A rare set

of relationships receives weekly nurture at the Fayetteville IHOP. They

are your pastors and ministers. Now, for more than five years they have

gathered every Tuesday morning for breakfast, encouragement, laughter,

and many times prayer. If you know something of the dynamics of a truck

stop, well, this is a truck stop for pastors. After breakfast, we get

back on the road.

You'll be surprised

that we don't talk about you church members, that is. We don't need to.

Why? Because, all the pastors know that all church members like sheep

are about the same whether they are in the Baptist fold or the Lutheran

fold or the Pentecostal fold. So if we don't talk about you, what do we

do there in that mysterious, often loud IHOP huddle?

Of course,

we eat breakfast. We enjoy eating. What minister worth his salt doesn't

enjoy eating? Sometimes the order is just oatmeal after all ministers

need fiber, too. Sometimes we split an order not only to save money, but

also realizing we just don't need to eat a whole Tutti Fruiti Fresh and

Rooti or something like that. Sometimes, a minister doesn't eat because

he is on a fast. Nobody investigates. We just quietly accept it and know

there's a reason.

Before and

after ordering breakfast, we enjoy the real meal of encouragement. When

we ask one another, "How's it going?" For the most part, we

are genuine. For the most part, at first, the response is, "Okay."

But, if any minister will give this bunch of caregivers a chance, we will

listen beyond the superficial.

Mind you, it

doesn't bode well for a minister to zip in and zip out and think he's

got friends. Even ministerial friendships take their time to marinate

the soul and consolidate the mind and rejuvenate the spirit. One brother

pastor, who has been faithfully coming to Tuesday morning for several

years, discovered just how durable friendships can be if tested and tried

for more than a couple of lunches.

Encouragement

often comes by seeing others stick it out no matter the trials and temptations.

I don't think the average church member understands how lonely a bunch

ministers really are. Week after week, we peel layer after layer of facade

and allow our fellow ministers see us as we really are warts and all.

They respond by telling us that we don't look so bad after all warts and

all. It's refreshing.

Now, we also

laugh. Sometimes at stuff you wouldn't think funny. It doesn't take a

Saturday Night Live comedian to get us 'a-laughing.' We'll laugh at anything.

Just give us an excuse. Our best sources of humor are ourselves. Although

we take ourselves far too seriously when we are around you folks, we know

deep down we shouldn't.

Okay, we're

ministers. Shouldn't we pray? Yes, we pray. We always pray before we eat,

thanking God for the food, one another, and those precious waitresses

who tend to us. It's not a long prayer, however. We wouldn't stand for

that and besides the food would get cold.

But we also

pray for needs. One brother has been fired from his church. We gather

round, lay hands, and pray. Right there in the restaurant in front of

customers and God. One brother has cancer. You bet we pray and pray and

take his face to our different churches for prayer. One brother asks prayer

for a marriage gone sour in his church. We pray. We pray for stray missionaries

and would be missionaries. Anyone who comes to the IHOP Tuesday morning

from 8 to 9 a.m. and asks for prayer, we will pray! We will pray but we

really want to get