NASHVILLE, Tenn. –– Bishop James King, president of the General Commission on UM Men, told conference presidents and conference prayer advocates “they are getting better.”

He borrowed the phrase from Dr. Andrew Weil, founder of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and advocate of self-healing programs.

“I’m not a doctor,” he said, “but I know Dr. Jesus and regardless of what's happening in your life, I know you can get better.

“Your shortcomings aren’t held against you and your faith provides access to the Holy Spirit which releases power in your life,” he told the assembly at the Upper Room Chapel.

Recalling that Dr. Bill Cosby twice failed the 10th grade and Michael Jordan was cut from a 9th grade basketball team, he encouraged the men to keep trying. “The light is green somewhere,” he said. “Don’t keep complaining about how long the light has been red.”

“What if Moses had said, ‘You know 10 years is long enough, I think I’ll return to Egypt’ or what if Thomas Edison had said, ‘I think I’ll try one time to invent the light bulb’?

He recalled how the disciples told Jesus it was useless to cast their nets again. “We’ve fished all night and caught nothing,” they complained. But following instructions of the master, they caught so many fish the nets broke.

“What God has done for others he will do for you,” said King. “You have to keep knocking until the door opens.”