Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

Illustration texts

Driving Headlong Into The Future

Tom Sine describes the church as driving "headlong into the future with our eyes fixed on our rearview mirrors."

Those Who Fight God

?Those who fight the present move of God the most are the ones who were involved in the last move of God.? (Heard from Peter Lord)

Ten Thousand Men Guarding The Past

?At the crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed against each of us ten thousand men to guard the past.? (Belgian philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck)

Blonde Stuck on Escalator

Some people can think only inside traditional boxes. They can't color outside the lines. They are like the blonde who was late for work because she found herself stranded on a broken escalator.

Babies and Change

The only person who likes change is a wet baby. -- Roy Z-M Blitzer

Awkwardness is Natural

Awkwardness is natural. If people aren?t feeling awkward doing something new, they?re not doing something new. -- Ken Blanchard

Bucy on Studying How to be Effective

Fred Bucy, past president of Texas Instruments, said, "?One of the most important things that a boss or leader must do is to continue to study how to be effective. This does take discipline. It is much easier to assume that what worked yesterday will work today, and this is simply not true.?

Spurgeon Speaks in a "Worldly" Concert Hall

History shows that the church often confuses its traditions with godliness. Old hymns, although originally written in the popular "secular" styles of their times, later become viewed as "sacred" styles. Spurgeon has been called the "Prince of Preachers," for his incredible sermons. But during his time, he was railed against by nearly all the London newspapers for using the Surrey Gardens Music Hall for his meetings. The Saturday Review put it this way: "This hiring of places of amusement for Sunday preaching is a novelty, and a powerful one. It looks as if religion were at its last shift. It is a confession of weakness, rather than a sign of strength. It is not wrestling with Satan in the strongholds?but entering into a cowardly truce and alliance with the world." (W.Y. Fullerton, Charles H. Spurgeon, London's Most Popular Preacher (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), p. 83)

Hymns Split Bunyan's Church

The Church's opposition to what today are considered traditional hymns helps us understand the powerful pull to identify what is traditional with what is sacred. Some of these quotes can help you as you may need to break out of tradition to sing new songs and attempt new ministries for God: Famous Christian author and pastor John Bunyan, who wrote "A Pilgrim's Progress." "John Bunyan's attempt to introduce hymns resulted in the split of his own church. In 1691, after his death, the church finally reached a compromise. Those consciously opposed to the hymn could either sit through the hymn singing in silence or remain in the vestibule until that portion of the service was over." (Quoted from "The Contemporary Christian Music Debate," by Steve Miller, OM Literature, Waynesville, GA, 1993, p.119. Source: Paul Davis, Isaac Watts: His Life and Works (New York: Dryden, 1943), pp. 188-189)

Isaac Watts and the Contemporary Music Controversy

A young man named Isaac came home from church complaining to his dad about how bad the hymns were at his church. His brother said that the hymns put him to sleep. Isaac complained: "They will venture to sing a dull hymn or two at church, in tunes of equal dullness; but they still persuade themselves...that the beauties of poetry are vain and dangerous." So Isaac's dad challenged him to write something better. The year was 1694. Twenty-year-old Isaac Watts sat down to write the first of over 750 hymns, many of which are still sung today, such as "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and the Christmas song "Joy to the World." He's been called "The Father of English Hymnody." But as tame as his hymns sound today, they produced a storm of controversy during his time. Church's split over the new hymns, pastors were ousted, and people were enraged. (From (Quoted from "The Contemporary Christian Music Debate," by Steve Miller, OM Literature, Waynesville, GA, 1993, pp. 120-123)

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