Music, Youth, and Education

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After eleven years in Christian education, I became a senior pastor. Previously I had been a specialist — holding C.E. positions in three churches, completing three graduate degrees in education, and serving several Christian and public-school organizations as a consultant. Suddenly I was a general practitioner in a congregation of 250.

As a minister of Christian education, I had always wondered why senior pastors showed so little interest in C.E. Oh, they definitely wanted a strong Sunday school, but when it came to direct involvement, they seemed conspicuously absent.

After six years on the other side of the fence, I've gained a new perspective. The pastor is interested in Christian education … and missions and counseling and shepherding and stewardship and preaching and …

I am still convinced education is a top priority. After all, with Americans now watching an average of six hours of television a day (and in the crucial value-forming years between six and eighteen, the average young person sees 35,000 commercials), I ask myself, How much exposure to the Word do my people receive? Looking at many of their lives, I think of the Lord's words to Hosea: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." My sixty minutes of weekly preaching hardly begin to offset the molding capabilities of the world. Any pastor who thinks he can adequately teach and train disciples alone is likely suffering from a malfunctioning diode.

I can't put Christian education on autopilot and expect it to have significant impact. Even though as senior pastor I have many more responsibilities, I cannot neglect the vital ministry of education.

I have changed the way I see my role in the church. I am not a specialist, working with intricate ...

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