Pastor Prince

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . ."  That's how Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities begins.  For most churches in today's America, it's just the worst of times!  There's no "best" to it!  That's because they're stable to declining. These churches cast about for methods and programs that will renew them, only to come up empty.  They're like patients in cardiac arrest in emergency rooms.  They're trying everything they can, including drugs, electric shock, oxygen, CPR, and more to revive the patient.  But nothing is working!   A book I discovered recently offers a good approach. It suggests that churches focus on fruitfulness.  Robert Schnase, a United Methodist pastor and bishop has written the book Five Practices of Fruitful Churches .  Schnase suggests churches focus on the concept of fruitfulness.   Fruitfulness is a great biblical image.  Numerous passage speak of the importance of bearing g

Luke begins chapter 3 by establishing the time when John the Baptist began his ministry.  He said it was in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.  That was all he had to say to establish the time, because everyone knew when that was.  But he went on to list many other leaders, including governors and high priests.  Why did he do that? Maybe it was because these are the kinds of people the world listens to.  They're the people in power, who appear to be "calling the shots."  They have many messages that they want us to hear.   But in that time, an obscure person whom these leaders would have considered a nobody had the most important message of all.  This message was the word of the Lord, and it came to John, son of Zechariah.  The message was that God's king, the Messiah, was about to appear in the world, and God's people needed to prepare! Today, that message comes to us.  We need to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord into our hearts.  W