Deanna and I spent the last several days in San Antonio for the annual meeting of the Baptist Church Music Conference. We went early because I was on the Executive Council as Local Church Representative from the East for the past few years. Being able to go early allowed us some time to enjoy some of the rich history (and fun) of San Antonio. We had a blast…and the conference was great too!
More than anything the conference sessions and concerts do to inspire and train me as a leader, I leave full from the conversations of colleagues at the conference. This year in particular was a special time of relationship building time; I am forever grateful for these friends in my life. I would also say that our morning corporate worship times, led by Kirk Kirkland and Ray Jones, were incredibly powerful and refreshing. I am thankful to God for reminding me of the importance of the ministry to which He has called me.
The sessions I led on intergenerational worship in the local church went very well and were well attended. People are definitely interested in this topic. My first thought after I finished my sessions was, “well, it’s easy to teach people content they already believe.” I knew the general concepts wouldn’t be far off from their own philosophy of worship. However, it wasn’t until Tuesday did I realize the profound impact that intergenerational philosophy is having on many churches/leadership (at least at our conference). As the folks from the local church division met together, we started the conversation with celebrating GOOD things happening in our churches. I was truly overwhelmed with thankfulness as I heard several of my colleagues share of their church’s journey from separate types of services to a unified worship expression. Thankfully, the leadership of these churches realize that music alone cannot grow a church and separating services with the primary intention to grow based on music choices is not achieving the desired result. In fact not a single one there could testify that having/having had separate types of services with this primary goal in mind is working to grow their church. May I just say it thrilled my heart to hear this. And the best part? Most who’ve been through this journey of unification are seeing more unification and increased attendance. I think the key is, and will be, teaching and inspiring the leadership to move towards unification, and if music is a key component…realize that diversity of musical styles doesn’t guarantee success if the diversity of music is not inline with the church culture and context. The better answer is in finding ways to interrelate the generations together in worship. In worship leadership my belief is that having worship teams that involve more is an important key component.
Oh, there is much more to be said. I’d like to hear from more of my colleagues who have had “success” moving from a multi-service model back to a single model (mirrored in content and style). I think there might be some similarities worth noting. I’m certain there will be many differences, because every church is different, but some things worth noting could rise to the top. If you are reading this and you’ve been through this scenario, I’d love to hear from you.