Hey, CPAN suggested that I install the CPAN::WAIT module

Looking at the code (in CPAN::Shell), it will give that message for any command starting with 'w'. The commands don't appear to be documented in CPAN::Shell itself, you need to look at CPAN::WAIT for them. So first off, are there commands there that you particularly want to take advantage of?

So I'm wondering if WAIT is a dead horse, or if it would be worth bringing up a WAIT server on my Church's little dev box and hitting that.

Well, the module was last updated in 2001, and no issues have ever been filed for it on RT - no open issues, no resolved issues, no rejected issues - so I suspect it has had minimal use since then.

I think today anybody wanting the capabilities supported by CPAN::WAIT would probably look at MetaCPAN instead: it has been around since 2010; is featureful, responsive, and actively maintained and improved; and has its own API for programmatic use. (See also MetaCPAN::Client.)