MY FATHER TAUGHT ME THAT GOD IS REALLY REAL WITHOUT SAYING A WORD

When I was 11 years old my family was living on a farm near Tipton, Oklahoma where my dad worked as a farmhand making .50 center per hour.  Our family attended the Assembly of God church seven miles away in Tipton, and we were there every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.

Becoming dissatisfied with his situation on the farm, Dad began making plans to move to Dallas, Texas and work as a bricklayer. But as he made his plans to move, he heard the Holy Spirit speak in his heart, “What about pastoring this church?”

This seemed like an impossibility for two reasons: First of all, the church had a pastor and he had given no hint that he planned to leave. Secondly, Dad knew that the people did not see him as a pastor. He was a farmhand with a fourth-grade education and on the lower end of the socio-economic scale in this “nice” church.

However, it sounded like God had spoken and 12 years before this he had experienced a supernatural call to the ministry but had never been able to find his niche. He decided to ask for confirmation, and said, “Lord, if this is you speaking to me, let this pastor resign before the first of the month.”

He was shocked when he went to church the following Sunday and the pastor got up and announced his resignation. Knowing that God had spoken, Dad afterwards went to the church secretary and said, “I would like to submit my name to be the pastor of this church.”

The church had a process in place for selecting a pastor and it consisted of allowing anyone who was interested to preach in a service and then afterwards the members of the church would vote. If the preacher got more than 50% of the votes, he would become the pastor. The secretary replied, “You are the first one to inquire so your name is at the top of the list.”

About three days later, an older gentleman, who was the chairman of the board of deacons/elders, visited my dad and informed him that he had talked to all the members of the church. “We are all in agreement,” he said, “That you are not qualified to be our pastor.” He then asked Dad to withdraw his name for consideration because, he said, “No one will vote for you.”

Well, what do you do now? God had clearly spoken for him to pastor this congregation, but now they are all in agreement that they do not want him as their pastor. He was between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.”

Not being a politician with a plan to sway votes, Dad went to prayer. He prayed all night but heard nothing. What now? Do you throw in the towel and move on? Something inside would not let him quit, so he prayed all night the second night; but there was no voice, no guidance, and no direction.

Virtually everyone advised him to withdraw his name and forget about pastoring that church. One of his relatives poked fun, saying, “The Lord told Clarence to go plow, and he thought He said to go preach.” The one voice of support came from my oldest brother, Harvey, who said to him, "Daddy, if God told you to do this, you better do it." 

He prayed on, all night for the third night in a row. As morning dawned, he looked out a window and as the first rays of the morning sun shone in his face he was, in his words, “turned into another man.” Suddenly he had no concern what anyone thought of him. The only thing that mattered was being obedient to the call of God.

He went out and found the secretary of the church and the chairman of the board of deacons/elders. He said to them, “Brethren, whatever you do is between you and God, but I have to go through with this.” They said OK, and arranged for him to preach the following Sunday night.

I still remember the message that Sunday night, and there seemed to be special anointing from the Holy Spirit as he preached from Haggai 1:5, “Consider Your Ways.” After finishing his sermon, he said the congregation, “I have done what God asked me to do and it is now between you and God.”

He then led our family out of the church to our home, now about one-half block away, where we waited to hear the results of the election. About one-half hour later, someone came from the church and told him he had been voted in as pastor with 100% of the vote. WOW!!

They then proceeded to explain that, after we left, Brother Cook, the chairman of the board who was emceeing the election, had gotten up before the congregation weeping and said, “Folks, I have been wrong about this man; he is supposed to be our pastor.”

Everything suddenly changed. Hearts were melted across the congregation. And whereas everyone there had come prepared to vote against him every single member voted for him.

From that time forth, except for brief intervals between pastorates, my dad was in full time pastoral ministry for the rest of his life. The last church he pastored was the Assembly of God in Chicota, Texas, which he pastored for 27 years. One young man, Tony Boykin, who grew up under his ministry, wrote the following after his passing.

He had a profound impact on my life that changed me forever. My children and I can always say that our Christian life was helped to be framed by one of America's greatest pastors. I will forever believe that he will stand beside Moses, King David, Elijah, and Father Abraham. If any man has ever lived by Gods highest standards, it was the legendary C.H. Hyatt. I miss one of the best friends I have ever had.

So, I learned this most important lesson, not from a lecture, but from being there and seeing this unfold. I learned that that God is really real, and that He does answer prayer in marvelous ways when we pray and obey.  

Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is a Bible teacher and ordained minister who has authored over 30 books on spiritual awakening, gifts of the Spirit, women in ministry, church order and other biblical themes. All are available on Amazon and his website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com.