Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long, your host for a brand new program called Shabbat Shalom. From 6:00 to 9:00 every Saturday morning, Shabbat Shalom will be aired without commercials to honor the Lord on His day, the Sabbath. Many listeners have been looking for how to study the Torah and connect with the ways of our Jewish fathers. I want to thank WEEI Boston for allowing me to bring Shabbat Shalom to you.

I encourage you to download our Torah schedule for the first 13 weeks and be prepared as we study the Torah together the first half hour every week with ordained Torah teacher Pastor Matt McKeown. To download the schedule, go to weeiradio.com, locate the program guide, and click on Shabbat Shalom Saturday mornings. You'll find links to our handouts, who the teachers are, and what you can expect.

Each hour will feature segments from two teachers who will be teaching not only the Torah but their individual areas of study. We are a team of teachers, me included, who are partnering together to rebuild the foundations of Judaism to prepare us for the Messianic kingdom.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. We praise You today, for You above all are worthy of praise. Bless us, Lord, as we rebuild the foundations of our forefathers. Bless the teachers and all those who have joined today to learn. Thank You for Your promise in Isaiah 58 that if we call the day of the Lord honorable and we honor it, You said You would make us ride upon the heights of the earth and feed us with the heritage of Jacob, our father.

Join me in reciting the Shema, which is the centerpiece of the daily morning and evening prayer our forefathers considered the most essential prayer in all of Judaism. It is traditionally recited with the right hand placed over the eyes.

Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Baruch shem kavod malchuto l'olam va'ed. Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity.

Lord, You have made this day, the Sabbath, the beginning of all holy days, a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. You have chosen us and You have blessed us from among all the nations, and You have bequeathed us Your holy Shabbat in love and favor. Blessed are You, Lord, who sanctifies Shabbat.

Pastor Matt McKeown: Good morning. I want to welcome you to this week's edition of Shabbat Shalom, a time to exhale, reflect, and enter into the holy rhythm of God's rest. I'm Pastor Matt McKeown, and as last night the sun set, we entered into Shabbat, the Sabbath. It has begun, and we find ourselves in the sacred space between heaven and earth where we remember, we rejoice, and we realign our hearts with the voice of the Creator.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a pastor of a church in the Daytona Beach area of Florida. I have been in ministry since 1998, and in the early 2000s, I began to be very curious about the Jewish foundation of the Christian faith. Part of my job is I run a recording studio as a part of our church's ministry, and a conservative Jewish couple came in to record two albums of music completely in Hebrew. Even though at the time I couldn't understand the words, there was something so very anointed, so very spiritual about what they were doing.

I began to ask questions, and they began to say some very provocative things to me like there is nothing new in the New Testament; it is renewed. It is not that this Jesus, we call Him Yeshua in Hebrew, it is not that He had a bunch of new, revolutionary ideas. He was calling people to the Word of God, calling people to what we call the Torah. The Torah is Genesis through Deuteronomy, and the word Torah means instruction.

A lot of times we translate this word into English as law, but really, the word Torah means God's instruction, His teaching. In fact, it is related to a Hebrew word *hora'ah*, which means a parent. So God's Word is like a parent for us. It gives us discipline, it gives us encouragement, it lets us know when we are doing right, and it lets us know when we are doing wrong, just like our parents do.

I began a journey to discover the Jewish roots and foundation of the Christian faith. I really believe that God has called me to be a bridge between the Jewish world and the Christian world. So I travel all over the globe with and at the behest of a Jewish rabbi who came to faith in the Messiah about 25 years ago named Rabbi Shapira. I've been studying under him for over ten years. I went through his Messianic Jewish seminary called a Yeshiva, graduated, and was ordained as what is called a Mora Torah, or a Torah teacher, a Bible teacher in the Jewish world.

So I have a very interesting bridge that I live on in that I am ordained in the Christian church as a Reverend, so I am a pastor, I am a Reverend, but I am also a Mora Torah. I am also a Torah teacher in the Jewish world. I think I have some interesting insights to share with you, and so I am very excited to be one of the teachers here we have on this wonderful program on Saturday morning called Shabbat Shalom.

Now, a little bit about that name. Shabbat Shalom means Sabbath Peace. Sabbath Peace. What a wonderful thought: the peace of God that is guarding our hearts and our minds in the Messiah. That Sabbath peace is also used as a greeting. If you're in a synagogue or a temple and you see someone and you want to greet them on the Sabbath, you say Shabbat Shalom. So allow me to say that to you. Allow me to greet you and to offer you, to wish you a Shabbat Shalom, a Sabbath peace today.

This is going to be very exciting as we go on this journey of seeing the Jewish roots of our Christian faith and going through the Bible the way the Jewish people do. You see, the Bible is divided up into 54 portions, or I should say the Torah is divided up into these portions, Genesis through Deuteronomy. These portions each week are called a parashah, a portion of the scripture. Every synagogue in the world is reading the same passage of scripture on that particular week.

This week, our Torah portion is called parashat *Va'etchanan*. *Va'etchanan*. Now, what's interesting is in Hebrew we have some sounds that we don't have in the English language, like this guttural, almost, forgive the term, a clearing the throat sound, *Va'etchanan*. That type of sound we have in Hebrew; it's very common in a lot of words.

This Torah portion called *Va'etchanan* is in Deuteronomy chapter 3, verses 23 all the way through chapter 7, verse 11. It's a Torah portion that's overflowing with spiritual depth, with heartfelt emotion, and foundational truths for those of us who follow the God of Israel and believe in His Messiah, His Son, Yeshua. This is how we say Jesus in Hebrew, Yeshua. It's related to another Hebrew word, *yeshuah*, which means salvation.

So you hear in that word salvation, *yeshuah*, you hear that commonality with the name Yeshua because He is the one that brings us the salvation. Isn't this a wonderful journey that we're already on? Let's dive in. The name of this Torah portion, *Va'etchanan*, means "And I Pleaded" because this Torah portion begins with this sentence: Moses pleading with God, longing to enter the Promised Land after decades of leading Israel through the wilderness.

I want you to imagine this moment. Moses has been faithful. He's interceded on behalf of the people time and time again. He's watched a generation rise and fall, and now, after all that, he's standing on the threshold of the land flowing with milk and honey, but he's not permitted to go in. We all know that story about him striking the rock, and God does not permit him to go in.

So he begs God, "Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan." But God answers, "Enough. Do not speak to Me again on this matter. Go to the top of Pisgah, and I will show you. Look around. You're going to see this, but you will not cross this Jordan River."

It's one of the most poignant "no's" in all of scripture. It's raw, it's human, and honestly, it's heartbreaking. What's really interesting about the Hebrew language is that every letter has a numerical value. So if you look at this word *Va'etchanan*, "And I Pleaded" or "And I Begged," if you add up every Hebrew letter in that word and you add up the sum of that, you get 515.

Why do I bring that up? Well, the ancient rabbis and scholars of the Torah tell us that this is a clue that Moses prayed 515 times that he would be able to enter into the Promised Land and cross the Jordan. Now, I want you to think about that. How many times have you prayed earnestly, honestly, with fervor for something, and have you given up praying? I think Moses gives us a good example of praying until God lets you know a definite answer one way or the other. If God has not given you an answer, then I say keep praying.

We remember that parable in the New Testament, what we call in Hebrew the Brit Chadashah, the New Testament or the New Covenant scriptures, when Yeshua or Jesus tells us about the persistent widow. Do you remember this parable? The parable of the persistent widow. She keeps asking the judge for justice. Even though this judge isn't even a godly judge, because the widow is so persistent in her praying, he relents and he gives her the justice that she is asking for.

So we're given this idea from the Messiah that we should not give up praying unless God gives us an answer. God gave Moses this answer: "Enough. Don't speak to Me about this again." Even in that "no," that "no" answer, God shows His grace. He allowed Moses to see the land from a distance. He instructs him to strengthen and encourage Joshua, who will lead the people into their inheritance, and He continues to speak with Moses. He doesn't cast him aside. I think this is so important for us to realize.

Let's look at this from a bit of a Jewish point of view. We could call this a Messianic insight, meaning having to do with the Messiah. Whenever I use the term Messianic, what I mean is we're looking at this in a Jewish way but through the lens of the Messiah, through the lens of Jesus, or Yeshua as we call Him in Hebrew. Later on in the New Testament, we see Moses again. He's standing with Elijah and Yeshua on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration.

There, in the land that he longed to enter, Moses appears glorified by the Messiah. You see, God's "no" to Moses wasn't the end. It was a "no" in that time and a "no" in the physical, but it was like a redirection toward something greater. Moses didn't step into the land in the flesh, but he did so later in spirit with Elijah and the Messiah Himself. What an amazing scene that we see there at the top of the Mount of Transfiguration.

I want you to pay attention to this. Brother and sister, you may have had a "no" in your life, a door that didn't open, a dream that didn't come to pass. I want us to let this Torah portion called parashat *Va'etchanan* remind you that sometimes God's "no" is a doorway to something eternal. He plans for you to stretch beyond this life. His idea, His plan for you, His destiny for you is eternal. It's beyond this life. He is writing your story. Remember, He's the author, with eternity in mind.

From there, Moses turns his attention to the people and he begins retelling the story of Mount Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments. In English, we call this book Deuteronomy, and it is because this word Deuteronomy means Second Law, the second telling of the law, the second telling of the Torah. Because, as you know, or maybe you don't know, the book of Deuteronomy is a series of messages that is given at the end of Moses' life. He knows he's going to die. He knows he's not going into the Promised Land, and it is a retelling of everywhere they've been and everything that they have experienced.

He gives these series of messages or sermons, and sometimes rebukes, over 30 days. He gives this to them there as they're about to cross over. He reminds the children of Israel of their awe and their fear of the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. He reminds them of the cloud, of the fire, of the voice from the mountain. If you go back and read this in the Exodus account at the giving of the Ten Commandments, it is quite a scene. It's absolutely incredible with the fire, the thunder, the lightning, the amazing thing that is happening.

He calls the children of Israel to remember that that wasn't a myth; it wasn't a dream. It happened, and because it happened, it changed everything. Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 9, "Only take care and watch yourselves closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen. Teach them to your children and your children's children."

There is a sacred call here to memory. In Judaism, memory is not passive; it's active. We don't just recall the facts. In a Jewish way of looking at things, we live them; we relive them. We embody them and we pass them on. The covenant depends on this memory being carried forward generation after generation.

So let me ask you. If you are a parent or a grandparent, what are you passing on to your children or your children's children? What are you passing on to your community? What spiritual memories are you sharing with the next generation? I remember when I was a kid, we did something called a time capsule. Maybe you've done something like this before where you put something in a box, a receptacle, or something. A lot of times you bury it underground or put it in the cornerstone of a building or something like that.

Imagine that you are doing a spiritual time capsule. What memories would you put in there from your life? What struggles, what victories, what disappointments, what great joys would you put in there? Are you in the habit of telling the stories of what God has done for you and for your family? Our children, the next generation, needs to know what God has done. They need to hear the story of Egypt and the Exodus, not just from books but from our lips.

What is your Egypt? What is your great Exodus? What has God saved you from? This testimony needs to be passed on from generation to generation. They need to hear how the Messiah, Yeshua, came not to abolish the Torah, the great instruction from God, but to fulfill it, to embody it, and to show us how to walk it out in love.

Moses then turns to one of the central declarations in all of scripture. It is known in Judaism as the Shema. The word Shema means "hear," to hear. When Yeshua was asked what is the greatest commandment, he quoted the Shema. Here's how it goes in Hebrew. Listen to this. This is the holy tongue, this is the tongue of Hebrew. This is what everybody spoke before the Tower of Babel. Here's how it goes: Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." This is from Deuteronomy 6:4.

In the synagogue, you don't just say this declaration of faith; you chant it. You sing it. And if you will permit me, I will show you how that's done. It goes like this: Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And there's another second part that traditionally is said in an undertone, sometimes even in a whisper: Baruch shem kavod malchuto l'olam va'ed. Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.

This verse is the closest thing to a creed that Judaism has. It's the heartbeat of Jewish prayer life. It's recited every morning and evening. It's spoken before you go to sleep. It's the first verse taught to children. In many Jewish traditions, it's the last words you say before death. If you realize that you are coming to your life's end, this is the last thing you say.

But what does it mean? I've told you that the word Shema means "hear," but it means much more than just passively hearing. It means to listen attentively, to obey, to respond. It's not just about letting sound enter your ears; it's about aligning your life with what you hear. And what do we hear? That the Lord, Adonai, is our God and that He is one. Not one among many, not one idea among options. Not like what the world says, that there are many paths, but the one—the way, the truth, and the life—the only, the eternal, the sovereign King.

As I said, when Yeshua was asked what is the greatest commandment, in Mark chapter 12, verse 29, he said, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength." I want you to key in on this, brother and sister. He didn't give a new commandment; he quoted the Torah. He quoted from Deuteronomy. He pointed back to *Va'etchanan*. Then he added another verse that is like it in Leviticus 19:18. In Hebrew, it goes, *v’ahavta l’rei-acha kamocha*, "and love your neighbor as yourself."

Love of God, love of neighbor—these two are inseparable. Let's break this down. The command says to love God with all your heart, your soul, and your might. In Hebrew, *levavcha*, *nafsh'cha*, and *me'odecha*. Your heart, your inner desires, your will, your emotions. Your soul, your life, your identity. And your might—a word that includes strength, yes, but it really more accurately is translated your "much" or your "muchness." I know that doesn't make sense in English, but it actually includes your wealth, your financial wellbeing, your influence, your everything. It is all-encompassing.

We love God with everything. In other words, love God with everything you are and everything that you have. What a powerful statement. That's not casual religion; that's total devotion. Now, let's go deeper into that last thought: total devotion. This kind of love that Moses is talking about, it's not an emotional feeling. It's not just an emotion stirred up by worship music or a moment of inspiration. It's a love that is lived out in choices, in habits, and in obedience.

In Hebrew thought, love is action. It is demonstrated by what we do. In fact, the rabbis say love that depends on a cause, when the cause is gone, the love is gone. But love that is not dependent on any cause, it lasts forever. That's the kind of love that God wants from us. Not just love when we're blessed, not just to love when the miracles are flowing, but love in the wilderness. Love even when the answer is no. Love even when He feels distant. Moses is saying: teach that love, model it, build your life around it.

What is interesting about this Torah portion, there is another section that we have, and this section talks about thanking God when you eat and are satisfied. This is very interesting. How many of you pray before you eat? It's something that probably all of us do or are in the habit of doing. But in this Torah portion, there is this verse that says when you eat and are satisfied, then you shall bless the name of the Lord your God.

This is pretty awesome because I want you to think about this. When you eat and are satisfied, you will bless the name of the Lord. That means after you eat. So although there is a blessing that is said for food based on what kind of food you eat in a Jewish way of doing prayer—like for instance, there's a specific prayer for bread or if you're going to eat a piece of fruit, something that grows on a tree, something that grows on a vine, something that grows in the ground—what's interesting is there is a short blessing given before you eat, but there is a larger blessing that is given called the Grace After Meals, or the Birkat Hamazon, that is said after you eat.

Why is that? The rabbis tell us that if you go to eat something and you are hungry, you're more apt to remember to thank God because you're hungry. Because you're hungry, you are dependent on God to fulfill your needs, to fill your stomach with the good things that He has. So if you pray before you eat when you're hungry, you're more apt to remember to do it. But once you eat and are satisfied, it's easy to forget about the Lord.

I want to offer you a couple of challenges, and one of them is this: if you're accustomed to praying before you eat, I'm going to challenge you this week to try to pray as well after you eat. I think that's a wonderful habit to get into as a way to remember to thank the Lord even when we are satiated, even when we are satisfied.

It has been awesome to be with you here on my first week of Shabbat Shalom. I would like to invite you personally to join us next week to begin the Sabbath with our weekly Torah reading for parashat *Ekev* next week on this broadcast called Shabbat Shalom. We want to teach our listeners how to carry His ways, the core of which is the Torah, manifested of course in the living Torah, the living word, Messiah Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah. Once again, this is Pastor Matt McKeown, wishing you a joyful, restful, and covenant-filled Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: Each week, Pastor Matt will teach our Torah portion. To learn more about him and his background, go to weeiradio.com. Look for Shabbat Shalom on the program guide Saturday mornings. Click on our page and you'll find links to learn more about the program itself, as well as links to all of our teachers and their resources. If you want to study along with us every week, download our weekly Torah schedule. Pastor Matt will be teaching the Torah every Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m.

Next is a key mentor in my life, Dr. Elizabeth Hairston, recognized around the world as God's Ambassador of Worship Arts. God gave her an incredible assignment. He said, "Carry My presence in music and dance, heal My women, and teach them what is required to carry this level of anointing." When she began in the 1980s, the moment the music started and she began ministering, women all over the room began screaming as demons left them. Unfortunately, her health does not permit sharing her story live with us, so I'm bringing you segments of an interview I did with her in 2021 to capture her legacy in worship. As a disclaimer, I ask your patience with the audio quality of my interview with her. It's not as clear as I would like, but I've done my best to memorialize her important spiritual legacy. You will be blessed.

To give a little bit of a background of how we met, because we've known each other for a long time, probably since 2004, and you were a very key mentor and mother in the faith for me for many, many years. We're going to divide up our interview in three sections. We're going to talk about the call of God, because I want people to know your calling. Your calling to me is a very special one and a very unique one, and I think a lot of people don't realize how important your call is. So I want to talk about the call.

Then the second stage we're going to move into is what I call the character, because the call is what happens when each person senses that we're called by God for something. Then we move into another role, or another phase, which is the character where we're tested and refined in every which a way because God wants to know: can she or he carry the anointing that I have for them in this call? They have to go through a lot of character testing. I want to pull from you what you had to go through to arrive at where you are now.

The final phase we'll get to is what I call the commission, where God says, "Okay, she's got it together, she's passed some tests. Now I'm going to lay my hand of blessing on her and it will be easier." The anointing flows easier at this stage. What I say to people, and I'm sure you do too, is not everybody gets to this stage. Some people get stuck in the character phase and they don't get out, which is why the Jews stayed in the wilderness and they died in the wilderness and didn't get to the Promised Land.

I see you as someone who has gone through all three stages. You are in your commission stage. So I want the people who are going to look at this to learn from you and say, "Okay, how did she handle the call?" So that's kind of where we're going. Let's move now to the call, and I want to read from your bio that you sent me. There was a phrase, and then I'm going to let you talk. There is a phrase that said that you are God's ambassador in the worship arts, which is a wonderful, wonderful phrase and a messaging position. Whoever wrote that did a wonderful job. But that's not where you started out. So I want to go back to when you first sensed the call of God. What were you going through and how disruptive was that experience for you?

Elizabeth Hairston: Well, I cannot discuss that without going back to when I was four years old. I developed a passion to dance. No one taught me, nobody talked about it. I just found myself dancing in the house, in the front yard of our home in Columbus, Mississippi. In that process, there was something stirring in me, even though I did not know the Lord per se, if you understand what I'm saying. Of course you do. But even though I didn't know Him per se, it was something about moving in dance that really stirred me and caused me to want to involve others in the dance as well.

What happened is that my mother began to notice my dancing, and she had an eye for each one of us—two other sisters at home; a brother was away in the military. She recognized gifts and talents, and then she began to check out how she could actually help us in that category.

As I danced, I found myself wanting to have lessons. There was no place to take lessons in Mississippi at the time. So I just looked up at the heavens. I didn't know what to do with myself. I just knew that there was a pulling, there was a drawing at such an early age. My mother would have me to dance when we had guests at the house. That wasn't enough for me. There was more that I was looking for.

As time passed on, the Lord came into my life—let me back up. In 1972, this was 1944. I was born in 1944. All right, so 1949 is when I began to dance. As time passed on and I continued to do this and looked up at the heavens to try to get some clarity, to understanding, down the road, I met Jesus. There are things that happened in my life before that, but that's not the key part right now.

In 1972, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. When I was on my way from my seat to the altar, which I really didn't understand, I felt that compelling, a pulling to go down to the altar after the minister had preached the Word of God. On my way to the altar, I heard a voice say, "If you go down there, you won't be able to dance again." I said, "But I can sing." So the arts were in the forefront of my life.

I didn't know yet that this was going to be worship down the road. So I accepted the Lord as my Savior, even after I heard the negative voice say, "You won't be able to dance anymore." I heard the Lord say—not knowing that I would know the voice of the Lord, not having received Him yet—He said, "But you can sing."

Then I knew that there was going to be some complications with dancing and serving the Lord, but I didn't spend time with that. I rushed to the altar and accepted Jesus as my Savior. From that moment, the things that I had done in the past with dancing—by then I was dancing in clubs, had dance companies; Jesus was not the center of that, of course—but at that moment when that shift came in my life, I knew that I was headed someplace, but I wasn't quite sure.

This is how the specific call came after being a part of this particular church where I received the Lord. First of all, I would recognize something happening with the hearing and seeing during the service. My pastor became a mentor to me, and I would see him move by the Spirit, praying for people. At one time he prayed for a lady and he put his hand on her chest. Then he removed his hand. When he put his hand on her chest, her chest was like my chest started hurting. And then when he removed his hand, my chest stopped hurting.

I talked to him afterwards and I said, "What was going on there? I felt a pain and it left." He said, "That is word of knowledge." So he said to keep praying, keep reading your Bible. What was happening now was the Lord giving me one-on-one training before identifying for me what's really happening.

This continued. He asked me later to teach classes on Sunday mornings after the first year or during the first year, rather, of knowing the Lord. During that first year, I was teaching classes. I'd stand and prophesy to the congregation. I was like, "What is really happening here?"

But there was that the call was developing. The first time I did a corporate prophecy with the congregation, when I finished, he said, "That was a word of the Lord." So now I'm understanding when I feel a stirring going on on the inside that I had felt years before, that the Lord wants to say something to me.

At this same church, when the music would start, when the services open, I would move out of my seat. I know it sounds crazy, but it happened. I'd move out of my seat, I would begin to dance, and it was called spontaneous at the time. I just picked the feet up, crossed them over, picked the feet up and crossed them over. People would follow me; they would get out of their seats as well and start doing the same thing. This went on for a few years. This was '72, '73.

In 1977, the first day of January, the pastor was playing on the organ—he would do that all through service, setting an atmosphere for his message, setting an atmosphere for the people to receive. I had never seen it or heard of it before, of course. Later I look back; I had never heard of it before. But he kept the music going while we were in our seats, while he would teach and so forth.

One day, that first Sunday in January, he said, "Those of you who believe God has called you to ministry, come up here on this podium now." I didn't really, really hear what he was saying. I heard a sound, but I didn't know what he was really saying. So I was fumbling around with my handbag. I don't even know what I was looking for. He said, "I said if God has called you to ministry, get up here on this podium." I'm still fumbling with the purse. He said, "Sister Liz, what are you waiting for?"

Everyone else is up there, you know. I'm the only one that's not there. I jumped up, left everything, and got up on the podium. So that was my specific beginning of what God would do in my life, by responding on the first day of January in 1977.

Candace Long: Let me add, because this is so rich, this is so wonderful, because we came up during the same time. I came to the Lord in '69. What you are describing, because I'm trying to put words to it here, is you were learning your body tells. Your body tells were—because nobody had vocabulary for any of this, I certainly didn't know anything like what you were experiencing—you were feeling the pain of somebody else.

When people see you minister now and they try to copy you for the most part—they say, "Give me her music, I can go on down the aisle, I can lay hands on somebody and I'll experience the same thing"—no, they can't. You were feeling the pain of somebody else. So when God would tell you—because you've told me this before—if you're dancing or you're ministering out in the aisle and you hear inside, "See the woman in the red dress on the front row? Here's what song she needs to hear and here's what you need to say," it is that specific to you. Is that correct?

Elizabeth Hairston: It is very specific. In fact, when I begin ministry, when I get the microphone, I wait a few moments and then I start singing usually. While I'm singing, the Lord is telling me what to do next. It's like being on television where you have earpieces and the technician is saying, "Do this, do that." You have earprompters. It's like having prompters; it's amazing.

So I'm singing a song, and then He will do that. He'll say, "The lady over there in the corner, you sing this song, but the lady in the corner needs to be ministered to. Sing this song to her. Change your song, change your song." I would have to give the directions to the music technician and say, "I need you to change that song." He'd change the song while I'm on my way to that person or as I point to them. They begin to weep and I feel the compassion kicks in. I feel what they're going through, and so the song that I sing is the prophetic word in song to that person.

While I'm ministering to that lady with the blue dress or whatever color it might have been, He will say, "Change the music again. Dance. And there's a person in the back I want to show you. When you go back there, you're going to dance in front of them." It was very frightening at first. I had to trust that what I was hearing was what He actually was saying and that it's not my emotions or nothing from the soul-man.

As they would put the music on and I would go to that person, they would either be healed or they'd get to scream or just weep or fall on the floor. Then I knew, "Okay, this is good. This is what I need to follow." Then He may say to me at that point, "Go back to the front." So I'm listening to Him tell me this, trying to communicate with the musician, even though sometimes the musician, but the music technician.

The thing about it is I would give them a list of songs and I would work with those songs, but they would never always be in the order that I would give them before I started ministry. It was the Spirit of the Lord who would give me the order and say, "Now this song. Play it again. Sometimes play it again." And then after that song, He'd give me another one. This could go on for over an hour or so.

Candace Long: So this intimacy that you developed, this communication line with your Divine Prompter, this took place over a period of years?

Elizabeth Hairston: It did. It first started in Columbus, Ohio. I was invited to minister at a nursing home, and when I went, I just started singing hymns. The Lord, I remember this very specifically, told me to go to this one man. He was a senior citizen. He said, "Go to him and take his hand." He was directing me all the time, just like I'm on television.

He was in a wheelchair; he could not walk. I took his hand. I don't remember the song I sang, but there would be songs like "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior" or things like "His Eye Is on the Sparrow." But I sang the song, whatever it was at that time, took his hand. When I finished singing, I moved to another person by direction. A day or two later, I received a phone call to let me know that this man was able to walk. He hadn't walked for years, and he got out of his bed the next day after the services.

This all came from connecting what the voice of the Lord was to go to this particular person, sing this particular song, and to just hold their hand. There were places I would go—this is an obstacle—there were churches that did not believe in healing, miracles, anything supernatural. So the Lord would say, "Just put your hand on their shoulder. Don't lay hands, but place your hand on their shoulder." And also He would tell me, as with the man in the wheelchair that time, to take his hand. So I was still able to impart, though I wasn't doing what we could traditionally consider laying hands.

Candace Long: Now, you were the only one—I mean, there was nobody else that you knew that had these particular gifts. How were you received by other people? Because I remember one time you told me that when you were in the mentoring classes with the pastor, the original pastor, that you were the one that he called on all the time. And the other people in the class, I'm sure they hated you because you were taking his attention, you had all the right answers, and you had all the anointing. So did you feel like your gifts as it was developing, that you were constantly faced with disruption of other people?

Elizabeth Hairston: Constantly. Here's what was happening. I loved the Word of God and I always wanted to be on time for services. In those days, we had services Sunday morning, Sunday school, 11:00 morning service. Tuesday night Bible study and prayer. Wednesday night choir rehearsal. Friday night service again.

When it was time for service, some ladies would pick me and my daughter up because I didn't have a car yet, I didn't know how to drive. It was later when I learned to drive. I would sit always on the front row with my notepad and my Bible. I took notes the whole time. When he finished with his last sentence, I would write it down, date it.

When we came back that next Sunday—because Sunday afternoon like 6:30 we had a Bible study again. Remember we had the class that morning too. I would write that down, and he would say first thing he'd say when we get started: "Where did I leave off last week?" He'd go down all the people and they'd say no, no, no. He'd say, "Sister Liz has my answer."

Sure enough, I would give the answer. So they started looking at me, the women especially. They would look at me and talk to me after service and say, "What is it that you do to know this? How can we learn the Bible like you? Can we come to your house and talk to you?" I'm just knowing Jesus. I hadn't even by that time been saved five years. But I was engulfing, if I could say that, the Word of God and the anointing was just being poured upon me. I didn't know what was going on.

Candace Long: So you are manifesting an anointing in multiple areas. You manifested the healing anointing, you manifested the hearing anointing, which is more the prophetic anointing, you manifested the teaching anointing. So you are a triple threat to every person that was in that room with you trying to grow. And what did that do to your family? I mean, were people experiencing extreme rejection? Because when Apostle Paul—did you know, for instance, when a call is happening, you were still so young, you were not defined with "who am I called to?"

Elizabeth Hairston: Right. I was a branding professional. Yes, you are. So I'm looking at it like you became known—you weren't just a Bible teacher. I mean, that was not your branding statement. You became known in worship. So at what point did that shift happen?

On one occasion, the pastor said that he was waiting for a team who was supposed to present a play, that's what we call dramas in those days. I believe it was for Christmas; it may have been for resurrection season. He was waiting for them to get prepared to do what they needed to do, and he said they weren't ready. He says, "I'm not concerned about them anymore because here's Sister Liz again."

Now I'm going to be hated some more. Sister Liz is going to write me a play. The reason he was able to come to me and say that is because one component that I did not share from the beginning of the time that I first gave my life to the Lord, I went to him and said, "I'm available to write plays if you need them." I said, "Because the Lord said give Him my gifts."

In fact, when I was heading down to the altar that day, December 23, 1972, I said, "I can sing." And so the Lord said, "Give Me your talents." This is very key. "Give me your ability to sing, dance, write, and act. I will sanctify them, consecrate them, and give them back to you so that you can bless My people."

So now we have all these talents going on at one time. When he asked me to write the play, I went home that night. I was really commissioned. And I wrote a full four-act drama, and it was put together like a Broadway musical, actually. I look back on it and I thought, "This could have only been the Lord."

So now we have the singing going on, not the dance in this particular one, but later when I did some other dramas, I began to choreograph dances to be presented in the plays that I wrote. As a result of that, I'm seeing now the God wants to use me in the arts. That drama, that night of that play was pivotal for me.

When it was over, I met a man there. I didn't know the man, had never met him before. And he said, "Do you realize what you're doing?" I said, "Well no, I mean, I just presented a play." He said, "What you're doing years from now will be considered Christian drama." He said, "I'm giving you a brochure for this school. They will give you a four-year scholarship. Go there."

The man left. I didn't know how to reach him anymore. I called the school the next day, not knowing that here is a shift in my life right here where a man shows up that I've never seen, the man leaves, I never hear from him again. The man gives me a prophetic word and specific instructions. I call the school, I receive the scholarship, I majored in Christian education for one Master's—I did a double Master's at that time—and a Master's of Fine Arts in Christian education and drama and dance.

When that happened, the Lord began preparing me to go before audiences with singing and dancing and producing plays for the body of Christ, introducing dance, liturgical dance as we developed it later, and also for presenting to the body of Christ how music can be incorporated and prophetic, all these things began to come together after I received the brochure, called the school, and got enrolled. Everything just shifted for me at that time.

Candace Long: To learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Hairston, go to the program guide at weeiradio.com and click on Shabbat Shalom. You'll find links to learn more about her and the resources she has available on worship and the arts. We'll air more from this interview next Saturday morning at 6:30.

I'm Candace Long. I hope you enjoyed the first hour of Shabbat Shalom that airs from 6:00 to 9:00 every Saturday morning to honor the Lord on His day. In the next hour, you'll hear from two teachers. First is Aramaic scholar Andrew Gabriel Roth, who will be introducing his series on the most misunderstood passages in the New Testament. At 7:30, I will be teaching one of the lessons in the latter days that relates to today's Torah portion.

If you want to learn more about Shabbat Shalom, go to weeiradio.com and click on our page in the program guide. You'll find links to our handouts and more information about the program and our teachers. You'll also find all of our programs archived. If you miss an episode or you want to listen to something again, I hope you stay tuned. Join us every Saturday morning from 6:00 to 9:00 on weeiradio.com. Shabbat Shalom.