Interview with Minister Hattie Way - Part II

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Encouraging Prayer for today's Christian pastors, where I believe every pastor needs an intercessor. My goal is to lift up the shepherds who are on the front line, those who guide or lead a flock of a group of people, those who battle burn out and sometimes walk through valleys alone. During each episode, we pray, share the word, and kill the hope for leaders who pour out so much. I'm Elder Audrey Dowling, and I invite you to join this circle of intercession. Because when we cover our pastors, we strengthen the whole body of Christ. Stay tuned. Breathe deep. And let's go before the So how do you approach it personally when you get ready to pray for the pastor? Do you have a specific list of pastors that you pray for? Or do you have a specific list that you go by to pray for that individual pastor? Or do you rely on the Holy Spirit to give you what is needed in your prayer time?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I do them both. Most of all, you know, I start my day with praying for the pastor, third on my list. The ministry is third on the list. So first, I the way I approach it is that first I will have in my morning prayer, I will have mentioned the pastor. But throughout the day, I don't not every day, but I most days I take time. But one thing that's so wonderful about prayer, you ain't got to, you don't have to sit above your knees. One thing about it, you don't have to, you don't have to be in a certain position. One thing about it, you can pray as you go. And as I bring the pastor in, the Lord will bring to me many times not specifics, but things that I need to lift him up for. And because I'm so accustomed to doing that, God will say, pray for his wife. Uh she had, you know, he don't give me no specifics. Pray for Lady Wanda. And then I began to pray, Lord, whatever the situation is, and whatever Pastor and Lady Wanda are trying to resolve, do it for him right now. Lord, I began to do those kind of specific prayers. And then the Holy Spirit will lead me to pray for some specific thing. Lord, he's having such an issue with and not that I know it, with the contracts at the church. Lord, bless those men that are coming to do the work at the church so that the pastor don't have to labor over it. I begin to pray for the contractors and their families. And God has blessed, God has blessed us because we take specific issues and bring them before the Lord for the men of God. Yes, and then when uh generally I have a list, I've got a card that calls 24, what 24 prayers to pray for your pastor, the things that I need to cover when praying for the pastor. Not only do I have this list of 24 things, but the book from Dr. Tiger has about 50 issues that we need to pray for for our pastor. So I never run out of issues to hold up for my pastor besides the one that the Holy Spirit leads. Then I've got another list. I pray for his preaching, I pray for his family, I pray for his study time, I pray for his friends. I've got a list of my pastor's friends, his pastor friends, the friends, and we're talking about, you know, of course, you know, pastors need friends other than just the congregation. My pastor has a list of pastor friends who they just hang out and do what they do. And I pray, and I don't know the specifics, but I know he has friends. So what I pray for his friend, pray that they speak into each other's life, pray that they're supporting each other, pray that they're fit, they're they're coming together on common grounds and understanding each other. So the the the there's so many things that we can do to lift these pastors up before us. And he was asking me about not only this pastor, but on a Monday morning, we have one of our team members assigned to pray, call pastor. We have a list of pastors, and we call their names out. These pastors don't even know, many of them don't know that they're being prayed for, but we got a list of uh in the uh person of uh uh minister Nada Stewart. Every Monday, she's on the phone praying the word over pastors in the city, pastors that we know about, pastors that are connected with our church and not connected. She has a list to pray for these different pastors, and it would do us all well to do it because this is kingdom work, it's not a selfish work, it's not me, my, and me and mine, but this is a work all we do very well when the kingdom does well, and these pastors are in the kingdom, so we pray for pastors by a list of names that we have, and one particular um testimony that I'm now that I'm talking, I think about it. Once my pastor invited me to a meeting of pastors, he's he does that sometime. It was in North Atlanta, and somehow he the the pastor was going around getting the people to introduce themselves, and when he got to be, I introduced myself and was moving on to the next pastor. And he asked me what, and uh, he told us to give a little bit about ourselves, and I told him what I do. I pray for pastors, and uh the whole when I said that the whole meeting took a different turn. And I said, I said, I have a list. I said, You are on this list. He doesn't know me, and I don't know him, but his name is on the list. That delighted the pastor's soul. He said, Oh, and why are you praying? I need to start a school. I said, Yes, we'll add that to the list. He was so delighted to know that somebody that he did not know was praying for him. Someone down the line had given his name. But for us, for him to know that somebody was praying for him, just made the day, just made the meeting take a different turn with all of these pastors. First of all, when I left out of there, I had a list of names, and this is the work God would have us to do to just lift these men before him.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

All right. So, so interceding, I know, you know, personally that interceding for others can be very heavy. Now, first of all, you when you are experiencing spiritual warfare for yourself, that can be heavy. But when you are taking on the burdens and interceding and standing in the gap for others, it can be very heavy. So I want to ask you, how do you refresh or or how do you stay strong, you know, when you intercede, you know, for so many people?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

First of all, what the saints of God and those of us who are in this listening audience need to do, we have a tool at our church that called a gift assessment. And what it does, it tells you how God has made you. And each of us got a gift. Each one of God's children, I don't care what state you are in your life, you have a gift. You may not have recognized it. One thing that helps me is that I know that I'm gifted to do it. So that's that keeps me going. If you find out what this gift is, you'll never have a burnout day in your life. You would never be bored because this is how God wired you. This is what God created you to do, you see. But you need to take the time, and of course, we could give you the name of our church if you're out there and you don't have resources or have not ever heard that you need to find out what your spiritual gift is, listed in three different four different places in the scriptures. They're listed out in there. You need to find out which one applies to you and begin to develop it. I know this is what I am called to do. So that's the thing that keeps me from getting burnt out. About I never have a dull day because everywhere I go, I'm doing this work, I'm lifting up the pastors, and I don't know that the spirit of intercession. I pray everywhere I go in my neighborhood. When I'm walking, when I'm riding out of my neighborhood, I'm praying for the houses. I don't know the people in there, but I be speaking the word of God over the houses, riding out of my neighborhood, simply because the Lord, let these be people who know you, you know, and in my neighborhood on my block, I know the people on my block, and they know they can come to my house and get some prayer. They call in for prayer on my in on my block in my name. Simply because this is what the saints of God up in the earth to do. Your house, wherever you live, is the church in the neighborhood. Your house is the church in the neighborhood. Surely you ride 12 miles and 15 miles to get to what God called my house is the house of prayer, but your house is the church in the community, and that's what I call my house. I gave out, I give out food in my house. They know they can get some prayer and some word and some encouragement. So this is what the people of God were called to do. And and those of us, you will find that people will be so delighted, even those, even the even the ones that are smoking dope next door to me, they know when I come out the door, they be trying to hide the dope, simply because then I be asking them, what is that you got over there? I talk to them too and treat them with respect. I asked one young man one day when he came out of that house. I said, You want to ride? I said, I'm going up by the train station. I said, I said, and you got to walk a long ways to it. And I said, You want to get in? He said, No, ma'am, because I'm gonna be smoking. I didn't say nothing about him smoking. He said, I said, I said, Well, that's all right, get out here. Oh, been developing a relationship with him so that we can talk about this later on. Not now, but we're gonna talk about hey, finna take you about it, tell you you're sinning and dying. Oh, I'm finna be and you, we finna get to know each other. Oh, praise God for that.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Amen. You know, the the word talks about he that wins souls is is is wise. So I I think I see the wisdom in that that you were talking about. I want to talk now, Minister Way. When I began, you know, dealing with this ministry of interceding for pastors, I I just had this saying that, you know, we were not cultured to automatically pray for the pastor. The you know, the church, it's not set up. We we were not set up or built that way. There are things that we we built, we're built to have Sunday school, we're built to have Bible study, we're built to have a vacation Bible school. You know, some of the things we are just kind of, it goes in a natural line of things, but we were not cultured to automatically pray for the pastor. As a matter of fact, many people feel very awkward when they are the ones asked to pray for the pastor, and so we need to get rid of that awkwardness. And then on the other side of that, many pastors are not cultured to automatically ask for prayer, they're not cultured to say, hey, I I need you all to pray for me for a specific thing, but we know that the apostle Paul, who is our example, he did not feel that it was an issue with asking for prayer. That's something that he did many, many times. And I don't know, Sister Way, if you wanted to talk a little bit more about that, but if if but the the apostle Paul he had no qualms about asking for prayer, he had no qualms about letting people know how important their prayers for him were, and so we have to get out of any awkwardness when it comes down to praying for pastors. We have to do it, it needs to be done because they are carrying something and a word that God is going to speak, and because of the way the Lord operates, uh, there are some things he's not going to tell the average person. The average person is not going to be able to get certain things, you know, from the Lord. It's going to take the man or the woman of God that he has put in that place to minister. And so we have to get out of, you know, this thing of it being awkward to pray for pastors. And I don't know, Susway, if you wanted to talk a little bit more about that before we go to this next question.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Well, really, I was looking for the list of all the books that the apostle Paul wrote. I shouldn't know him, but you will see a common theme among them, all of his books. If he was not asking the people to pray, he was thanking them for praying. He was even saying, he said, pray for us that the word of God may have free course. Pray for us that he said it then he said, pray for us that uh a thought was on my mind. Not only that the word of God would have prefers that doors would be open for us. See, God had given get if you think about it, God had given these men this work to do. Do you think it's just gonna automatically be done because God gave them to do? We are in a warfare, and the deen the demons are not gonna just let the work go forward like that. We the church's responsibility is to lift the man of God up so that the work can get done. Not only that, he said, if he would if he was not requesting prayer from the people, he was saying, You have helped me with your prayers. In other words, you can't get on this boat and travel with me from Laodicea to Rome, but you can pray. What because I know that your prayers are gonna be answered because the scripture has said that your prayers are effective. So, what we need to begin to get an attitude that these men that we're in the kingdom of God, God has saved us, and he didn't just save you just to sit down and try to go to heaven. No, that's not the end of the story. You got to take somebody with you, and we're in a kingdom where the pastor is the head man, he's the man that God has made responsible for the overseeing, he's the shepherd over the sheep, he's the man that is responsible for feeding the sheep, he's the man for responsible for counseling the sheep. He's the man for keeping the sheep safe, he's supposed to keep you safe, he's supposed to warn you about the dangers that are out there in the world. He has to lead you from earth to heaven. If you don't hold him up, what a job. What job can he do if he does not have the entire body to lift his arms up like Aaron and her did for Moses after Moses? And I wanted to that with the end with that story when we end as well. If we would just see what God is saying when they needed to hold the man of God up, this you need to get an attitude. If you're a Christian, if you have received the Lord, you need to begin to think about the man that God has led, that that put in to lead you from earth to heaven. First of all, what the scripture tells you is that he is the watchman for your soul. You need to pray for somebody who's watching for you. You need to pray that they see what they need to see. You need to pray that they bespeak and have the courage and the time to speak into your life. Your pastors will do that, but they can't do it because we got them up there going to meetings all the time. Beatings that they should never go to. Don't let me get on the soapbout about that. The urshers can't get along, and they got to call a pastor in the meeting. When you get to a place of leadership in your church, you should be able to solve your own problems. There's a graduation of authority here. You should be able, the urship should be able to solve their problem. They don't need to have to call the pastor in and the and the choir members. King got to call the pastor in to sell disputes. Is that the have I? I have never heard. Listen, you're in a place of leadership. When you join the choir, you're in a place of leadership simply because the regenerate congregation is coming off the street. They see you up there singing. You need to be up, you need to have something like salvation or something. You are a leader. Now you mean to tell me you can't solve problems the more you got to call the pastor in all these different meetings. And I know I'm speaking to somebody out there. Cancel that meeting that you call the pastor into, and you and them sisters and brothers get together and solve the problems yourself. And and if you need to give a report to the pastor, just send them a note and say, We finished it, we solved it. Who is it that can't solve the problems in the church? So we need to think differently about the things that we are doing in our churches and the thing in our part in it. What else can you do to encourage others? People are, I'm gonna tell the pastor, why does he need to know that? You don't need to be telling the pastor a whole bunch of uh he don't need information like that. Nobody's saying now, don't talk to your pastor and things that you need to share. But what I'm saying, you need to think about it. What about the mothers in the church or the other officers in the church? What about the deacons and the mothers? How come you can't go to one and find your mother in the church who you can go tell it to? And I'm not still again, hear me clearly. If you need to go to your pastor, you do that, but you got to think about why I am doing it, why am I going there? Because he has not only me, but he has this entire congregation as large as it is that's bringing him all. It's a wonder, it's a wonder how the men I always tell my bishop, I say, I know you called to this word, I know he's called because he does it so gracefully, but that does not mean that he doesn't need my prayers. I pray for him and let him know I'm praying for him.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

And what about the people that say, you know, the pastor, he's strong enough, you know, why do I need to pray? I'm the one that needs prayer. You know, what about those folks that say that, you know, what what do you believe every believer should take, should do as it relates to the pastor? I I know we talked a little bit about it in in some of the things you've already said, but is there more that you would like to say on on that topic?

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Well, you know, it it you know the culture in our church is that we call for a prayer line and you know, call where the pastor invites the people down for new members, for salvation, and for prayer, and for those who want to uh connect to the church, you know, he confirmed. You need to think when you're going down for prayer, you need to think about the pastor needs prayer too. Not on all of us, we're as I said, the ground at the foot of the cross is level. We all on the same plane. Pastor got the same problems you got, even but he got some more. You think about your issues and then think about the pastor got that issue too, trying to pay these bills, pastor got this issue too, trying to get his children to do the right thing. The pastor got this issue too, trying to navigate with bills and and and and and and and different things, food. And he goes to the grocery stores. He don't have a special grocery store for pastors. No, the grocery store is the grocery store. They got to pray over the food like we do, that the price think about those kind of human things, and then you may need to look at your pastor. We know he comes in there and his clothes is on straight. And I got tickled because one pastor, one church was telling me, one of my sisters was telling me, I'm gonna stop right here. I'm now finna get kind of comical. She said, Do you know what? Me and some of our churchmen were talking about the pastor coming in there with his hat on in the pulpit. He never did that. Wonder what's wrong with him. I I got tickled about it because I said, Did anybody try to talk to the pastor, see what was going on? They said, He never, but they got to get among themselves and talk about it. The pastor needs prayer, whatever's going on with him, that he never come in the pulpit with his hat on, and then it was bothering him. So I say that the most of the pastors that come, their clothes, their tie is on straight, their hair is combed, they got the and they get up and they preach the gospel, but you don't ever know the things that have gone on before they get to that sermon. You don't ever know that's why you need to pray for him, that the the Lord will help him with all of these issues, that he can have clarity of thought. Can you imagine all these things coming? He has family, he loses family members. Nobody ever think about when a pastor is preaching a funeral, he's grieving too. He get up and he preached that sermon and preach to the audience out there. Nobody ever thought about to pray for him while he's preaching for those people that those family members, those and they and many he's he loves the sister sheep. Yeah, your your your mother may have passed away in the church, but she was under this pastor, he loves her too. Nobody thinks about praying for and for his grieving heart. Well, you're praying for that family, but what about the pastor? Just because he looks and got his shoes on straight, and that doesn't mean that he's all well. One question that I approach people with when I'm talking to them about that pastor, I ask them, is your pastor suicidal? And they look at me like, you know, what is she saying? How would you know how many people who commit suicide, there are no signs, they come in, they preach the gospel and go out and kill themselves. I want you to think about that. How would you know? The only way you're gonna know anything is that you pray for him daily and the Holy Spirit give you a discernment. He ain't gonna tell you the pastor finna kill himself. No, you're gonna have to be a person that is used to praying for the pastor and you get discernment. Something is going on. I don't know what's going on, but something is going on. Somebody come here, let's pray for the pastor. Let's let's hold him up. You will not know suicide has no face, and that's I appreciate the work that uh Elder Dowling does in researching these issues. Nobody probably ever if just think about it. If somebody knew it was about to commit suicide, it would never happen because you go get the paramedics, you go get This family, you it would never happen. Just think about it. It's a thing that happens, and the men don't, there's no way you can tell. You can say, Oh, he looks so depressed, he's fixing to kill himself. Oh no, that is not it. They come in and they do their jobs and then they go and kill themselves, you see. So you need to think about that. Is your pastor suicidal? How would you know? Are you praying for him?

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Oh my sister Way, you have hit a point, a pain point, a pressure point, you know, something that, you know, I think about very, very often because when I first, you know, started to get to know that God was going to have me do this ministry, the first thing that happened were that three pastors committed suicide back to back. And it woke something up in my spirit. And I I said, no, this cannot happen. But as you were saying, that first pastor that was Teddy Parker out in Macon, Georgia, you know, he had done a first service, preached the first service, and then had gone home for just a break, and he was due back to the second service, but in between the services, he committed suicide, and they had to go to the house and find him. But I w I want to say what I've learned is that, you know, since that time in November 2013, over 120 pastors have committed suicide. Now, many, many people don't really think about that. They don't know that that's the number. And, you know, I was talking not not too long ago. I had an interview with Katie Palmer, and she was talking about her father that had committed suicide. And she said the same thing you just said, that there were no signs. She didn't see it, they didn't know that you know that was going to be the thing because he was he was light and fun-loving, and so there was no way to know. And so the importance of continual to can being continual in your prayers for pastors, that is very important. And you know, when we when I'm thinking about it, Sister Wade, I don't know if you had anything else you wanted to share about that, but when I'm thinking about it, what how can a church build a culture of prayer and intercession for their pastor? If they if they have not built that culture, if they don't have that culture now, how can they do it?

SPEAKER_01 24:52

First of all, you've been if the Lord is speaking to somebody's heart to do it, you need to, you don't need to hesitate because let me tell you in a warfare here. And do you think that just because you made up your mind to do it, that it's just gonna go forward perfectly? No, because we are in war. The devil knows that if you lift this man of God up, see, that's where the see, that's where the power is with the man that God has put in place to lead. You think the devil gonna let you do this? No, but what you gotta do is be persistent and know that it's right. The way you can begin with what uh I have several resources that I use. I think I keep using our textbook, is by Dr. Tycho, who really uh really lays out in there a way to study. And also, uh uh Elder Darling has a good book book. And uh I I didn't know I wanted to hold them up or not, but anyway, she has a book that has a section in it as how to begin to do that. First of all, you're gonna begin to pray, you're gonna begin to get you know, you know your uh church members, you know who are praying. Go to these church members and say, Let's get together. You could start with just two people. So I'm gonna call you up twos, and we just gonna. I tell you what, if you get the mind to do it, the Holy Spirit is gonna lead you. So let's just lift our pastor up, let's lift his wife up instead of criticizing his wife and and look like she didn't have a dress on or on and look like she didn't do this or didn't do that. We're gonna lift her up because you don't ever know what she's been through. You don't ever know what these pastors' wives go through. They are really gotta be a special calling for them to do the work that they do. Walking beside these men when their lives are interrupted, they can never plan special things for family. These this is a family, and they have to, the pastor always got to go down to the church. They can never take time off for things that they've special, they have life just like you, but they can never take special time because it's gonna get interrupted by somebody died, somebody got an emergency, they was in a car accident, the pastor got to go. What you can do is you can begin to get two of you. So let's lift our pastor up that he has the time and the discretion to be able to spend with his family first. Do you know his family is his first mission field? Do you know God put ministry on the list? Family is first on the list. Yes, you got a pastor, but from what you're looking at, it looks like ministry is first on this pastor. That's not God's order. God's order is that his family, he has a wife, his wife is supposed to be first in his life. You hear what I'm saying? He needs to be taking care of the things concerning her before he even comes to that church to see about anybody. He needs to do that. And if it be a if it be a she, she needs to be taking care of the things of her home and her husband before she ever comes to the church. Because this is what God's order, it's not Hattie's idea, it's God's idea because you would think that ministry is first, but it's not because the pastor's always at the church. Pastor needs to go home because that's God's order. So, what you need to think about, let's two of us get together and begin. You could just think of practical things. Let's two of us just take five minutes and just pray for our pastor and lift him up. Some things you know, you're in the congregation, you know what things need prayer, you know that the money is short and the bills are not being paid. How come you can't get a sister on the phone and let's pray about this? And then see the results, see that there will be results. You see what I'm saying? Somebody's gonna come in and drop some money in your church just because you prayed. Do you hear what I'm saying? Somebody gonna bring a big offering, somebody's gonna leave an inheritance down there because you prayed. Then what you're gonna do, you begin to organize, you begin to get the people together. Now, in this book, it tells you how to do that. And I will, we're gonna suggest the names of these books so that you will have, we won't be able to give you all the instructions you need, but just know that that is a method, okay? And a firm method. Once you two of y'all get together and begin to pray for your pastor, then what you want to do, you want to let your pastor know. Like you said, you don't want to overburden him, many things he will not hear because his mind is overcharged with all, but you can send a note, Pastor me and sister, and we're gonna be praying for you every Tuesday. We're gonna be praying for you every whatever you all decide to do, and then after that, you're gonna begin to organize. But what I would like for you to do is to read one of these two books, or both of them, I would say both of them, because Pastor Dial Darling's book is excellent in telling you how to start a ministry of prayer for your pastor, and Pastor Tycho's book is just excellent. So I would first of all suggest these resources, and they're not difficult, they're not hard, they're plain, common things, they're not different. Anyone can do it, is what I'm saying. Oh, you all you know what the scripture said about the saint all that is required is a willing mind. That's all God requires. When you have a will to do something for the kingdom of God, that's that's it, it's done. Because you know what? God is gonna send you what you need, He's gonna send you a person, He's gonna send you a resource. If you got a willing mind, that's all it takes. I want to do this, I want to pray for my pastor. I love my pastor. Yeah, we say we love him, but we don't. Do we really love him? What things are we doing towards him that shows that you actually love him? Are you praying? One thing, and I don't minimize this because this is the biggest thing you can do. Prayer is a gift. Because do you know prayer will get done what you cannot do? Prayer would do what nothing else in this world will do if you get a mind to pray, and then, but first of all, you need a prayer life yourself. Are you praying? Are you raising in the in the morning and and starting your day or whatever time of day you say? Because sometimes people work at night and they got different times. That's okay. Just so you're doing it on a regular basis that you're praying. Not only that, are you are you talking to God throughout the day? Many of us we we we we got we we say our morning prayer. We don't God don't get nothing else until we buy our knees at night. You we don't even think about him. Do you know prayer is a relationship and you're thinking about him? In other words, all through the day, you're uttering little prayer, Lord. I just want to thank you that this happened. I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you did that. That is prayer, walking and talking, Lord. I praise your name that I had enough to get the groceries today, Lord. I thank you that you kept my child from disaster today. The school was having a shooting. Didn't nobody get hurt, Lord. I that's prayer. You can do that all the time. Didn't the scripture say men out to always pray? If you don't get a prayer life, you're not likely to pray for this pastor because that see, this is a special kind of prayer. Because the devil is gonna make sure you don't do it. You need a prayer life yourself, and don't wait till you get one now. Just get them. All you gotta do is have a willing mind. I'm gonna improve my prayer life. And when you do that, the Holy Spirit is gonna step in. You're gonna begin to do things. You're gonna begin to, you're gonna see some results too.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Before you go, remember this. Prayer doesn't have to be long to be powerful. You can pray while you're riding to work or during your lunch break, even while you're in the shower. 1 Thessalonians, the fifth chapter, the 17th verse, reminds us to pray without ceasing. That means weaving prayer into every part of life. And while you're lifting up your needs to God, take a moment to pray for your pastor too. They carry more than most will ever know. And your intercession matters. I'm Elder Audrey Dowling, and I'll meet you back here next time, ready to explore this topic of praying for and uplifting the ones who lead. Until then, keep praying and keep believing.