‘I love speaking life into people’: Pastor Wayne Lott on genuinely connecting with people

TROY, Texas (KWTX) - There’s a white church on the southbound side of Interstate-35 in Troy where the in-person congregation is small but welcoming.

Pastor Wayne Lott believes folk are looking for authentic people. He said it’s his realness that helps connect him with others, not only within his church walls, but outside and online.

“The Bible says show yourself freely, and the way you see me right here, is the way you’re going to see me on Sunday morning, the way you will see me at work, and the way you see me in the streets,” he said.

Well during an interview with KWTX in the sanctuary, the pastor was dressed casually, was hospitable and engaging.

In a video of one of his latest sermons, he made it a point to say good morning to the small group inside the church, and he appeared to also acknowledge the online viewers.

Lott has been the pastor of Grant Chapel Baptist Church there for nearly a decade.

However, his roots in the community run deeper.

He was born in Slaton, Texas, out west in Lubbock County, but moved to Temple in 1974.

Although he has lived all over, Bell County has always been home.

It’s where he met his wife Deborah, who he calls his blessing, and where he grew their family.

It’s also where he answered the call to serve the Lord, in the youth and radio ministries, and preaching his first sermon 20-years ago.

“I love speaking life into people because you know, we don’t know what people are going through on a daily basis.” He spoke.

Especially now, he continues to lead his once packed congregation through the lingering pandemic.

He said, over the last five year, things have been hard while losing a lot of member to death, especially the elderly one.

The challenging economy, inflations, and the mental and physical anguish of people saying their final goodbyes to their loved, he says, they want to hear a word that will comfort them.

And sometimes that word comes with a little humor.

Lott believes if you can’t have fun in church, then something is wrong.

In additions to leading his flock both in person, and virtually, he’s been a member of the Troy Ministerial Alliance, and he’s encouraged young people at their baccalaureate, as they leave the halls of Troy High School and step out into the world of adulting to be good neighbors, and good citizens of the gifts God has placed in them.

And he says he hopes, “I pray that when I leave, I left this world better than I came.”

A better place for his six children, his grandchildren, and generations to come.

Copyright 2023 KWTX. All rights reserved.