Eclectic: /ik’lektik/ Adjective: Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

When it comes to music, I like forms of classical… jazz… pop… country… oldies… rock… and polka.  You name it and there are songs in that genre that I enjoy greatly (Except for Rap).

When it comes to worship music, I am just as eclectic.  I like forms of high church… traditional… contemporary… and blended.  I even like some songs I don’t like because some of my brothers and sisters in Christ like them (That does make sense if you’ll think on it a little).  I am now at the point that what is most important to me is that THE NEXT GENERATION is drawn to worship God in a form and style they identify with.  As long as the message is God exalting, I don’t care about the instrumentation… volume… or length.

However, there are some who take an element of joy in downing worship styles (And churches) that fellow believers enjoy… and this saddens me.  There is one phrase I’ve heard so many times from so many people I’ve grown sick and tired of it.  They say, “I don’t like 7-11 songs. You know, the kind that repeats the same 7 words 11 times?!” (Followed by a snicker).  They must not have ever read the Psalms…

Ps 136… “Your steadfast love endures forever” is repeated TWENTY-SIX times!  (But it’s not 7 words… repeated 11 times.  So I guess it doesn’t count)

Ps 148… “Praise him” is repeated 6 times.  “Praise the Lord” is repeated 4 times.  But I guess that doesn’t fit the mathematical formula either.

Ps 150… The word “Praise Him” is repeated 12 times in 6 verses.

Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4… “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

“WHEN IT COMES TO WORSHIP… others are more important than me?!”  Yep!

“When it comes to preferences in style of worship… others are more important than me?”  Yep!

“When it comes to kinds of I’m not the one who is most important?”  Yep!  That’s right.

Worship is about one thing… GLORIFYING GOD.  For me… if the younger generation is drawn closer to God through a style of music I’m not a fan of… and that style glorifies God… then I’m for it!  I’m for reaching the next generation to carry on the faith!  If a particular worship style aids in doing that… I’m for it.

Psalm 7:4 “Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.  5 He established a testimony in Jacob… 6 That the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments and appointed a law in Israel…”