Growing up a P.K. — preacher’s kid — Clarinda Burston White’s father, Rev. Claverton Burston, pastor of Mt. Hattin Baptist Church in Baltimore, taught her the value of prayer at an early age. She relied on those lessons one day when she was around 8, and her mom refused to drive her to her nearby school.
“I was one of her lazy children. I didn’t want to walk,” recalled White, now a pastor herself. “I tried everything” but her mother would not budge. So young Clarinda stormed from the house, charged across the street without looking, and a car hit her, knocking her to the pavement.
Dazed and likely in shock, she gathered herself, rushed to her parents’ bedroom, fell to her knees — and prayed.
“That was just a reaction that I had,” says White, pastor of Miracle Church of Baltimore. “My head was bleeding, but I prayed. That’s what I did, because that’s what I was taught: that when something happens, you pray.”
”I still have the scar on my forehead,” she says. “It’s a reminder that we should always pray,”
That notion is at the heart of “What Happens When Women Pray,” an annual international conference set for May 16 at DreamLife Worship Center in Randallstown, Maryland. Now in its 10th year, the conference draws attendees from as far away as Kenya to humble themselves and kneel together, physically or virtually.
“”Prayer is one of the great things women have in common. We pray for our children. We pray for our finances. We pray, but there’s power when you can unite with other women.”
REV. Clarinda Burston White, MIRACLE CHURCH, BALTIMORE
”The whole thing is praying together, calling on God for the same thing at the same time with the same intent and purpose,” White says. “It makes all the difference in the world.”
It’s the latest step for White, who began her journey in ministry as a youth pastor in her father’s church. She then developed Stop the Madness — a citywide church-based organization intended to confront the violence that was rampant in Baltimore in the 1990s and early 2000s. Young people from churches around the city would come together, learn, laugh, worship and pray.
The program became a model for youth violence prevention programs in other cities.
Since then, White has authored two books, “Speak Life,” and “Power Packed Prayers: For Everyday,” and is a leader in the travel business. She has been a pastor for years, but prayer has maintained its place of priority in her heart.
Word in Black caught up with White just ahead of the conference to talk about her life, her career and the origins of the “What Happens When Women Pray” gathering. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity
Word In Black: I know you’ve been a lifelong intercessor, but how did this particular prayer ministry get started?
Clarinda Burston White: I was getting a lot of calls from different women, about different subjects, issues, abuse. Some of them were drug addicted. Some were having financial problems, marriage problems. And I felt that women were really strongly in need of prayer. So the idea came to come together and pray together because there’s power and unity in prayer.
The first was at Garden of Prayer Baptist Church in May of 2015. And I realized that prayer is one of the great things women have in common. We pray for our children. We pray for our finances. We pray, but there’s power when you can unite with other women.
I didn’t realize until that night that this was something women in our city really needed and appreciated. So here we are 10 years later. We started with about 150 women and have 500 already registered for this year.
WIB: Is there any type of preparation for the actual prayer time?
CBW: For the thirty days preceding the conference, leaders, workers, registrants and volunteers are asked to fast in whatever way they’re led; and to pray the specific themes that will also serve as points of prayer when they gather.
You know, some of us are diabetics and can’t do total fasts, so we ask people to fast in whatever way God leads them.
WIB: So what does the actual night look like?
CBW: We start off with praise and worship, to set the atmosphere. We have five intercessors who pray on assigned topics. And those prayers are based upon the needs of women. Last year we prayed for women who were incarcerated and away from their children.
This year we’re praying because there’s a lot that’s happening in the environment, in the atmosphere, so we’re praying for peace, personal peace. We also want to pray for peace in our nation, and pray for peace in the world.
We also have altar workers to assist with those who are ready to surrender their lives in the Lord and accept salvation. Clarifying their declaration and offering them information on area churches is their work during the prayer night.
We also have licensed therapists, we call them clinical intercessors, in prayer lines because sometimes we have people talking about committing suicide or being stuck in physically abusive relationships. At that point they need prayer, but they also need some type of clinical counseling.
WIB: I know there are many prayer victories. Can you share one or two?
CBW: We have testimony after testimony of how God worked mightily in their lives. I think something special happens when we pray in unity and the anointing is able to flow and we are able to really lay our issues right there on the altar without worrying about our makeup and hair and all of this, but just believing God for the same thing at the same time. It’s powerful.
My husband and I were married in 2021 and, after a three-month honeymoon, he had a massive stroke. We were definitely shocked, but it also made us more determined to live the life of our dreams.
Our miracle began when during the second meeting of “What Happens When Men Pray,” the men gathered around him, so much that the crowd hid him with their numbers. The next day, we received the call; the kidney we had been waiting for, one we hadn’t expected for a long time because of his rare blood type, was waiting for us in Pittsburgh. It was a person to person donation which is also really rare.
He’s been steadily improving since that day and his doctors say he’s operating as if he were 30 years old.
