PRINCE, (Peter) Derek 1915-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born August 14, 1915, in Bangalore, India; died of heart failure, September 24, 2003, in Jerusalem, Israel. Religious leader, educator, and author. Prince was an evangelist who led the international organization Derek Prince Ministries. Initially a nominal Anglican bordering on atheism, he was interested in philosophy and read classics at King's College, Cambridge. Completing his master's degree there in 1941, he registered as a conscientious objector at the beginning of World War II and was thus assigned to the British Royal Army Medical Corps. During the war, while reading the Bible as a document of philosophical interest, Prince had a religious experience that changed the course of his life. Serving in North Africa and later in Jerusalem, he became enamored by the ancient city and would spend many years living there afterwards. After the war, he attended Hebrew National University for a year. Making a home in Jerusalem, he witnessed the founding of the state of Israel and would later often contend that it was the duty of Christians everywhere to support this country, which he considered the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. In 1957, he moved to Kenya to serve as principal of Nyangori Teacher Training College for four years. After living in England from 1961 to 1963, where Prince worked as a Pentecostal minister, he moved to the United States, where he was a pastor for congregations in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Chicago for a time before founding Derek Prince Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1968. This nondenominational organization helped revive evangelism in the United States and abroad as it eventually expanded to have offices in twelve countries. Prince also was a cofounder of Intercessors for America, an organization that espoused the power of prayer for one's country, and in 1979 he began broadcasting on the radio program Keys to Successful Living. His teaching that prayer could influence politics was believed by his followers to have aided in the downfall of Communism in Europe. Known as a charismatic speaker, Prince was also the prolific author of over fifty books, including The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1966), Praying for the Government (1970), Extravagant Love (1985), and Transformed for Life: How to Know God Better and Love Him More (2002).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), October 21, 2003, p. 32.

ONLINE

Christian Broadcasting Network,http://www.cbn.com/ (September 30, 2003), "Derek Prince Dies at Age 88 (1915-2003)."

Christianity,http://www.christianity.com/ (December 8, 2003), "The Passing of a Patriarch: Derek Prince (1915-2003)."