager. He developed and taught a number of technical courses during his career. He also had limited responsibilities to influence the profitability of product lines to which he was assigned.
His second career began as a “moonlight” endeavor. Julie and he bought a condominium at a nearby ski resort and began renting it out to vacationing skiers. This developed into a full-time small business in vacation home rental management and continued for more than 33 years.
Thirdly, as an avocation and labor of love, he designed and managed a few residential remodeling projects and participated in the design and construction of two houses.
History of Biblical Financial Principles course development: This course was developed by God's grace through a combination of personal research of Scripture and other biblically-based resources, presenting the work of others, peer and student feedback from teaching his own work, and his life experiences.
He began his journey with an interest in a biblical perspective of money during his growing up years. His father taught him a number of biblical stewardship principles as a teenager. Julie and he began regularly giving to the Lord’s work and practicing biblically-based financial management principles from the outset of their marriage. For example, they considered as a top priority paying off Don's student loans and their home mortgage as quickly as possible. They gave priority to faithfully giving to Kingdom work. More recently, they established a Blessings Fund through the inspiration of Dr. Brian Kluth.
Beginning in the 1970’s he had a number of experiences that contributed to course development. His brother Bob developed a one-hour seminar on Christian stewardship which served as the basis for Don's seminar. He gained experience by serving his local church and district as financial committee chairman periodically during the next several decades. He served as a host/facilitator of Ron Blue’s “Master your Money” series and began developing his own seminars on biblical stewardship with short presentations. Though not a licensed counsellor, he worked with a number of families regarding the management of their personal finances. He also had fiduciary responsibilities for a close family member. Don is grateful for the wise counseling and teaching on money from Ron Blue, Brian Kluth, Dave Ramsey, and others.
In the early 2000’s, his course grew to several days in length and became more comprehensive in scope. He had the opportunity to present the foundations of his present course as a guest lecturer in NE India in a program called “Theological Education Extension Course (TEEC) sponsored by a stateside church. He presented his "prototype" seminar at the TEEC in NE India in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Further developments of the course occurred from 2011-2015 as Don became a visiting lecturer at theTrinity College and Seminary (TCS) in Sielmat, Manipur, India .
Don presented the current form of the Biblical Financial Principles at TCS each year from 2016 through 2019. The seminary has adopted it as a required part of their curriculum for their credentialed Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees. Due to Covid-19, the course was not taught during the 2020/21 academic years. HIs teaching of the course resumed in early 2022.
Don humbly confesses that, though his practice falls short of the high standard found in God's Holy Word, he is committed to faithfully teaching that high standard without compromise. And, as he teaches this course to others, he tries to point out his shortcomings to his students. Don readily admits that he is a life-long "practicing learner" or perhaps "learning practitioner".
His prayer is that through the means of this seminar, Christ-followers will develop a framework for practicing a biblically-based lifestyle and making righteous decisions in the area of their finances, bringing glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.