INTERVIEW

Sis. Thetus Tenney is well known around the world and has quite an impressive bio! She is the leader of the World Network of Prayer, has written several books, served on the Board of Education, spoken around the world, and the list goes on! Our editor had the opportunity to tape an interview with her and is excited to share it with you! Apostolic Girl encourages you to read every word of this awesome interview!

*S=Shenae       *ST=Sis. Tenney

S: At what age did you begin to feel a calling on your life?

ST: I really don’t remember exactly. I know the first experience that I really had with a very definite feeling, but I was always very God conscious. I was about nine or ten and there was a young woman that had received the Holy Ghost in my mother’s church and she was kind of what we call a career woman now. I admired her greatly. She dressed sharp and carried herself with a dignified air, but she was very wonderful. She came to my mother and told her she’d like to teach the children. She had absolutely no training whatsoever and she gathered up a group of us and started teaching us on a Sunday afternoon. This one particular Sunday afternoon it was raining really badly and there was very few there. She taught us on the scripture presenting your bodies a living sacrifice. She had no help, you know like we have so many for teaching now, but she stood in front of us with her Bible with tears just streaming down her face and that was a major, major event in my life. I’ve never forgotten that. In fact last year, she’s in a nursing home crippled with arthritis and I went to visit her again to tell her how much it meant to me, that that made a major impact on my life. 

S: That’s awesome. Now, I know in just a one-month period you travel to several states, speak at several functions, and are constantly on the go. So in your busy schedule, how do you make sure to maintain a steady prayer time and what are some tips you could give to help others keep a steady walk with God even in the midst of such a chaotic schedule?

ST: My schedule is so erratic now but the secret is, when I was younger and before my life was so hectic with travel, I had a very disciplined time of reading through the Bible, and I used the one year Bible which is very easy to follow and every morning I always spent time in the morning in prayer and reading the Bible. And then at different times in my life I would do what I call dissecting a book of the Bible. I’d take a book like the first one I did was James, and the way you study the Bible is you ask yourself, who wrote this, to whom did they write it, why did they write it, what does it say to the church in present day, what does it say to me personally? And you can take a portion of scripture and ask those questions and it really opens up a lot. 

S: So in the years that you have served God, what has been one of the most memorable periods of your ministry?

ST: I’m a strong believer in seasons, and I don’t know whether I could say that one period of time has been more than another. It’s a different season. I started really in the ministry when I was fifteen. I gathered up kids in the neighborhood and started a backyard Bible club. I did that for several years and I moved on to Sunday school teaching, then after we married we pastored a young new church and we worked with young people. So I’ve worked with children, and then I’ve worked with young people for 16 years. Then we went into Missions work for over 7 years and then we went into District Louisiana work and we organized many different programs and all. So I don’t know that I could say any particular period because every season builds for the next. So if you give everything you’ve got to one, then you have built a very firm foundation. Let me tell you something that happened when my children were small. We lived in the woods and my husband traveled a lot. It was kind of a lonely life, but I determined that it would not be wasted. I’d straighten the house in the evenings; go to bed early and then I’d get up really early like 5 in the morning. My children wouldn’t get up till 8 or 8:30 and I spent that time reading commentaries, books, I prayed, and had several years like that. And I didn’t realize it then, but I’ve never had that kind of time again. So if you take advantage of the season you’re in, and you give it all you got…I could have been really upset. I wasn’t teaching a class, wasn’t doing anything in the church, just going and taking care of my kids, with Tom half way around the world part of the time…but that furnished the foundation for all of the writing and teaching that I have done, and I’ve never had that opportunity again.

S: You know the pressure that young girls face now a days and you’ve been through that season of your life. So what’s some advice you could give to today’s generation of girls that are trying to live a holy life in the midst of such demands?

ST: Well this may surprise you, but I think it’s easier now than it used to be. When I was a kid growing up there was a set look that all women and girls had. And now you can see anything, it’s not just Pentecostal girls that don’t wear makeup. I see a lot of people that don’t and if they do it’s just on occasion But when I was growing up everyone wore bright makeup, so today you can fit in easier and the world is more excepting of whatever you want to do. So I think it’s easier than what it used to be. You know that’s a totally different take than what you’ve probably heard, but I’ve lived a long time. And the other thing that is important is for a girl to build herself. Know who you are. Sharpen every gift you have. Learn to face life reaching out to people; forgetting about yourself and you’ll go a long way. Many times we hide behind the fact that we’re different, when if you’re out there doing something, you’re gonna be excepted more than you think. I have walked into every kind of situation you can imagine and I have found that the Pentecostal look is distinctive. They never forget me, and as long as I’m not judgmental to them, I don’t find them judgmental to me. If you have self-confidence you can go anywhere and do anything so learn to build your own self-confidence. Know who you are, what you can do, and believe in yourself as well as believing in God. After all, the Bible does say love the Lord as you yourself. So you can love yourself too. 

S: I’ve talked to several young people that feel a calling on their life, but coming from different backgrounds they are discouraged not knowing where to start. Some really want to be used in service, yet coming from larger churches feel aggravated because they aren’t used like they long to be. What can you say to young people in such a situation?

ST: Ok, well let me give you a little lesson that to me has meant an awful lot, I don’t believe in predestination, but I do believe God predetermines your destiny. That means he gives you the gifting, the ability to fulfill what is his perfect will for your life and to accomplish the purpose for which you were born. So God predetermines what he wants you to be and become and that’s set. But you start off from the other end of it and you have to work your way through it. I think so many times people miss ministry because they don’t recognize it. They are wanting to do something else and I’ve seen people wish their whole life away dreaming about what they wanted to do for the Lord. Start wherever you can. Terry Shock who is one of my favorites, the pastor at POA who will take over after Bro. Mangun, started by cleaning the church. And I started by gathering up kids in the neighborhood and teaching them. Anyone can find some way to serve and leadership in the kingdom of God is always servant leadership. To me that is no excuse at all that they’re frustrated and can’t find something to do. Do something! Clean Sunday school rooms, volunteer to keep the churchyard, clean all the commodes. I used to clean all of the commodes on the Louisiana campground and pick up bottles having no idea that someday with my husband we’d over that whole thing. So you do whatever you can do. There is no pastor of pastors wife that can’t benefit from you helping them. So find something to do. It doesn’t have to be spiritual. It’s servant hood that leads to leadership. Volunteer to clean up the pastors yard, volunteer to keep your pastors car clean, volunteer to baby-sit the children, and then one thing will lead to another because of your spirit. And God will not overlook someone that is a true servant. 

S: And our last question! In your life, what is one lesson that you have learned that you could share? A big piece of advice maybe, or some words of wisdom?

ST: Well that’s very difficult for me because it depends on what season I was at. Learning is at levels. You learn and you learn and you learn. This sounds very simple, but I’ve had to relearn this very often…that you can really trust God. And I’m not saying that in some kind of sacrilegious sweet way, but I’m talking about the fact that he has never failed anybody. I may not understand what I’m going though, but I can trust that he is going to bring me through it and that it will serve me someway by what I will learn. That’s a big lesson to learn and you never learn it once and for all. You think you’ve learned it and then you hit another stage and you have to learn it all over again. So I think that’s probably one of my most important lessons that I learn over and over again. 

S: Thank you Sis. Tenney.