Pastor Prince

  In early 1963, America was quiet.  We were watching "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Petticoat Junction" on TV.  We had a young, charismatic president.  Nobody heard of Vietnam, LSD, or the Rolling Stones! But a 21-year-old singer songwriter named Bob Dylan wrote a song with the lyrics:             Come gather 'round people             Wherever you roam             And admit that the waters             Around you have grown             And accept it that soon             You'll be drenched to the bone.             If your time to you             Is worth savin'             Then you better start swimmin'             Or you'll sink like a stone             For the times they are a-changin'. Dylan probably wrote more than he knew!  We didn't know it, but a flood was coming.  This flood became a perfect storm for the church! Leonard Sweet wrote that beginning in the early 1960s, the church in the West sailed int

 These are tough days for most churches.  Most are stable to declining.  Not long ago, more were stable than declining.  But now, it may be more like 50/50! As churches face decline, they search for answers.  Their older members remember the good times of the 1950s and 1960s, when churches were growing, and most people went to church.  In addition to that, American culture supported church values. But beginning in the 1960s, things began to change.  First, mainline denominations like Methodists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans began steep declines.  In the 1970s, the popular wisdom among conservatives was that this decline came because of their liberal theology. But now in the early part of the 21st century, conservative denominations have started to decline as well.  The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has posted declines in membership for almost a decade.  Last year, it lost 200,000 members and 850 churches closed. What happened?  We don't have time to explore all that h

When you live somewhere according to the values of another place, conflict is inevitable.  When you live by the values of God's kingdom in this world, you swim against cultural, social, political, and maybe even religious currents.  Most people are floating downstream on inner tubes.  You're paddling upstream, getting in their way.  Collisions are bound to happen! That may be why Jesus' final beatitude says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus knew about persecution first hand!  According to Luke (4:28-30), his public ministry got off to a rocky start when people from his own  home town wanted to kill him!  He had ongoing verbal battles with Jewish religious leadership.  Finally, Jewish religious leaders teamed up with the Romans to crucify him. Soon, his followers were martyred for their commitment to him.  The first was Stephen.  Later, James.  Church tradition says nearly all his

It was the time of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) .  The Roman Empire stretched across nearly the whole world people knew about in ancient times.  As it conquered new territories, it established peace between warring factions.  The powerful, disciplined Roman army kept the peace, leading to a time of great commerce and economic growth. In those days, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9). The Pax Romana was a peace kept .  Jesus spoke of peace made .  Peace keeping occurs when an army suppresses warring factions from killing each other.  Peace making occurs when walls are torn down, bridges are built, and people move from hate to love.  A kept peace remains only as long as the restraining force remains in place.  If peace isn't made, warring factions go back to their killing!  What do peacemakers look like?  Like Jesus!  Jesus spent his life building bridges between  God and people, a