William J. Prince is a general superintendent emeritus of the Church of the Nazarene.  He was elected general superintendent in 1989 by the 22nd General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He served in this capacity until his retirement in 2001, when the 25th General Assembly conferred on him the honor of emeritus status.

Members of the Board of General Superintendents serve as the highest elected officials of the Church of the Nazarene.  Major responsibilities include presiding at district assemblies around the world, ordination of ministers, and ruling on matters of polity.

Dr. Prince served as the fourth president of Mount Vernon Nazarene College (MVNC, now Mount Vernon Nazarene University) from 1980 until his election as a member of the Board of General Superintendents.  Earlier in 1989, he had received a unanimous four-year recall from the MVNC Board of Trustees. At the time of his election as general superintendent, Dr. Prince was president-elect of Southern Nazarene University (SNU) in Bethany, Oklahoma, having been elected to the SNU presidency only a few weeks before General Assembly. He had planned to assume that position effective at the close of General Assembly, when he was elected general superintendent.  

A native of Oklahoma, Dr. Prince is a graduate of SNU and holds the M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary. The D.D. was conferred upon him by SNU in 1975.

While in Nazarene Theological Seminary, he served as minister of youth at Kansas City First Church and later as district NYPS (now NYI) president of the Los Angeles District. He pastored churches in Lone Pine, Reseda, and Ventura, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Dayton, Ohio. He was superintendent of the Pittsburgh District and rector of European Nazarene Bible College (now European Nazarene College), where his responsibilities reached across Europe and the Middle East. He has ministered in teaching and preaching missions in the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, India, and various locations in Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Dr. Prince’s wife, the former Evelyn Imel of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away in 2006.  A graduate of SNU, she had taught in the public schools of California, Minnesota, Ohio, and Kansas, and was a member of the faculty of European Nazarene Bible College. They have one son, Shelburne.