What is a servant? A servant is one who performs duties. Service is a helpful duty. To serve is to perform a service.

What is a doorkeeper? A doorkeeper is one who guards and keeps the entrance to a facility.

“I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. No good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:10-11

An usher is a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, who guards the entrance to the sanctuary and keeps order in the service by serving the needs of those who enter.

As a Servant in Place

Mother Lou Ida Whaley was a doorkeeper in this house of the Lord. She served faithfully with a quiet and gentle spirit. This is the kind of life she lived, that of a quiet, gentle servant.

When I first came to Monroe Street Church of God in Christ, it was Mother Whaley who first greeted me at the door and took me to my seat. It was in the month of July. So Mother Whaley further served me by giving me a fan with a smile. Although she was quiet, she performed her duties with vigor.

She was not a loud person, but she loved to testify how she came to Monroe Street, participated in the tarry services and was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost through that ministry. When she felt the anointing of the Holy Ghost, she would say, “Glory!” In my home in Louisiana, when someone would holler, “Glory”, the young people liked to say that person “caught the Holy Ghost”!

Mother Whaley found her place in the church. She found work that her hands could do. She took her place at the door with a smile on her face. Her service was a reflection of God’s grace to all who enter to seek His face.

In the Community

Mother Whaley was a member of the Dennis Home Senior Citizens, sponsored by Delta Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. As one of the AKAs’ Senior Citizens, she met with other seniors in the Dennis Homes Recreation Building. After she moved to from Dennis Homes, she continued to participate until her health did not permit. However, she was always counted as one of the AKAs’ seniors and included in the gifts to the seniors from the AKAs.