John 316 Marshall

"My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" (2 KIngs 2:12 NIV). These words of Elisha about Elijah's entering Heaven came to mind when I heard Billy Graham had passed away. Elisha was saying Israel was losing the equivalent of a protecting army. A significant national guardian was being lost. I always felt that Billy Graham was a national treasure. No one else has ever filled the role he did. He was a friend of Presidents, yet never lost the common touch. I think his humility was an amazing cardinal virtue considering the honors he received. When I was returning home from what may have been the most important mission trip of my life—my first trip to China—I read in entirety his huge biography, "Just As I Am". The book affected me almost as much as the mission trip did. I was deeply moved by the hand of God being so visibly present on his life. He was truly a man who walked among miracles. I always wished I could meet Billy Graham. I am comforted in knowing

We all wanted to be him. We wanted to dress like him, wear our hair like him, walk with Presidents as he did, and win the lost as he did. We even had to fight the urge to say "The Bible says" with a North Carolina accent. All of us young preachers found in Billy Graham a prototype of what we felt in our hearts we should be. My first remembrances of ambition included him. I guess I was maybe nine years old when I decided I wanted to play baseball like Mickey Mantle so that I could become famous and be elected President of the USA, which would lead to a popularity that would draw huge crowds to hear me preach about Jesus. Convoluted? Yes. But at least I was ending on the right note. His preaching was so simple. The message came through loud and clear. Without Jesus, people are lost and undone; Jesus loves sinners; they can be saved if they will call upon Him. I appreciated the fact that my favorite Bible verse, John 3:16, was by far the text he most often used in his preaching.

Gazing into my not-so-accurate crystal ball, I have dared to predict three things for the future of USA churches: 1. Contemporary Music; 2. Drums, guitars, and keyboards; 3. No Sunday evening services. This blog will look at three more possibilities. 4. Preaching. Almost every contemporary worship service includes a sermon. Yay! This is good news. USA churches will stay focused on the Word. Amen. I like this one. 5. Small groups. Essentially all new churches encourage people to connect in small groups. Many new churches do not have facilities to house groups; thus they have to use homes. I feel any church that has the space should still offer classes on Sunday morning. I am not antil-home, but am pro-church building. I may do a separate blog about this one item soon. 6. Nursery. Excellent child care will have to be provided for babies and toddlers. I personally feel this will become the case for all children ages birth through kindergarten. The families of the future may even expect it

Where are USA churches headed? What things do the new church-plants seem to have in common? In my last blog we looked at the first unanimous item: contemporary music. Before I leave that thought, let me add one more detail here. Even when churches use the old hymns, they don't sound the same, nor are the harmonies as pronounced. The instrumentation is different, though the song is an old one. 2. Drums and guitars seem to be omnipresent. Keyboards aren't far behind. I foresee no changes in these being the lead instruments in churches for the foreseeable future. They provide the cultural sound which marks our society, and in Christianity, music is the one place where our faith can morph to the culture around it. Elvis drove drums into our psyche with "Hound Dog"; the Beatles brought guitars to professional prominence. By the way, I love telling the story of how Decca Records turned down the Beatles for a contract due to thinking guitars had already passed their prime, a

I am neither an astrologer nor do I believe in astrology.  Thus, any efforts I make at predicting the future are totally a hunch. In this blog I want to take a shot in the dark at trying to predict the future of USA church work. Since history can be a great predictor of the future, let me begin there. Of the 51 churches Second Baptist helped start in seven years, several traits became almost unanimous among them. Whenever we reach near unanimity in anything about church work, we usually have a strong indicator of what's ahead. Here are the traits we see. First, contemporary music. There is a growing appreciation for the old hymns—it seems more churches are using them intermittently—but the handwriting is on the wall. Contemporary music is the future in USA church work. I will make a disclaimer though. A generation ago, when change began to wash over our churches like a tsunami, I decided change itself would become the new norm—that change would continue forever. I was wrong. We cha

To celebrate our retirement, Ruth and I spent January in Destin, Florida. You may be wondering, what do retired preachers do on vacation? We went to see three movies, ate at Whataburger (a favorite of mine), Back Porch, Pompano Joe's, etc., and visited Village Baptist Church and Destiny Church. We did some of this with Gary and Paula Parks, and Steve and Pam Hutchinson, fellow Springfieldians who enjoy Destin. We followed our usual Florida custom of no water and no sand. We don't get on the sand; it's dirty. We don't get in the water; it's wet. We merely open our rented condo's door, which allows us to watch and hear the waves. I read 15 books, containing 4491 pages, of which I'm sure I read over 3000 pages. Ruth made 13 pillow cases for family. She and I worked 15 puzzles. We totaled 13,799 puzzle pieces (1 missing). What do you do on holiday? I'd like to receive your comments on my Facebook post about this blog. www.john316marshall.com