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A final thought on this subject that came to me after I closed down earlier...this is my favorite quote on the thought; 'it is not the style of the worship that makes it right or not; it is the condition of the heart.' We all need to work on that part and the rest will work itself out, don't you think....Styles change and have been for 2000 years and more, what we should concern ourselves most with is what God concerns himself with and that is indeed our heart....Somewhere I think I changed the subject on this blog, I think the rest of the week we will work in some other direction, perhaps a fun one....I think the gods are against me here in Rowlett, all spring I prayed for no rain and got all bent out of shape if it did, because rain messes with soccer. Now it has not rained for a month and is super hot. It rains everywhere but in my neighborhood, I am going to have to think of some way to break the curse!!....back at you later with a new subject...

Part of the mess of the so called worship wars is from this whole age thing. People too young who believe that 'praise and worship' (I hate the term but am using it anyway) music was the only way to go and ignored the people 20, 30 or 40 years older than them. Anytime you do this it leads to people feeling irrelevant and always, always adds tension. When tension like this grows even in the church, especially in the church people take sides and never give it up. The whole way it was handled by both sides served to segregate church's into 'traditional' and contemporary, by the way I do not like either of those terms...the bottom line is that it is contemporary if you are doing it today, no matter what music style you choose, but back to the point...At any age we need to learn to listen to one another and their life experiences, a church with nothing but young people misses the influence of older stable believers, a church with nothing but older misses out on the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the younger people..We need to ask what is important to you and then ask why...we need to hear each others voice..The bottom line and many churches have caught this vision is that the best worship is in the middle; a little of both, a little compromise...we all need each other to complete the family of God, as younger people start out in ministry life would be a lot smoother and God would get a lot more done if we just took time to listen and acknowledge that some older folks, maybe not big time older than us, but older, have some pretty solid thoughts....I kind of went all over the place on this one, unless someone responds I am heading in another direction....maybe it is getting too late....

Actually the title should be 'age and worship leaders' or age and ministers. In Gordon MacDonald's book A Resilient Life he tells a story about going to a conference for worship leaders and one of the first things that hit him was that the oldest person in the room besides him was probably about in their mid thirties and most of them were in their twenty's. Here is the deal, he thought to himself (I paraphrase) these young people are leading people in their 50's, 60's and 70's in worship. What do they know about people that age....Right on and I have thought this for years, even when I was in my 20's leading youth, what do I know about how to deal with a youth if I have never had one?..Before you leap on me here, don't worry I think young people can be good leaders they just have to have a sensitive heart to those older. They have to have good ears and an attitude that says 'I don't know everything." Another good attitude is to not have a condescending one toward parents whose kids are in trouble. Until you have been there you never really know how it feels or what it is like. Books are good as teaching tools but nothing teaches like experience....As I near 50 I wish I could go back and take back a few words and actions in ministry, really more than a few. Thank God he overcame my youthful mistakes and hopefully used me anyway...next lets talk about age in worship leaders...

Gosh it is hot here in Dallas early this year that is no fun whatsoever!....I debated what the next blog would be about and came up with one(see title)...but first be on the look out next week, we will start our Summer Missions Project which will have us feeding and ministering a host of children at our church and a local Mobile Home Park...We will blog about it and maybe twit which sounds really funny to me. It is what I have been waiting about a year for and now I am a bit antsy about it, that is why this post is so late in the day or early in the morning, can't sleep...Keep us in your prayers as we put the pieces together; Adam (my second son) and I will be leading it, with the watchful eye of Kim and Lesley not far behind either of us, which is a good thing...okay back at you in a minute with the new subject...