A Prayer for the Shepherd
Andrae Crouch needed his sleep. After all, it takes a lot of time and energy to be a gospel music legend, pastor of the church your father started, leader of a street outreach program in urban Los Angeles, and more. And besides, with the discovery of three cancerous tumors in his body, Pastor Crouch needed to do all he could to keep his body healthy.
Because of that—and because he was just plain tired—he was tempted not to answer the phone when its ringing woke him up at 3:30 in the morning. He was sleeping in the combination office/apartment attached to Christ Memorial Church where he pastors, and wanted to simply go back to dreamland. Still, the call had come in on his private, unlisted line, so he wearily reached for the receiver.
Hello? he said.
A woman’s voice, heavy with a Spanish accent, responded, Is this the Memorial Church?
Yes.
The voice on the phone was firm, I am to pray for the shepherd.
Andrae was wide awake now. As pastor of Christ Memorial, he was often called the shepherd of his church.
Without hesitation, the woman began to pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for the infirmity of this shepherd and I curse it. I curse it at the root and it is gone in the name of Jesus.
And then she hung up.
Pastor Crouch lay awake a few moments, wondering how she’d gotten his phone number, how she knew he had an infirmity, and why she’d called to pray in the wee hours of the morning. Then he finally returned to sleep.
Two days later Andrae reported to the doctor’s office for a checkup. The doctor wanted to assess how quickly the cancer was growing and begin making recommendations for treatment.
After searching for the tumors for about 10 minutes, the doctor finally put one hand on his hip and said, Maybe you can find them, Pastor Crouch, because I don’t feel anything.
Surprised, Andrae pointed and said, Well, they’re here, remember? The big one’s right...right... And suddenly his eyes filled with tears.
The tumors—all three of them—were gone.
