by: Dr. Bruce Goddard
When one of my children was little, I was cooking breakfast, and for some reason they got the idea that mixing something in a different way would be better. (You know the kind of thing, chocolate chips in the green beans or something like that.) It was a terrible idea, but it sounded good to the inexperienced cook. We went ahead and tried it the way my child imagined, and the product was far from palatable.
Just because something sounds good or just because you get an idea, does not mean it will work out. That is how the ministry is. It is not a question of the style of music in my church versus the style of music in another church. The question is, what kind of a product does it turn out? Just how does it taste when it is all done?
It is not a question of the style of youth activities or the style of the youth program; rather, the quality of young adults produced.
It is not a question of the style of preaching in one church or another; rather, the caliber of disciples trained through that preaching. Of course, God can use whatever He wants, and there are many things God does use, but if one “style” is consistently blessed and producing a great product while another “style” feeds our personal appetites but fails to produce a quality product, then that “style” probably needs to be dumped. Then, pick up the “style” that God uses.
Many a recipe has been tried only to be thoroughly appalling when it was tasted.
Let us be sure that style does not win over product. Let us model a successful product and let us not experiment with the eternal destiny of people. We would be wise to follow the OLD PATHS as no life is worth our experiment. How many will we loose trying new recipes? It is simply not worth it.
Dr. Bruce Goddard
Pastor
Faith Baptist Church
Wildomar, CA
http://thepreachersfriend.com