Photo by Erin Nelson.
Wayne Honeycutt holds his book, “Things Your Pastor Would Never Tell You But You Really Need to Know.” Honeycutt said any churchgoing person can read it, whether that be a rabbi, priest, reverend, elder or any member of a body of believers.
Wayne Honeycutt keeps a notebook in his red Nissan pickup truck, and if he has an interesting thought, he’ll pull off to the side of the road and write it down. Over time, his collection of thoughts led him to write a book.
Honeycutt was a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church for 37 years, retiring in 2006. In December 2019, he published “Things Your Pastor Would Never Tell You But You Need to Know,” a 36-page booklet about the things a pastor goes through on a daily basis that people don’t think about.
Honeycutt, 80, and his wife, Mickey, live in Chelsea. They have been married for 14 years. She has two daughters, and he has a son who recently retired from the position of fire chief in Pelham.
Honeycutt has been going to church his whole life. On July 2, 1964, at 5 a.m. he was in the hospital getting ready for an ulcer removal surgery when his pastor came in and prayed for him. Later in the day, the pastor asked him, “Wayne, if you died today, where do you think you would spend eternity?” After realizing he could not answer definitively, he discovered his need to know Jesus personally and accepted Christ into his heart.
After his conversion, Honeycutt had several opportunities to speak at churches and events before he officially became a pastor. One Sunday morning at a Methodist church, he shared his story, and 11 young people came to know Christ.
He never wanted to be a preacher, but the Lord called him to it on a Sunday night at his church service’s invitation to the altar.
“The Lord seemed to say, ‘You get down to that altar right now. I’m calling you to preach,’” Honeycutt said. “By the time I got down there, a whole altar full of people said we knew God was gonna call you to preach, we just didn’t know when.”
Though now retired, Honeycutt said no pastor ever retires from being a preacher. He is currently a member at Liberty Baptist Church, where he teaches a Bible class on Tuesdays.
By writing his book, Honeycutt’s goal was not to make money. He encountered a lot of poor people as a pastor, and he knew that if he made it expensive, it would not be as accessible to them. It can be purchased for $5 on Amazon, and he wants it to be available to as many people as possible. He said any churchgoing person can read it, whether that be a rabbi, priest, reverend, elder or any member of a body of believers.
“It’s not about a denomination. It covers anybody who goes to a church to see what pastors or rabbis have dealt with,” Honeycutt said. “I promise out of this book there’s at least one section in there they’ve dealt with. I did on a regular basis.”
Honeycutt writes on many subjects, including people’s reluctance to allow change in the church, the 24/7 servanthood of a pastoral position, elder and deacon positions and other common things the church deals with.
“It’s the heartbeat of a pastor,” Honeycutt said.
His hope is that the book will make people aware and able to pray for their pastors in ways they couldn’t before.