A trophy of God's grace

Raised in a home where drinking, smoking, cursing, and gambling were commonplace, today Bill Prince is executive director of Biblical Principles, Inc. The ministry is geared to communicate Biblical principles to help free people from financial bondage.

Chrstianity is all about God changing lives. In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth he wrote: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

Bill Prince is a trophy of God’s grace, having been transformed by the power of Christ. Prince was born in Valdosta two months after the Japanese surrendered to Allied Forces in World War II. His parents were divorced and remarried several times by the time he was nine years old. His father ultimately was married to at least five different women. His mother was a beautician who made an effort to support him, his brother and sister, but times were hard and made worse by her drinking.

With no example of moral rectitude and no guidelines established for the children the home became a place where drinking, smoking, cursing and gambling were commonplace. Prince admitted, “In that atmosphere I developed into an ungodly person. Nothing was off limits.”

After graduating from high school Prince attended college for a while and then went to work for the Southern Bell Telephone Company. He professed, “All the while I was becoming more and more rebellious. I didn’t want to have to go to the war in Vietnam, so I joined the Army Reserves.”

At nineteen years of age Prince began to date Jo Watkins, a hometown girl, who was also living in rebellion against her parents and God. Prince stated, “My reputation was so bad that at first she could not even tell her parents that we were dating.”

Bill and Jo dated for three years and got married. They paid for their own wedding and were doing well financially, but for more than five years embraced the world’s agenda and lived riotously. Then something unpredictable happened. A neighbor had accepted the position of pianist at Glendale Baptist Church in Augusta where the Princes were living and Jo went to church with her on a Sunday night.

For several weeks Jo accompanied her neighbor to church and one night heard a sermon that touched her heart and she had a personal revival. Jo had been saved as a child and had faithfully attended all the services of her home church in South Carolina, but the sermon on that Sunday night caused her to repent of her past sins and she had a fresh encounter with God.

Jo, the pastor of the church and others began to plead with Prince to attend the church services and repent and get right with God. The “dyed-in-the-wool” rebel said, “They continued to bug me. But at last, when I had had enough of that Holy Joe stuff I told them that if they would leave me alone I would go to church one time.”

On the Saturday before he was to attend for that one service on Sunday, Prince remained sober, which was an unusual thing for him. He got up the next morning and happened to hear the words of a song being sung on television. The words were: “Jesus of Nazareth is passing your way.” He was to find out later that the song was to be prophetic and personal.

An evangelist, Walter K. Ayers, was the preacher for the morning. Prince recalled, “The service was the beginning of a revival meeting and Ayers gave his testimony. I could identify with almost every word he said. He was abandoned as a child and practically raised himself. He had gotten into trouble and his football coaches helped him. I began to think about my scout leaders and coaches who had extended a helping hand to me and spared me from a fate worse than I had experienced. Then Ayers told of going to church and hearing that God loved him and of how Christ had changed his life.”

The next thing Prince knew was that he was headed for the altar. The message was not over and the invitation to receive Christ had not been formally extended, but the Holy Spirit had brought great conviction upon the rebellious husband and he put his arms around the preacher and said, “I want what you have. I need Jesus.” Ayers led Prince in the sinner’s prayer and the new believer added, “I was radically converted.”

Prince began to serve the Lord immediately. He preached his first sermon the next Saturday night at the Augusta Rescue Mission. He gave his testimony as Walter Ayers had done on the previous Sunday morning and he has continued to do that for the past 34 years. He also had the privilege of leading his father and mother to faith in Christ before they died.

Prince is a member of First Church in Snellville where he serves in several capacities. Prince and a friend, Brian Peart, have developed a stewardship ministry called Biblical Principles, Inc. As executive director for the ministry Prince’s purpose is to communicate Biblical principles to help free God’s people from financial bondage. He testifies, “My goal is to be obedient to God’s call on my life and to serve for the glory of God in Jesus’ name as long as I live upon this earth.”