Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I am Thankful for my Faithful Friend, Faye Whitten

Tomorrow I will drive to Greenville, South Carolina to assist with the funeral of Rev. Faye Whitten. Faye is a retired missionary educator/evangelist in the Church of God. For the past several years she has been a member of our church.

I first met Faye in 1979. We were both students at the Church of God School of Theology as it was then known. I did not know her well. Our paths seldom crossed. She was one of the first female Master of Divinity graduates of the seminary.

It was eighteen or twenty years ago that I got to know her well. We had Faye come to New Covenant as an evangelist. As is typical with our guest ministers, I spent some time with her discussing the Bible, theology, and New Covenant. I discovered her to be an outstanding student of the Scriptures. I also discovered her to be a person of a meek and quiet spirit.

We had Faye and Dot back for four or five revivals over the next decade or so. Her ministry was powerful and effective at our church. And we are not an easy church with whom to be an evangelist. We have the highest concentration of doctorates in religion in the Church of God; our people expect preaching that is well grounded in the Scriptures. We also have one of the highest concentrations of G.E.D.’s of any church I know; our people expect sincerity, clarity, practicality in presentation. She was able to speak in a way that connected with the entire congregation.

Most people who have sat under her ministry are impacted by her special gift in giving personal prophecies. During the altar service she would tarry a long time praying with individuals. Her prayers frequently shifted into personal words from the Lord. God used her mightily in this manner especially to speak to the issues and concerns people were facing.

I believe it was during her second revival that we had a van load of out of town guests. They were students from Columbia Theological Seminary just beginning an intensive travel class as an immersion into Appalachia. Most of these students were Presbyterians. As Faye was ministering she called out to two of them; they were non-traditional students, i.e., older, second career types. She got their attention and began, “Sirs, yes, you two there in the back. The Lord wants you to know…” As she spoke I was nervous; the professor was a friend/acquaintance of mine and I knew these students had not been in a Pentecostal service. Then, I noticed both men had an expression of amazement and one began to cry.

The one who cried sought me out after the service to give me a report. He had never been to a Pentecostal or Charismatic service or witnessed anything like he saw that day. He had come very skeptical. But Faye’s prophetic words spoke directly to them in response to a conversation they had with each other on the ride up from Atlanta. “The words were exact,” he said.

Typically, Faye’s personal prophesies were assurances of God’s attention to the individual’s trials with a promise of deliverance. Near the end of every revival she would ask to pray for me. I would silently ask for a word of coming blessing. What I invariable got were words like, “The Lord says to you, despise not the day of little things. I have placed you here. Do not look for numbers. I have raised this church up to be a place of healing and sending.” In other words, keep being faithful and be content with small attendance and finances. I always hoped for something different, but always knew it was a word from God. It wasn’t until she retired that she gave me a word with the promise of change.

In the last couple of years she has developed short term memory loss and other indicators of dementia. She remained a blessing to us all. For me personally, she bragged on my sermons. Actually, she would linger around the front to tell me the message was a special blessing. Then having forgotten she had had spoken to me, she would tell me two or three more times before she left.

In spite of her mental challenges, she remained on our prayer team and ministered to people every Sunday she was present. Her prayers were as anointed as ever.

What I have not yet written about are her physical challenges. Faye was born crippled; her legs were folded behind her and could not be straightened. As a young girl, God instantly healed her. Then in mid-life she broke her hip and gradually became handicapped in her legs. She had multiple hip replacements and other surgeries over the years. We have journeyed with her as she digressed from a cane to a walker and finally to a wheel chair.

In the face of her own suffering, God often used Faye to minister healing to others. She was always smiling, always positive, and always giving. She embodied the Christian graces of faith, hope, and love. We will miss her greatly. I already sense the loss of her prayers, at least the closeness of her prayers for me as her pastor. I am convinced she is still praying for me and in that I take courage.

Cleveland
December 28, 2010
JDJ

8 comments:

. said...

I wish I'd known Sister Faye better, and I'm glad you wrote this tribute for those of us who didn't really know the details of her life.

I am sad that the days of "The Thankful Series" are drawing to a close. Sure you don't want to sign on for another year? :)

Kimberly Jean said...

Thanks for posting this, Jackie. I know that I (along with countless others)am going to miss Sister Faye.

Unknown said...

I dare not lean over the keyboard as I type this because I am crying. I miss quiet times out in the sunroom with her, seeing her study her bible and notes for hours, watching her play with Poncho and especially hearing her prayers. She was a special friend and mentor, one that I miss very much. Your words could not have been more true. Rest in Peace Faye.

Anonymous said...

I will miss Faye very much. There is already a big hole ripped in the fabric of our congregation. I got to know Faye as she and Dot welcomed me into their home for Covenant Life Group. Several times during the course of our relationship, Faye spoke those encouraging words over me that you wrote about. I was careful to write down the gist of what she said each time, and I have gone back and revisited her words many times. Thank you for posting, Pastor Jackie.

Sincerely, Hannah Moore

chrisjenfamily said...

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Jennifer said...

Thank you for posting, Pastor Jackie. I'm very thankful for the impact she has had on my life. I hadn't realized until now that I have been dreading going to church for the last couple of weeks because of that hole that she has left...

Unknown said...

I met Sister Faye and Dot close to 20 years ago while a member of Soul Saving Station, Saratoga Springs,NY. They ran meetings at our church on numerous occasions in the early nineties and each time the power of God flowed like water as people were saved, delivered and gloriously healed under His precious anointing. Sister Faye and Sister Dot were so humble and meek as they presented Jesus to a body of people in dire need of a touch from Him. I will never forget these meetings as I was quite young in the Lord and clearly remember being personally ministed to by Jesus through these two beautiful souls.....She is with her Master now forever and ever and we shall see her one day totally healed and delivered from earthly ailments.....Thank you Lord for using Faye Whitten to touch my life many years ago...She is sheltered forever in your arms....Keep Sister Dot and use her to continue to minister to the hurting and needy of this world....Pastor Pat Roach, Saratoga Springs, NY..... roachpat@msn.com

wordbuilder said...

I believe Faye Whitten pastored the Church of God here in Tucumcari, New Mexico, in the mid 1970s. My dad later pastored the same church (from 1989 to 2002).