Month: July 2026

Has Amazon and Christian Music Industry Robbed the Church of the Nazarene of Her Distinctive Doctrine?

On By Rob PrinceLeave a comment

Amazon arrived. Reading habits shifted. Publishing economics changed. Borders, Waldenbooks, Zondervan, and B. Dalton are gone. Honestly, given the publishing industry, it’s a miracle that there is still a publishing entity in the Church of the Nazarene. Nazarene Publishing House morphed into the Foundry.

With our changed world, the Foundry was forced to no longer send people like George Rice, Tom Roat, Matt Zimmer or another sales representative to district assemblies and camp meetings with their familiar routine. The bookseller would hold up that year’s featured holiness book—often written by a general superintendent, seminary professor, or influential pastor—and declare, “This year’s holiness book is the best I’ve ever read.” (They said the same thing the year before.)

Then came the sales pitch.

“Pastors, you need this book. Your church needs to hear this book preached. Raise your hand if you want a copy.” Hands went up quickly. The representative would continue, “Laypeople, if your pastor’s hand is not raised, buy the book for him/her. Your church needs the holiness message contained in this book.” More hands would go up across the sanctuary. Volunteers moved through the aisles distributing books by writers such as W. T. Purkiser, Al Truesdale, John Allen Knight, and others.

Something more important than selling books happened because of the NPH sales pitch. Pastors bought, read and built sermon series based on them. As a result, local churches received a regular, denominationally grounded dose of Wesleyan holiness teaching. Today, no longer resourced with a steady stream of holiness literature, Nazarene pastors stopped preaching an annual sermon series built around those holiness books. Instead, they regurgitate sermons from Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, John MacArthur, and a host of other evangelical voices. Those pastors may be gifted communicators, but they are not Wesleyan holiness preachers. 

Without up-to-date holiness books, it’s no wonder fewer sermons are being preached on historical Nazarene positions regarding sanctification, the Holy Spirit, and what it means to be a Nazarene. Over time, many Nazarene churches have sounded less Nazarene and more like the generic evangelical church down the street.

Moreover, Nazarenes singing has also changed. Forget Haldor Lilleneas. Now Hillsong, Maverick City and Elevation songs are sung every Sunday in many Nazarene churches. Those groups are writing good songs, but they aren’t holiness songs. Nazarenes no longer sing a steady stream of holiness songs. Holiness Unto the Lord is sung once a year—at the district’s ordination service. That’s it. The Haldor Lillenas’ hymn, Holiness Forevermore is not sung, not known and very possibly not a reality in many Nazarene churches. (Please note: This is not renewing the worship wars. I’m not calling for hymns over choruses. I’m begging for new holiness choruses that can be sung in Nazarene churches).

Like the book tables, the sales reps, and holiness hymns, one wonders if the sanctifying message of the Church of the Nazarene is being pushed out by our reading and singing habits? Has Amazon and the Christian music industry robbed the Church of the Nazarene of her distinctive doctrine?

P.F. Bresee’s dream that the Church of the Nazarene might “Christianize Christianity” is not possible with bland evangelical pulpits and popular choruses. To modify Bresee vision to our current reality, maybe it’s time to “Nazarene-ize Nazarenes.” It’s returning to our roots (that’s not a call for book tables and hymnbooks). But a deep desire to disseminate preach-able holiness materials that pastors can then use and beg songwriters to compose modern singable holiness songs. Nazarenes need to hear sermons preached and songs sung of heart cleansing once more. Holiness forevermore can’t simply be a song in a dusty hymnbook, but a reality that is lived out in Nazarene churches everywhere. Let’s Christianize Christianity. Dream of a better day.  

A Barf-o-Rama on the Drift from Holiness

On By Rob Prince2 Comments

If holiness preachers have no relevant and current holiness materials from which to preach and if the word “sanctification” is rarely uttered from our pulpits (read: we hear more sermons based on popular non-Wesleyan, megachurch pastors than from William Greathouse or Mildred Wynkoop) and if we never dedicate time for spiritual growth (read: no revival services) and if we don’t ever get away purely for the sake of growing our relationship with Jesus (read: no camp meetings and pastor and/or lay retreats) and if we rarely have extended times of prayer with other believers (read: no prayer meetings) and if young people don’t hear how the spirit is moving in individual lives (read: no testimony services) and if we don’t unplug ourselves from the corrupt world (read: No personal devotions) and if spend more time scrolling news feeds than reading our Bibles (read: minimal time in God’s Word) and if our holiness is not played out in the real world as we care for the sick, needy and the “least of these” (read: no compassionate, social  holiness displayed) and if we don’t talk to our neighbors about Jesus (read: evangelism seems offensive to many) and if we’d rather argue about immigration than love our neighbor (read: the fruit of the spirit is not evident in our lives) and if our political loyalties stir more passion than the Gospel of Jesus Christ (read: Jesus is not Lord) and if our kids’ sports schedules have priority over their spiritual development (read again: Jesus is not Lord) and if our in-person church attendance is spotty at best (read: seriously, Jesus is NOT Lord), then why are we surprised that…

  • hearts are no longer being strangely warmed (sorry John Wesley) and 
  • the Pentecostal fires are no longer burning (sorry Phoebe Palmer) and 
  • our utmost is not for Highest (sorry Oswald Chambers) and 
  • we are no longer called unto holiness (sorry Phineas F Bresee) and 
  • we are not all out for souls (sorry J.B. Chapman) and 
  • we aren’t mentoring anybody and no one is mentoring us (sorry Jerry Porter) and 
  • our churches are too often dead, dead, dead they just haven’t had a funeral (sorry Jim Deihl) and
  • the slow drift from holiness has become our reality.

The previous paragraph was one long sentence—372 words, to be exact. My English teachers are undoubtedly shaking their heads.

It was intentionally exhausting because, frankly, that’s how the state of holiness sometimes feels. It is one overwhelming pile of symptoms—a barf-o-rama of spiritual drift. None of these things alone explains where we are but taken together, they paint a sobering picture of hearts that have gradually settled for less than God’s best.

I don’t blame social media.
I don’t blame cable news. 
I don’t blame sports.
I don’t blame politicians, publishers, pastors, or church leaders.

This is our world. It’s our reality.

The culture has changed, and the church must continue finding fresh ways to communicate the timeless gospel. I’m not arguing for a return to the “good old days.” Some methods belong in the past. But the message never does.

Holiness never goes out of style.
Prayer never becomes obsolete.
Revival is not for history books.
We don’t need nostalgia.
We need is divine intervention.
We need Pentecostal Power.

We need the Holy Spirit to awaken sleepy hearts, convict complacent souls, condemn misplaced loyalties, rekindle holy love, and once again make us a people who look like Jesus. The call remains exactly what it has always been:

“Be holy, because I am holy.”

God still demands and still provides a way for people to be holy. 

We just aren’t there.
Revive us again, O Lord.
And if revival is going to begin anywhere, let it begin with me.

How to STOP the 2030’s from Becoming the Decade of Death for Many Churches

On By Rob Prince1 Comment

The church I attended as a child is closed.
The church my wife’s family attended is closed.
The church where my brother was first a pastor is closed.
The church of my first pastorate nearly closed too. There were only five people. It was as close to death as a church can be. But through, God’s grace, it’s coming to life once more. Praise the Lord (and thank you Pastors Rich and Missy Evans!)

Churches don’t have to die.

In post-World War II America, the 1950s was a booming birth decade for many churches. We were all out for souls (thank you JB Chapman), planting churches left and right even in places like Bad Axe, Michigan. But jump ahead 75 years to our post Christian America and ask, “will the 2030s become the decade of death for many churches?”

Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us. Churches, like people, have a life cycle. Left unchanged, many will live about four score years—eighty years or so—and then slowly fade away. 

We have options. We can sit quietly like a family gathered around Grandma’s bedside, holding hands and humming old hymns while another church slips away? Or we can say, “Not on my watch.” Not today. That means:

We begin with prayer.
Open my eyes to people who are hurting.
Let me see the wanderers.
The lost and the lonely.
Like Isaiah, help us say, “Here am I. Send me.”
Help me to step outside my comfort zone.
Let me love people.
All people.
Not with a bait-and-switch kind of love.
Not a “love your soul but not you” kind of love.
Really love them.
Serve them.
Listen to them.
Hope they see Jesus in me.
Earn the privilege of sharing Jesus.
Then help me to do it again tomorrow.
And the next day.
Invite the new believers to join me.
In parks.
In workplaces.
In schools.
In neighborhoods.
Wherever God places us
It’s called building His Church.
“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” is the promise from Jesus.
Let’s stop acting like we’re planning a funeral.
It’s time to celebrate a rebirth.
No more dirges.
Sing a new song.
It’s happening in Bad Axe, Michigan.
It can happen in your church!
Let the 2030’s be the decade of re-birth, renewal, resuscitating the barely alive and even resurrecting the dead. 

Believe in a wonder working God!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

Is NYC (Nazarene Youth Conference) the Best Event Hosted by the Church of the Nazarene? 

On By Rob PrinceLeave a comment

This was my first Nazarene Youth Conference (NYC). My blog about attending NYC prior to the event is here. As a veteran of exactly one NYC, here are a few random observations:

  • There were other old people at NYC. It wasn’t just youth and youth workers. District Superintendents, vendors, college representatives and assorted grey heads (like yours truly) were present and accounted for. 
  • The students that I encountered either in the convention venue or in the hotel or restaurants were all kind, polite and a true blessing. We can be very hopeful concerning the next generation. 
  • The old people (like me) that I encountered all had good attitudes too. I heard no complaints about the music being too loud or the students being too rowdy. No one yelled, “Get off my lawn.”  I love it when various generations love one another.
  • The currency of NYC is not cash or credit. It’s t-shirts. T-shirts were traded left and right. Each district had its own t-shirt, and the colleges also were giving out freebies.  From my vantage point the most coveted (can I say people were covetous at a holiness event?) was the Eastern Michigan District hockey jersey. Canada, Hawaii and Prairie Lakes were also in the running for the champion t-shirt. 
  • Ten thousand youth (and the smattering of old people) worshipping and praising Jesus was pretty great.
  • The speakers were engaging and most connected well with the students. 
  • It takes a lot of planning to put on such an event. NYI gets a big “Great Job Everybody!!” congratulatory award!

NYC became a community of grace and kindness and worship and service (the students all had a serve day during the event). All this to say, NYC is probably the best event hosted by the Church of the Nazarene.

Of course, the question becomes: Can other Nazarene events (General Assembly, M-29, even camp meetings and district assemblies) learn from NYC?  Is it possible for the other gatherings to have the same devotion and commitment and holiness and zeal? 

I hate to write what’s coming. You might hate to read it. Here goes: Old people need to learn from young people. No one was jockeying for position (unless it was to get a t-shirt). There were no church politics. No grumpiness. No phoniness. No “we-haven’t-done-it-that-way” attitudes. No sacred cows that had to be observed. None of the students that I observed, seemed to be worried about others noticing their devotion or expression of faithfulness. They were singing and leaning into a holy devotion that would have made Phineas F Bresee proud. 

I pray that we old timers at our next Nazarene gathering can likewise live out the holiness we say we believe. Let’s make our gatherings less like a political convention and more like NYC. Less like a fashion show, and more like NYC. Less like a funeral procession and more like NYC. Less look at me, and more look to Jesus (in other words).