I had the awesome privilege of interviewing Priscilla Shirer! What a blessing it was to hear her story and testimony of growing up as the daughter of Dr. Tony Evans, discovering her call to ministry and how she’s dealt with significant challenges such as loss and grief in her life. Priscilla has an international ministry called Going Beyond that focuses on equipping and empowering women for ministry but reaches people all over the world. Priscilla also discusses the challenges associated with being a woman in ministry and advice on how to move forward in your calling.

so instead of trying to be superhuman

and act like we aren’t hurting

that our family isn’t maybe disappointed

that god didn’t answer particularly with

our mom

the prayers that not just us but people

all over the globe

were praying for my mother we got video

prayers from churches in kenya

and new york and all over the world

europe people that were collectively

praying for our mom

we were stunned and disappointed that

god didn’t answer in the way we had

prayed

god is not asking us to not be

disappointed to not

be honest with him about our frailty but

i think we can

question god or i’m sorry ask questions

of god

without questioning god

well hey everybody alan parr here and it

is my sincere honor to have a special

guest with us here today

on the beat you guys are in for a treat

i’m sure

priscilla shira is not a stranger to you

but we are honored to have her today

on our show and i cannot wait for her to

share her story her testimony what god

is doing in her life so

priscilla thank you so much for giving

us your time today

super excited that you are here welcome

to the beat

i’m so glad to be here i’m i’m a big fan

of what you’re doing so it feels like a

gift to me to be a part of it thanks for

including me

oh that is awesome that is awesome so i

have to start off before we get into

some of the questions and all the

different things that i personally

along with many other people who some

people have written some questions in

and they’re like hey make sure you ask

her this or whatever

we’ve got lots of questions we want to

ask of you but first i just need to

start off by saying

how much of a blessing it is your family

has been such a blessing to me um first

of all starting with your father um

you know i’m sure he knows that he’s

made an influence and an

impact on so many people’s lives myself

included whenever i was a younger

christian coming up he was one of the

main preachers

that i was listening to to get fed

spiritually and all those different

things

and also as i was really developing my

craft as a preacher

um you know he was just so inspirational

and influential in my life he will never

know that

maybe after this interview he will but

um just to see

a strong african-american man who was

combining great preaching with great

theology was something that wasn’t

really

prevalent in our community in our

society and so i want to thank him

i want to thank you because you know

i’ve been blessed personally by some of

your teachings

as well as my wife loves to follow you

and also uh tony uh to me your

your brother anthony evans i love his

music got all of his

music and cds and all those things and i

know jonathan is killing it over at

oakcliff and i know your sister crystal

is has got a phenomenal ministry as well

and of course we can’t leave out your

mother as well and all things she’s done

so

i just want to say thank you to the

evans family

i appreciate that so much especially

when i hear you talk a little bit about

dad

to hear that now from adult child ears

means a whole lot different than it did

when i was little you know you realize

all of the little decisions that dad had

to make

to have integrity for this long

faithfulness for this long to serve god

unashamedly to not try to be politically

correct and liked and all that but to

just serve god and honor the truth of

god

i realize now what that cost him so i’m

really grateful to hear you say that

i’ll pass that along to him and

he was a good dad too so he still is a

great dad so

i appreciate you saying that well that’s

great and that actually

actually transitions kind of into the

first question that i really would love

to kind of

ask you about is you know what

i guess kind of a two-part question

first of all what was priscilla like

growing up like

if you had to describe yourself kind of

what what were you like and i

asked that because i’ve got a

four-year-old daughter and she’s like

very um she’s very she’s kind of

intrigued with a lot of things she’s

very curious about a lot she’s very

outgoing um you know she loves her daddy

she’s like the smartest kid in her class

and all those things of course i’m a

little bit biased but

i wonder i’m like i wonder if priscilla

was like that growing up so that’s the

first thing i would love for you to

to kind of comment on and then on top of

that tell us a little bit about

what it was like to grow up in the evans

household i mean

i almost said the word dynasty because

we all looked at you all like wow this

is like

this is like the royal family here right

like but like what was it like

being in the evan’s home and what were

you like growing up

well um so i’m told i was pretty much

asleep for the first three or four years

of my life and then i got to around the

age your daughter is now

and what i’m told is that i woke up one

day and never went back to sleep that my

personality just exploded out of nowhere

and that i just sort of was outgoing and

social

and wanted to connect with people i was

very active in lots of different sports

all four of us were involved in

different activities in sports and mom

and dad did the best they could you know

i’m sure

their attention was so divided and they

were exhausted as we all are when you’re

trying to support

four kids who are very different and

unique but um i was very active

and just engaged in a lot of different

things so my parents tried to support

that i will tell you

that i was also in trouble for most of

my childhood

i was always getting in trouble most of

the trouble i was in revolved around my

mouth

that my mother would always have to say

uh that you didn’t need to say that so i

either talked too much

or when i said what i said my tone

wasn’t right so she she looked back at

me with that mama eye and said you

better get your tone right

so communication was always a problem

for me

but i will tell you that talking about

what it’s like to be raised in my

parents house

i would be disciplined for the things i

needed to be disciplined for whether it

was rebellion or lack of obedience or

you know talking out of turn we were

disciplined for sure

but i always remember my dad he would

always turn the negatives into a

possible positive

to see it from the perspective of the

way god wired me

so most of the reason why i even

considered

communication not even ministry but i

went to school for communication i

thought i’d be in

broadcast television was the the goal i

was pursuing when i

first went to college that was because

my dad said to me all those years

priscilla you’re a born communicator i

think that god

wired you to communicate so if we can

just allow the if you can surrender this

to the holy spirit and we can allow the

holy spirit to mold this thing that’s

getting you in trouble right now in your

immaturity it could actually be the

thing that god

uses in your life to serve the purposes

that he created you for

so dad was constantly reframing even the

stuff that we were struggling with

so that we could see maybe how god’s

hand was in even those bits and pieces

so awesome awesome and so speaking of

your dad

you know how how did you i mean

how was it sharing your dad with the

world i mean here’s this

international speaker i mean obviously

we know that you know

he didn’t come on the scene right away

and just become this but i know in the

mid to late 80s and 90s and of course

everything just kind of took off from

there but you know how was

he able to manage all the things that he

is was was doing is still doing and i’m

going to pull the same question to you a

little bit later

but that comes a little bit later but

how how was he able to manage all that

and still be

this present loving father of four and

and

husband and be present when people ask

me what it was like to be tony evans

daughter

it’s kind of hard to answer that

question because we just see him as dad

you know he was just our dad

and of course we knew he was a pastor

they started the church when i was one

so the church always seemed big to me

you know at three years old there were

probably 125 people

that was enormous to me by the time i

was in high school and college

those were the promise keeper years so

dad was speaking to 30

000 people at a time there were 10 000

members at our church

people were starting to recognize him

out because of the radio ministry so

we’d be in

eating dinner or in line at the airport

and people would hear his voice they

didn’t have to see his face they just

heard his voice and they were like oh

excuse me are you tony evans so people

were starting to stop him

and we were beginning to recognize the

breadth and the scope of what

dad’s influence was but i think

and dad certainly would even confess to

the fact that he didn’t do it perfectly

but he was so purposeful and intentional

about being with us

so when he was home he was home when he

um would make it a priority to pick us

up from cheerleading practice even

sometimes when he would come to my

cheerleading practice or track practice

so he could be the one to drive me home

sometimes he might be on the phone on a

phone call because he had a meeting

that he ducked out of early so that he

could pick me up and he might be on the

phone but he was there

you know he was present i know for a

fact there were times where

dad was speaking somewhere in

philadelphia and i remember he flew back

home so that he could be at one of

jonathan’s football games

and then after the football game he had

to get back on a plane and go back and

finish the conference

those were the kind of choices that i

now know how exhausting that must have

been

those were the kind of choices that he

was making so that the memory i have

of growing up with dad as busy as he was

the memory i have is not of a dad who

was not there

i have a memory of dad and mom building

the church but we had dinner around

the dinner table i remember him leading

us in devotions i remember riding his

back

his back as he did piggyback rides and

we had family talent shows and

i remember us being engaged at the

church as a family

or at his ministry events we were the

staff behind the book table you know

when he had one or two books at the time

we were the staff we were the

participants with them in ministry so

we were just never sidelined and i think

that reason

i just have a memory of being dad being

fully engaged and invested with us

i will say briefly that in hindsight i

know my dad says that he would go back

and he would do it a little bit

differently he would probably shave off

a little a few more hours

that he spent building the church and

building ministry

that he’d probably even shave off more

of that now

and i’m always shocked when he says that

because i’m like dad you were there

you gave our late mother they were

married 49 and a half years when she

passed away

18 months ago um you gave our late mom

like a great life like she enjoyed

ministry she enjoyed you

y’all got to travel together you raised

the four of us somebody else didn’t do

it y’all did it

so dad you did good and still dad says

but i would have invested more time in

y’all

and that right there continues to

reframe my choices right now here in my

mid 40s

what i know is that when i get to 70

something like that is now

i’ll probably look back we probably will

alan and go

i should have invested more just in my

wife my husband

my children so i’m trying to allow the

conversations i see my dad having and

the

things he’s saying now in hindsight i’m

trying to allow that to

inform the decisions that i’m making now

as i’m raising my kids

yeah yeah believe me that’s that’s a

constant tension as god

continues to grow in my ministry as well

both online and offline as i’m like okay

god

um i want you to grow it as long as it

doesn’t take me away from home

and uh um you know because my parents

were divorced and so i didn’t really

have

you know that that typical type of

structure that

you know dad is always home and eating

family you know but now that i have that

with my kids and my wife

it’s like i want to make sure that i’m

i’m you know giving them as much

attention as possible

um now you know you mentioned um

you know kind of your communication gift

right and just kind of really

embracing that and your father you know

talked about how that can be a positive

thing for you

talk to me a little bit about how

how did you kind of embrace your calling

if you will and kind of at what point in

your life did you sense that god had a

unique calling on your life and i asked

that because so many people

will send me questions and they’ll email

me and they’ll say hey

you know alan um how did you know you

were called to the ministry like what

does that look like what does that feel

like did god just kind of

speak it you know in the clouds and say

okay i want you to go to ministry like

what does that look like and so what did

that look like for you

and when did that kind of happen yes

um i’ll answer that question in a

nutshell and then i’ll kind of tell you

what led me to that conclusion

but the nutshell answer to that is that

i’ve i’m learning and have learned

that god’s calling and god’s will for

our lives looks less like a moment

and more like just a daily commitment to

honor him with what’s in front of you

for today

when i look back in hindsight over the

past now almost 25 years of being

in in some uh portion of ministry when i

look back on that i realized

that i could not have mapped out in my

wildest dreams what

god’s will for my life was all i knew

was the light he had given me for the

next step

the next 24 hours the next week the next

month the next two

and as i followed him i didn’t even

realize

that each stage was actually setting the

framework and the foundation for what

was to come

so i couldn’t have jumped to step three

without having walked through whatever

the step one and step two was

that he had entrusted to me right then

that’s how god’s will

unfolded for me it wasn’t a strategy and

it wasn’t a plan and it wasn’t

a moment of calling it was just doing

what was next

and then god giving me a passion or

lighting a fire or a peace or an

opportunity

to move forward in a particular

direction and watching him really

strategically close doors in

other directions so i had to decide what

i was was i going to ambitiously force

these doors open

or was i going to trust and honor the

doors that he was opening up for me in

the direction that he was sending me

so as i mentioned i went to school um at

the university of houston for

communications

and i was planning to go into broadcast

television i was going to be on the news

that was my goal journalism i wasn’t

thinking about ministry at all

and i interned at a christian radio

station just for class credit while i

was in school in houston

and they gave me an hour-long radio show

and i would just come on every two or

three songs as djs do

and i would say they gave me they told

me i could talk for 60 seconds

and i might just share a word of

encouragement or share a bible verse

nothing major

and i did that through the three years

three or four years that i was at u of h

well people started to call the station

and say well that girl that comes on one

day a week will she come and do a bible

study for the women at my church or

will she come and emcee an event so here

i was a 19 year old

freshman sophomore in college and i’d

show up and sometimes there’d be 10

women there and i’d just share a little

bible study

sometimes i’d show up and there’d be 500

women there and i would just do the same

thing share a little bible study

and the reality is that for 25 years the

invitations to just share a little bible

study never stopped coming

that’s how god’s will unfolded and i

began to realize that my other pursuits

either the lord was very clearly closing

the doors

and by the way those doors being closed

in television for me

was devastating i mean i would be on a

show or be hired by cbs to

be a reporter and then they wouldn’t

need me anymore almost as soon as i

started or

you know it was very crippling to my

self-esteem in my young 20s

i just felt like i wasn’t good at it

that the lord wasn’t allowing me to

pursue my dreams it felt

very devastating to me in those young

years but i realized now that all of

those disappointments were actually the

lord

reorienting and redirecting my path and

my passions

in the direction that he had planned for

me all along

and i also discovered that those years i

felt were wasted years

where none of those dreams were realized

in television for example

i would start and then stop and then be

called here but then be disappointed

when they didn’t need me anymore

everything i was learning about what it

meant to be in front of a camera

i had no idea that these video driven

bible study resources

were going to be a part of the lord what

the lord was would be calling me to do

so i knew how to stand in front of a

camera and talk to a camera

because of all those disappointing years

that i thought were worth nothing

they actually were the fodder god was

using to prepare me for

the calling the purpose the plan that he

had for me so nothing was wasted

but it wasn’t one moment of calling it

was just doing what was next

and then seeing where the lord was

directing my passions and opportunities

and then following him in that and not

trying to force

a path that he clearly didn’t have his

hand upon

yeah i love that answer i really really

appreciate that answer and i hope for

those of you who are watching that you

really got something out of that because

so often we get this idea of calling so

confused and

as a result many people just get

paralyzed because they’re like

i’m waiting for god to show me my

purpose i’ve got so many my friends

where i’m like

you know they’re like hey i’m waiting

for god to show me my purpose i’m

waiting for god to show me my calling

and i love how you put it it’s like hey

just do the very next thing that god has

put in front of you

and then see where god takes it from

there i always tell people hey if you

don’t know what your calling is just

look at the bible because the bible is

very clear

that every christian is called to

evangelize every christian is called to

use their spiritual gifts

every christian is called to make

disciples so if you don’t do anything

else

find one person who may not be as far

along in their

walk or in their faith as you are and

just pour into them

what god has already shown you and if

you do that one thing

you take that one step then god will

show you the next step and the next step

and then at some point you’ll be crystal

clear on okay this is more than likely

where i’m

uniquely going to be used by god in

ministry

and here’s the thing what social media

has done with all of the benefits that

it has afforded us what it has also done

is painted this picture that platform

ministry or that being in the spotlight

or that having a microphone or perfectly

lit pictures of

you know of you on stage that that is

actually what ministry is that that’s

the goal

and it’s not that what you just

described of discipling other people

most of those people and some of the

most

impactful and effective discipleship

that happens

are the people that are right within our

sphere it’s not about a platform for

thousands

it’s about my son or my daughter and me

taking the time

to prioritize them in the young years

and and

help them to learn bible verses and to

disciple them or the young woman

at the church that’s weight a teenager

she’s waiting on somebody in their 20s

or 30s

to place value on her by just paying

attention to her

and spending time with her and helping

her to see what biblical womanhood looks

like

that’s what it’s about that’s how we

serve and honor god

it’s not about a platform and hundreds

of thousands of followers

it’s about honoring god with the spear

that he has placed us

in um in the neighborhoods we live yeah

and i love that because i’m actually

getting ready to do a video where i’m

going to talk about

um you know different preachers who have

had influences on on my life and many of

them are well known

but you know there’s there’s one i’m

kind of a spoiler alert there’s one

that’s maybe not so well known

and the whole point of the video is

going to be hey

you know um you know sometimes

you very well may be the person that has

this large platform

you know like you and i have been

blessed to have something you know some

semblance of that

but you you somebody else you may be the

person

who disciples and pours into the next

person

who does have this large platform like i

can look back at some of the people that

have poured into my life

then nobody would ever know their names

but because of their impact in my life

they have helped me get to where i am so

never underestimate the power of one

absolutely yeah yeah now speaking of

speaking of calling you know

i would love to kind of transition talk

a little bit about you know

obviously it’s no surprise you are a

female you’re a woman you’re a female

communicator

you know so what were some of the

challenges

that you have faced

and maybe are continuing to face

you know as you are a strongly

evangelical bible-based um

you know speaker and communicator

but you know we live in this church

culture where you know a lot of people

will want to put a

kind of a ceiling or cap or limitations

on things that you know women can do

or whatnot and let’s just talk a little

bit about maybe some of those challenges

and

how maybe some people may have treated

you as you started to really progress in

your calling

well that’s a great question and i i

regret the fact that even as you use

that word

evangelical that it has been so muddied

that to say it even now

has these layers of misunderstanding and

um

distortion unfortunately that has been

so

impacting to church culture right now

but but yes

i believe very firmly in the gifting of

women that god placed

jesus himself placed value on women we

see him all throughout the scriptures

reorienting people’s perspective on who

women were the value that they had

and the dignity that were intrinsic to

to them at the same time i know that

there’s order in the church i know that

god has established

um roles that are not indicative of

value of

of male versus female but the roles that

he has called us to and i honor that and

i value that so i have been very blessed

to be

uh having been raised in an atmosphere

where i was always encouraged to serve

the lord with my gifts always

now i go to the kind of church where i

have a pastor that does the preaching

so there weren’t any other preachers

really that were preaching in our

churches on sunday male or female

dad that’s what dad does dad’s a

preacher so i never really

had the opportunity to see women in

ministry in the way that i ended up

being in ministry so it was

a little bit foreign to me because i

just wasn’t raised in an environment

that

allowed me to see that all the time like

other people were

but as the lord began to point me in the

direction of ministry

what i knew for sure was that my primary

calling was to women

so my my writing um my speaking

teaching most of everything that i do i

know is

filtered through what i what i know and

believe god has called me specifically

to do

and that is ministry to women when um

the invitations began to come for me to

speak in environments where there would

be a mixed audience

that was something that i did go to my

dad and talk to him about

number one because he’s my pastor he’s

my daddy but he’s my pastor too

and i wanted to have just the covering

of my

my pastor i wanted to have clarity on

um the way that i should handle that and

i wanted to be sure

that no matter what all of the biblical

nuances are of that that i don’t

forfeit what it is that god has asked me

to do um because i’m spending time doing

a whole lot of ancillary things that

aren’t in the wheelhouse of god’s

purpose for me

so i just ran that through my father and

he began to express to me the the need

for there to be

a spiritual covering male and female we

all need to be spiritually covered but

if that

but if i was being invited by a pastor

at a local church

to speak to his congregation that that

there was a covering that it was being

provided for me

and to the extent that i felt the holy

spirit giving me the freedom

to speak into those environments than to

know that i would be covered by him my

daddy as my pastor but then also the

pastor of that church that was inviting

me to come and so

i ha i still haven’t done that for the

majority of my ministry

but i have done it some and um the

reason

i haven’t done it mostly again is

because i really want to honor

what it is that god has called me to do

i know that’s primarily women’s ministry

so i want to honor

that um but another reason that i have

taken some of those opportunities

is because you know for many black

church environments

there might not be a women’s conference

there’s going to be women’s day

on a sunday that is their nod to a

women’s conference or the women’s

retreat it’s women’s day

so if i refuse to go into an environment

where there might be a mixed audience

on a women’s day there will be a whole

um

demographic of churches or denominations

that i may never have the opportunity to

minister to

to simply because their dynamic for

women’s ministry looks a little bit

different

um than others might be so that’s that’s

a long answer to that question

yeah no no that’s a great answer you

know and i asked that because

you know as an influencer myself

you know we and i know you can relate to

this if we get

criticized so much

for you know for for people i mean we

should expect it i mean if jesus himself

got persecuted and

criticized and and lied on and talked

about

and ridiculed i mean should we not

expect the same and

you know it’s just it’s it’s amazing how

even though you’re going forward and

you’re you said it yourself like your

focus is on

you know women in ministry and wanting

to encourage them

and even in the midst of all of that you

still have people out there who will

criticize and who hate and

say certain things and she shouldn’t be

doing this and she shouldn’t be doing

that and so

that kind of leads me to another

question which would be

you know i’ve got a lot of people

watching right now and i’m sure many of

them

are women and they feel like they have a

gift and a calling and they feel this

this sense of okay god i feel you’re

stirring something up in my spirit to do

you know what advice would you give to

that woman who feels

like they are really gifted and they

really want to do something for the lord

but

everything in their in their space

every you know people around them um

even maybe their own self-talk

or their their society is telling them

everything that they cannot do as a

woman in ministry

and you can’t do this and you’re not

allowed to do this and the bible says

this and

what what advice would you give that

woman that feels kind of

stuck and stagnant because she’s a woman

wanting to do ministry well when anybody

feels like they’re

called to ministry or that god is is

steering them in a particular direction

whether male or female the very first

thing i would say

is go to some healthy spiritual

leadership

to talk to them about what it is that

you sense god leading you to do because

to me every samuel needs an

eli you need someone to help you to

discern when god is calling you

and then to help you sharpen and focus

in on what it is he’s specifically

calling you

to do and you need people to free you up

that release you that tell you you’re

okay that that

that say hey you can do this and that

encourage you to move forward

and after you’ve bounced that off of

some wise counsel the next thing i would

say is

start being obedient to what god has

asked you to do don’t wait until you

have a platform or you have a microphone

or you have a following

say lord what do you want me to do today

in response to this calling and then

start doing it like start being obedient

right away

and sometimes that looks like um you

know the

the teenagers that are coming home with

your daughter on wednesday nights

because they’re finished

volleyball practice well why wouldn’t

you recognize the fact possibly that

they

are the audience that the lord is

calling you to they need some

woman to sit down with them and say hey

let me open the word of god with you

guys on wednesday nights from 7 to 7

20 and i’m just going to teach you

something from god’s word about your

identity in christ

that could be in fact for me alan for

five years i did a bible study at

southern methodist university i just

showed up every week

because my cousin was in school there

and couldn’t find a bible study she

moved from maryland to go to school

there

and when she told me she couldn’t find a

bible study i was like i’ll come do one

for you and your friends

and so for five years it was like the

same eight to ten girls it never got to

hundreds of people there was never an

aspiration to build something

i was just kind of showing up and i

didn’t even know

that the discipline of study that

required that the illustrations i had

come up with that some of the things i

had written

that actually became the fodder for

whole messages

that would serve hundreds of people

later or chapters that i didn’t even

know would be in books that i had no

clue

that i would write that that all of that

stuff in those small spaces

mattered when the lord continued to

unveil for me what ministry was going to

look like

so it’s funny you mentioned that oh my

goodness so like you know i earlier i

talked about

these invisible heroes right these

people that you’ll never know who they

are because they don’t have these large

platforms

but people who um pour it into us right

and so like when i when i was in college

that’s

really how i really started to

understand

kind of how god wired me calling to

ministry and all those types of things

there was a guy by the name i’m going to

give him i’ma call his name out his name

is deacon

kevin miller so if you ever see this

deacon kevin miller i don’t even know

what this guy’s up to anymore i don’t

even know where he’s at

but he did the same thing you did every

friday night he would come down to our

campus and do a bible study

with a whole bunch of college students

and most of us didn’t want to have

anything to do with god anything to do

with the bible didn’t know how to study

the bible

but the way he broke the bible down

for the first time in my life as a 19

year old i was like

wow i actually understood the bible and

reading it and studying it

was so much fun he would go through

these parables and i was like wow that’s

really cool how jesus

taught this thing and it was a deeper

meaning and this that and the other

and it’s because of him coming down

and ministering to about eight or nine

of us on a friday night

that’s triggered some sort of desire and

passion in me to want to read the bible

for myself

and i have not been able to put the book

down since so that’s one thing i’ll say

but the second thing you said about

getting started man that is so important

right because like even this ministry

that i have now on the beat

it really emerged from a place of okay

look i’m not gonna continue to wait for

somebody to tap me on the shoulder and

say hey alan

can you preach for me or can you teach

this bible study can you do this can you

do that

i got to a point where i said i know i’m

gifted i’m called to communicate the

word of god let me just start somewhere

with zero subscribers

i don’t know how many people are going

to subscribe or watch but i’m going to

start

putting my videos out there and god has

blessed it so

guys don’t wait until you have a certain

place

just start somewhere start where god has

gifted you for where you can start with

right now

absolutely i would completely agree with

that and what if that what if that dude

had decided

that doing that bible study on a college

campus wasn’t worth his time and it

wasn’t a big enough platform that it

wasn’t

a big enough venture so he didn’t do it

you know

if all of us are not doing the small

things that god has called us to start

with

we’re ignoring a whole opportunity not

only for those people we’re supposed to

be impacting

but us we’re the ones that miss out on

the gift

of being a part of pushing other people

towards their trajectory

that god has for their life yeah awesome

awesome

so i i want to kind of transition a

little bit and um

to something that hopefully it’s okay to

talk about but

you know over uh matter of fact my wife

she’s going through your elijah series

and she uh she she loves it first and

foremost and she going she’s going

through with several other young ladies

on thursday night

and um so she’s going through this part

i think it’s the chapter where it says

anywhere but here anywhere but here and

i know you’re

well familiar with that page and so she

brought it to me a couple nights ago and

she said hey you know you

you want to read up on this and so you

know obviously i know that

you know over the past few years you

know you and your family

have really dealt with so much

difficulty loss disappointment um

trauma you know i know you’ve dealt with

some personal

health issues as well literally you’ve

had you’ve had a job experience like

you’ve had a job

literally no joke like a job type of um

interaction you know basically

experience if you will so

i just would love for you to kind of

talk to those people out here who

they just feel like life is beating them

down they’re dealing with loss

they’re missing people that they love

they’re questioning god

questioning the goodness of god and how

can how do you remain

emotionally and mentally stable

in the midst of so much loss

so much confusion so many questions so

much disappointment

yeah you well the question is how do you

know i’m emotionally stable

that that is true how do you know

um you know it has been a trying time i

appreciate you asking about that

honestly every single one of us have

been through a lot the pandemic

it hadn’t just been a medical pandemic

it’s been a racial pandemic a political

pandemic

one layered on top of the other but in

combination with that you’re right over

the last

two years we’ve lost eight family

members

and i mean every three to six months

we lost another loved one you talk about

a job experience i really feel that way

when i look at my dad because

most of those people were directly

connected to him

his sister his brother his father

his wife his niece all of these people

very very close to us and we just lost

them one after the other

after my mom passed away seven months

later

my mother-in-law passed away just she

wasn’t even sick i mean she was fine one

day and then the next day she just

was gone um so it has been difficult

and then the health challenges that i uh

face the surgeries that are surgery

rather that i had to have which was

pretty significant

it has been hard and

the key i think if there is a key

because we’re still traversing it

is to remember i’ve had to remember that

god knows i’m human and he knows this is

hard

he hadn’t asked me to be a superhero he

hasn’t asked me not to cry

not to grieve not to even need to stay

in bed a little bit longer

this day or this week or this month not

to have to start saying no to a whole

bunch of things that i don’t have the

emotional

capacity to invest in right now in this

season he knows

i’m human and he says my grace is

sufficient for you

so instead of trying to be superhuman

and act like we aren’t hurting

that our family isn’t maybe disappointed

that god didn’t answer particularly with

our mom

the prayers that not just us but people

all over the globe

were praying for my mother we got video

prayers from churches in kenya and new

york and

all over the world europe people that

were collectively praying for our mom

we were stunned and disappointed that

god didn’t answer in the way we had

prayed

god is not asking us to not be

disappointed to not

be honest with him about our frailty but

i think we can

question god or i’m sorry ask questions

of god

without questioning god that i’ve never

allowed

and honestly i think my father’s example

has helped me with this

that he can cry his tears i’ve watched

my big strong

superhero amazing dad cry his tears

we’ve seen him in an emotional slump

some

because think about this allen right

after mom died the pandemic started and

he lost

church too he couldn’t even go to church

preaching and being with the

congregation that’s therapeutic for our

dad

for us but then with the pandemic he

couldn’t even do that that was like a

whole nother grief

a whole another loss and so we watched

our dad

lose a little bit of motivation we’ve

seen him as a visionary and motivated

our whole lives but of course there’s

that emotional slump of all of that loss

and grief all clumped together

but watching him in his humanity

but at the same time not question the

character of god

that he would look at his kids and say

god is who he said he is

he’s still good and he’s still kind and

he’s still sovereign and he still has a

plan for us and heaven

is real that we could watch this dad go

that

i’ve been preaching when stuff was good

i’m not going to now not believe and not

continue to preach just because things

have gotten bad

god is still good we saw that same thing

with our mom

in her last days she knew that it was

her last days and we knew that it was

her last days

and she was still passing on the baton

of faith

she was still looking at the four of us

going do not let this slow you

down do not drop this baton of faith

that i’m handing to you

you pass it on to my grandchildren and

you make sure that your grandchildren my

great-grandchildren

still know how good that jesus is any

kind of person that can have that kind

of resolution of

faith knowing that they’re facing death

that tells me that the holy spirit’s

presence must be real

and that there is a hope that is worth

hanging on to

so really it’s been watching the faith

of my parents and

other people like them that have been

steadfast in the midst of trouble

that has encouraged me to have that same

kind of backbone too

because alan our kids are looking at us

your

your kids and my sons

just like i’m watching my parents go

through this and i will always have a

memory of it that will

shape the woman that i’m becoming in

christ my sons are looking at me

and i want them one day to look at their

kids and say

your grandmother lost a whole bunch of

stuff

in the two-year time period let me tell

you what mom

your grandmother went through but let me

tell you how she

never doubted the goodness of god and

the grace of god

and how she still continued to speak the

praises of god out of her mouth to other

people

even when things were very difficult in

their life i want to have enough

backbone

that i give my son something to tell

their kids about that’s what keeps me

steady

wow wow wow you know and

and i’m just i’m just i’m humbled

hearing that because

i almost i’m almost nervous to say this

but i don’t believe in the whole

speaking things and all that but you

know i’m i’m 45 years old

and i i’ve been so blessed to have never

experienced

a major loss um you know my parents are

still here

and my sister and you know my family all

my aunts and uncles and

you know um i just i

hope and pray that i i know it’s not

about if it’s when

i experience that that you know i’ll be

able to

like you said be honest and be okay with

my feelings and go to god and and let

him know what i’m feeling and

um but it’s just it’s an encouragement

to know

like even in the situation with your mom

like here she is the one

that is she’s not watching someone else

pass she is the one that is

knowing that days are are limited and

she’s still

fighting the good fight and and holding

up you know holding up that faith

so um you know thank you so much for

that um

you know along those lines and i’ve

wanted to ask this just

just in general um i know this obviously

isn’t an interview with your father but

you know how how how is he how is he

doing

i mean how is he really doing i mean

you’ve got a life partner

49 and a half years i i mean the love

was evident between him and

and lois um you know

how is life after life after lois if you

don’t mind me asking

how is he coping how is he managing his

time his thoughts

yeah um thank you for asking that i’m so

grateful that you would ask

dad really is doing well and i don’t say

that loosely

i say that because i have known and seen

others in this kind of a scenario where

you lose a spouse after

basically 50 years they were six months

from 50 years of marriage

your life is so intertwined with someone

at that point

that i’ve seen some some people who have

lost that even with less

time and have come undone because

their life they don’t even know how to

move forward solo

so with that in mind i can honestly say

that dad is doing well

partly because the four of us won’t

leave him alone we’re all up on him he’s

like are y’all going home

is anybody leaving the house today um

y’all could leave me alone i’ll be fine

and we’re like no we’re gonna hang out

so he’s got us and i’m grateful that

we’re around my mom’s sister

um they are like siblings my dad and my

aunt

um they’ve known each other since dad

was 18 and she was 14. that’s how they

long they’ve known each other

and their buddies and they hang out and

um

dad’s life is still very full with

ministry he’s still preaching and

pastoring the church

he still travels in ministry um even

throughout the pandemic you know

the technological needs of ministry

continued and so he was

very much ministering to others and

trying to help people in leadership

governmental positions of leadership

work through the political season that

we went through

um so he’s been very busy and i’m

grateful to the lord for that because

dad

thrives as he’s giving and as he’s

ministering and as he’s studying

and writing and he thrives during all of

that so

it is a new normal he’s having to find a

new normal we all are

but i think that god is giving him grace

to be able to find that

and he has lots of friends around him um

men who have been in his life literally

since mom and dad got married

so people he’s known since he graduated

from dallas theological seminary

and they call and they check on him and

they hang out and have lunch and

so those kinds of friends i think are

also an encouragement to him and keep

him going so thanks for asking he’s

really doing good

that’s awesome that’s great to hear now

you speak a lot about

you know spending time with your family

and i mean i see all the posts on

instagram

and i love seeing it i love seeing how

you how close you are with your

your brothers and your sister and your

dad and i i love all of that

um talk a little bit about how you

prioritize i don’t even know if the word

balance

is the word that we want to use here

because we all know that

i don’t even know if that exists but

like i just was thinking about this the

other day i was sitting i was trying to

write a list

i’m like okay this sister has been in

movies so you’ve had to learn how to act

i don’t even know how long it takes to

film a movie

and you know so you got to learn all

your lines so you got the movies

you got the international speaking

you’re writing books

i know you used to have i don’t know if

you still have the chat which was your

talk show i watched that a few times i

loved it the guests that you have on

there

you know you’re writing bible studies

you’re traveling with anthony you’re

doing all these conferences you’re doing

the awaken conference like

like you seemingly are just going

going going and i’m like okay did the

lord give priscilla an extra 40 hours a

week you know that that

he didn’t give to the rest of us because

i don’t know how she i mean i’m trying

to do two videos a week on youtube

trying to be a husband and you know love

my two kids and i’m out of i don’t even

have enough time to do that and i’m like

how does this woman keep popping out

books

i mean and she’s still traveling and got

this new bible study i’m like

i can’t even write one book like i

haven’t written a book so like

what is your secret how do you do it

spill the beans and how do you keep your

family together

i mean what is what is it

well i will tell you that the main

answer to that question is that i’m not

doing everything that it appears that

i’m doing

you you said the key word earlier you

said it seems like and that is what it

seems like

but i’m really only doing a couple of

things at a time

and sometimes because they might those

things might dovetail when they’re

released

or they dovetail when they’re happening

online it looks like i’m doing them all

at the same time

but i’m really very careful to make sure

that i’m not expending

um too much time in a million different

directions all at the same time

um when our kids first started coming

along when jackson was born i remember

getting six months into having a new

baby

and saying to jerry i want to make sure

that i’m mothering this kid it was just

about the time that the lord was

starting to give us some clarity

that travel might be included and what

he was calling us to do jerry was

feeling compelled to

for us to do ministry together so he was

leaving his corporate job and we were

going to do this together

and i i was very clear on the fact given

my mother’s example

that i was supposed to raise my children

so if i couldn’t be at home with them

or if they couldn’t be traveling with me

what i did know is that this wasn’t

going to be something that i would be

able to sustain or that i even wanted to

sustain i didn’t want to

i wanted to be with my kids so really

everything we’ve done in the past

um you know now my oldest son is 18. but

everything we’ve done

right down choosing to homeschool our

sons is because

that was the priority that was at the

top of my list

and so still to this day i continue we

continue to go to the lord with each

season

because this is the thing man that will

keep you before the lord in every season

of life

you’re going back to the lord going now

what now how are we supposed to get

through this week or this month or this

semester of the kids schooling and we

literally put down

the things that are priorities for our

family in that season

anything that doesn’t jive with those

priorities

we say no to and i mean no

it’s a whole sentence and we say it all

the time

so when i’m doing one thing i’ve said no

to

literally hundreds of other

opportunities in terms of speaking

engagements or interview requests or

opportunities to write a book or co-auth

or something we’ve said

no to lots of things so that we can

honor the one thing

i’ll give you another example alan i

hope i’m not answering too long

no you’re fine but you mentioned films a

minute ago that

has been one of the surprises of

ministry for us that’s not something i

ever aspired to or thought

would have an opportunity i mean who

thinks that who thinks i’m gonna be

in a movie or two one day it wasn’t even

on my mind

but the first time the kendrick brothers

called me it was when they were filming

courageous

and they wanted to see if i would do a

role in courageous and i responded to

them and said

no i’m not going to do it number one

because i’m not an actor but number two

because the time i would have to film

was about a month and it was right at

the end of my kids homeschooling year

and i just knew that it wasn’t a good

time for me to be leaving them or for

even them to be uprooted from what we

were doing at the time there was too

much going on at the time

and it wasn’t going to be good for my

family so i said no

i ended up working with them um writing

the resolution for women they wrote the

resolution for men

i wrote the resolution for women which

was a book that coincided with

just so i still got an opportunity to to

work with them and build a relationship

with them

but they told me that they were so

taken aback in a great way that i

declined being in a movie they said

we’ve never had anybody

that said no to being in a film and so

for them

um they said they respected and

appreciated that so much

that by the time they got around to

writing war room they said as they were

writing the script they were thinking to

themselves as they wrote for elizabeth

jordan’s part

they were thinking what would priscilla

say and they were writing those words in

and so as they thought that they called

me before the script was even done they

said this time we want to ask you far

enough in advance where hopefully you

can honor

your family as we see clearly you want

to do but you can also participate with

this project so when we filmed war room

they said

we will we know your family is important

we’ll bring your family with you so for

the whole summer

we move together to north carolina my

sons sort of

interned on the set they got to be a

part of certain scenes and we did it

together as a family

and that really was the only way that i

was going to be able to do it because

i don’t want to compromise the main

things because i’m doing everything

um and that’s not easy it’s it’s

constant give and take it’s constant

struggle as we realize oh man we’re

imbalanced in one season

and we’ve got to recalibrate for the

next so we don’t have it down

packed because it’s like as soon as you

do your kids grow up a year and the

dynamics change or the dynamics of your

marriage change or

you change your energy level changes so

it’s a constant recalibration

but it’s this intentionality to say lord

give us the courage to say no

to the things we need to say no to so

that we can leave

margin for the things we’re supposed to

say yes man that was a word i appreciate

that because

learning to say no to things it’s

difficult when you’re somebody who wants

to do

wants to serve everyone and and a lot of

times you know

people don’t understand why we have to

say no sometimes and

and a matter of fact if you would have

told me no i cannot interview with you

allen as somebody who has had to say no

to other people

i would have been like oh man i’m

disappointed but i get it and i

understand because

sometimes even one hour of people’s time

it’s like you have to make these

decisions

all the time the busier that you get so

now speaking along those lines

you know it takes a really strong man

to support a very strong

successful woman right so

talk a little bit about you know how

how does jerry support you what role

does he play

in the ministry because i don’t think a

lot of people really

are maybe from the outside maybe from

your inner circle they kind of know but

from the outside you know they don’t

maybe know what role he plays

and how whenever he saw okay this woman

is really being called to do these

things

you know how did he have to sacrifice

any of his dreams or anything that he

may have wanted to do

because he sensed that you know you lord

was doing something special in your life

talk a little bit about about his role

in all of this

well jerry is actually the reason we

have a ministry um i don’t know that i’m

even organized enough to have developed

sort of an umbrella of a ministry

um that he that he developed so i was

kind of just randomly speaking doing

little bible studies here and there in

my early 20s

and jerry begin to see that this is the

ministry the lord has called

us to as a family so he founded going

beyond ministries

which is the ministry through which now

we try to equip churches and women’s

ministry leaders with resources

where we’re real strategic about even

like our local ministry here in dallas

fort worth

and how we serve women that come to our

awakening events and we do outreaches

um he also is a businessman so there is

a business

aspect to ministry that has to be

balanced um

and so he and i are in two completely

different lanes

um all of the behind-the-scenes business

aspects of

of what the reality is in ministry and

technology and

publishing and all of that stuff that’s

jerry’s lane and it’s it’s not mine i’m

not gifted in that at all

the flip side of that is he does not

want to be on a stage he doesn’t want to

even want to be on social media for that

matter

he doesn’t want to be sort of the face

of anything so we’re not really bumping

heads he and i about anything because

we’re in two different lanes and we try

our best to respect the lanes that each

of us

is in and honestly him sort of

spearheading and

and being the visionary of ministry for

me has been incredibly helpful because

um i as his wife and so it’s em

submitted to his leadership and i trust

the vision that the lord

has given him for us so um there are

many things that i have so much freedom

to say no to

for our family if if he is not feeling

that same passion or

that same direction for us as a family

then i know that that’s not

that’s not for us um so i i look to him

for that not just with our personal

family needs but also with ministry

um having his leadership there really

does give us a lot of guidance so

we kind of stay in our lanes and do our

thing and and then dovetail together and

just try to honor god as best we can

and you know i’m so so thankful that you

that you said that because

i just want to encourage every single

person watching this

that there is a blessing and there is an

anointing and there is a ministry

in the support role and being and i only

want to call to support i’ll just call

it a behind the scenes rule because

sometimes support sounds

secondary but like behind the scenes

listen even paul not only to preach to

you all but even paul said in first

corinthians chapter

12 he said sometimes the the hidden

invisible parts of the body are the ones

that we present the most honor to right

and so you know just thinking about our

own bodies right you know

yes it’s nice to have big arms and you

know the the biceps and all that stuff

but like if your heart stops bump like

pumping or

if your brain is something going on with

your brain or your liver or whatever

like the invisible parts are sometimes

the most important

to keeping things running so i just want

to be an encouragement like my wife

she’s

she’s on camera sometimes but quite

frankly she supports

me and and she is behind the scenes and

she does so much

and jerry is the same way and so many of

you are that way as well so i never

want to belittle anyone who may not be

in front of the camera

doing these things that priscilla and i

are doing but your

role can be just as much

or greater of an impact behind the

scenes as you can be

on center stage i i just want to echo

that and say that i’m so grateful that

even you differentiated between

even saying support role or behind the

scenes because

it can put it can compartmentalize in

people’s mind what that means

honestly if the behind the scenes folks

in church

in ministry in business if the behind

the scenes folks aren’t

good at doing what it is that god has

called them to do and honoring

and serving well and doing with

excellence and taking

pride in the role that god has given

them then most of the stuff that’s

happening above the surface won’t even

happen it won’t even happen

i would have never published a book i

would have never been in a film

i would have never been a part of some

of the ministry opportunities that we

hope has

have been impactful to people that would

have never happened

if there is not someone willing to sit

in the meetings to read the contracts to

have all of the kind of in-depth

conversation that has to be had before

any of this

connect these things can actually work

those people

are necessary and um important to

whether or not the product

or the resource is finished or comes to

fruition at all yeah

yeah awesome awesome well you know this

has been a phenomenal time

uh sharing with you uh priscilla it’s

been awesome awesome

i just have one final question i would

like to ask how can we be praying for

you

uh how can we be praying for your

ministry what’s next for going beyond

ministries what’s next for the shires

personally um you know what i saw

something on social media i want to say

it might be today that there’s a new

book

i think it’s called divine disruption or

something of that nature i just saw it

on instagram right

this morning so kind of let us know kind

of what’s on the horizon for you

all what can we be praying for and how

can we best support you in this season

i appreciate you asking me that thank

you um ministry wise yes my

um siblings and dad we got together over

the past year or so and we just sort of

pinned down

some of the questions that you were

asking me about like how to hold on to

faith when life breaks your heart

and we just sort of wrote down some of

the things that have happened in the

past two years and the way that the holy

spirit and the lord have encouraged us

and guided us through it

so we could i would love for you to be

prayerful that that resource

which um we posted about it today but it

doesn’t come out until november

but really that it will encourage some

folks who are going through some really

hard stuff

to just know that god’s still got him

and there’s always still hope in him

um but then personally i’m just at this

season where i just dropped off a son at

college i have another one going into

his senior year

and all our focus and energy really is

going towards just this transition

in our son’s lives we have another one

coming up into his high school year soon

and so we’re just in those real

formative teenage years where we’re

dealing with all the teenage things

and i’ve told you before we started um

taping this

allen how grateful i am to you and your

wife your family for

the ministry you do because you really

are helping me parent

sons through these years where they need

a godly man who looks like them

to be sharing truth with them on hard

hitting topics that they need to know

what the bible says and

and you’re helping me do that i play

your videos all the time for family

devotions and i’m grateful for that

so just prayer as we steward these years

with our boys before they all sort of

head off into the horizon of college and

whatever god has for them i’d be

grateful for that awesome awesome

well priscilla it’s been an honor to

have this time with you

and um it’s just been amazing to see

what god is doing

you know in your life in your family’s

life and

um once again just always cheering the

evans family and the shirers on

and uh and for those of you watching

hopefully you all were encouraged

um you know in the midst of difficulties

that you may be going through

whether it’s financial whether it’s loss

or whatever

hopefully if you are a woman who has

this sense of

calling in ministry and you’re just

feeling stuck hopefully something that

was said today will encourage you

to start where you are and to not wait

and

to really be obedient to what god has

called you to do hopefully for some of

you who are questioning your calling and

ministry and you’re not doing anything

and you’re waiting

on god to give you some revelation in

the clouds or knock on your door and say

hey

deliver you a letter and say hey this is

what i want you to do hopefully you’ll

just start with what god has already

told you to do

and god will reveal more and more to you

as you go forward in ministry so thank

you for all the wisdom

that you’ve poured into us and uh i

don’t i always

normally always ask my guests how how

can we get in touch with you but

i think everybody knows it’s the best

way to get in touch with you is

obviously going beyond

dot com is that what it is or going

beyond ministries.com

it’s going beyond.com that’s ours okay

awesome awesome so guys

stay in touch with the showers pray for

them um i don’t know if they have

i’m assuming they have support um

opportunities on their website where you

can financially support

um i can tell you that we need it right

i mean we we need that support so if

god’s laid on your heart

please feel free to support i’m going to

put links below the video

to um i don’t know if they can pre-order

the book i’ll find out later

but if so i’ll put that link there i’ll

also put links to her ministry

as well instagram and all those

different things and um so thank you so

much priscilla for your time

and uh god bless you and hopefully we’ll

be able to do this again

i’m grateful thank you so much alan all

right

bye-bye everybody