What do you do with Faithfulness and Fruitlessness?

I was watching JT interview two gentlemen whom I greatly respect last evening, when he asked them this question: "What do you do when you encounter Faithfulness and Fruitlessness? (Or something like that).

I think the intent of the question is thus: What if a person is in ministry (pastorate etc) and there does not appear to be any obvious fruit? What if a godly man, called to preach, preaches Biblical sermons, and the Fellowship he is ministering to melts away?

I don't think either one of the gentlemen understood the question, as they did not appear to acknowledge that it is possible for the two to co-exist. Perhaps seeing such obvious blessing to ones ministry makes it difficult to comprehend that such as this could happen.

They did not mention the fruitfulness of prayer. Or the fruitfulness of obedience. Jeremiah, Hosea, and others were faithful in their calling, but none of them saw "fruit" in what we usually think of as "fruit". They called people to repentence, and no one repented. Yet God seems to make much of the fruitfulness of endurance, the fruitfulness of faithfulness, the fruitfulness of doing what is right even if the stars fall.

A lack of obvious short term "fruit" (would we see this as a Meetinghouse with growing membership roles?) often leads people to question the faithfulness of the pastor. This may be appropriate, and indeed, accountability to faithfulness should be one of the hallmarks of a good pastor.

But too often a lack of short term fruitfulness does not yield a Biblical call for endurence. And a Biblical call for endurance is exactly what is needed in so many cases.

Anyways, I am rambling. What does one do with Faithfulness and "Fruitlessness"?

Perhaps the best answer is to define "Fruit".