Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

The Baby Boomer Worship Creed

Before launching out next week to write about the creed of Xer worship, a look at the currently prevailing boomer worship creed might provide an introduction. What do most boomers believe about worship? If it were a creed, we'd write it something like this:

1. The Sunday morning worship hour is boss.

We recognize some might come back Sunday evening, and a few might show up weeknights, and there are stubborn Sunday school holdouts, but, frankly, we like the notion of putting on a first class Sunday morning hour-long service and letting that cover for the rest. We're too busy for much more.

2. Worship should be fast-paced.

We want worship services to crack along in a speedy format -- no lagging, no dragging. That goes for time between songs, silence between people on stage, and even the speed of music. We have banned "dead spots."

3. Good worship needs good lighting.

Some of the W.W.II generation gasped when we hung black pipes from the ceiling and attached our canister lights, but we knew this would enhance our services, for the audience needs to see your "facials" if you expect to lead them in worship. Now we have some pretty sophisticated lighting controls, and we're better off.

4. Faith comes by hearing.

Mikes too. We chuckle at our parent's style of worship with only one microphone attached to a wooden pulpit. We believe in mikes -- lots of mikes, preferably with colorful sponges on each, and (if we're really crackin') we'll have several cordless mikes as well. The more mikes the merrier.

5. Songs should be led by a group.

We dumped the 55 year old song leader who waved hands at the crowd urging them, to sing louder/faster/better and introduced our own brand of music leadership -- the boomer praise team. We collected a group of Ken-and-Barbie types, practiced with them, and stuck them in front with colorful mikes for each. This improved our worship in most places, or at least gave us something more attractive to look at while singing. Sometimes we added an orchestra of sorts to supply even more activity on the stage to keep us involved in worship. Boomer worship has lots of thing to watch.

6. We believe worship should be upbeat.

We think the atmosphere, the music, even the preaching should be a picker-upper for hurting and stressed out people. A person attending our worship services should feel better when they leave.

7. We prefer at least two grand performances each year.

I mean really big -- something you can bring an out and out sinner to and be proud of -- something "just as good as the world has." Christmas and Easter are our preferred times for these extravaganzas.

8. We believe in excellence.

Everything should be done first class. We believe, "If you do worship with excellence they will beat a path to your door." Second rate people should sing in the shower.

9. We want our preachers to be "communicators."

After all, we are the first generation raised on TV, so we expect our preachers to compete with the best communicators on the tube. The greatest boomer compliment when introducing a speaker is to call him or her "a communicator."

10. We believe singing with a screen is better than a hymnbook.

It's obvious isn't it? Hymnbooks or worship folder inserts make you look down. When looking down we can't see the praise team on stage. The screen helps us focus on the stage and God.

11. We believe recent music is better than old music.

In this we are just like our parents, and every generation before them. For the "old songs" tossed out were merely the new songs earlier generations introduced when tossing out their own older songs.

12. We like to shake hands during the service.

Our parents did it before and afterward. We do it as part of the service. We started doing it while singing Bill's, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God." We eventually dropped the song, but still do the handshakes. We believe this creates an atmosphere of a "friendly church."

13. We like applause.

Sure, we know it tends to promote performance, and directs attention on the performer, but we think it improves the atmosphere and generates excitement. It's merely the boomer way of saying "Amen" or "selah."

14. We don't like pulpits.

OK, maybe a Plexiglas one. But generally we'd prefer to see a speaker's whole body -- that way the speaker can use their whole body to "communicate."

15. We think preaching should be helpful.

We like "14 tips on how to get along with a difficult person," or, "Nine ways to overcome adversity." We like helpful, life-related practical talks which help us survive Mondays. We even like columns written on "15 characteristics of Boomer worship." It's just how we think

So what do you think?

To contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to Tuesday@indwes.edu