A. My teenaged daughter, Bekah, dutifully attended worship with mom and her three siblings. Her dad (Pastor Arley) led worship and preached.

I (dad) noticed from time to time that Bekah seldom participated in the songs and rituals of the worship setting. After worship one Sunday, I asked Bekah in a nonchalant manner, “Bekah, do you sing in worship?” “No, Dad.” “Well do you participate in the liturgy?” “No, not really, Dad.” I continued in, hopefully, a non-accusatory tone, “Do you get anything out of the sermons?” “No, Dad, they’re really kind of boring.” Ouch. Trying not to sound desperate, I asked, “Bekah, do you get anything out of worship?” “Oh yes, dad, the dramas.”

A. Long before this conversation, I was aware that dramas, skits, and sketches, used judiciously and well rehearsed, promised to enhance the worship and learning experience, especially for visual, media-savvy generations.

A. Besides occasional Sunday mornings, special seasons of the church year like Advent and Lent provide excellent venues for drama, homily, and song. The challenge for worship and learning during the forty days of Lent came in the declining interest and attendance in midweek worship. There were a few gray haired adults in the audience, but no children, no young adults, and few men. The worshipers were polite, but ten minutes into the worship, developed a glazed and dazed demeanor.

A. Focusing on the passion of Christ, penitence, self-denial, and sacrifice, for six weeks seemed to weary both parishioner and pastor. Approaching Holy Week dead tired and uninspired was clearly counter-productive.

Q. In addition to your frustration there were other factors that made big changes. What were they?

A. I reflected on how my gifts, talents, experiences, and personal mission statement could meet the challenge. My undergraduate major was English, with a minor in history and languages. My graduate training was an immersion in theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. My post-graduate work blossomed into parish revitalization and leadership at McCormick Seminary in Chicago. I had been trained and worked as a Draftsman at the Boeing Airplane Company in Seattle. I drafted for Ed Yost, the inventor of the modern hot air balloon. I loved sketching, graphic arts, inventions, and restoring antique automobiles while serving a dozen or so congregations. These educational and work experiences were driven by my personal mission statement which reads, “My mission in life is to imagine, create, and invent processes, instruments, and opportunities for revitalization in family, church, and community.”

A. Equipped with these gifts and experiences, I faced an immense pastoral leadership challenge. I sensed a yearning on the part of many. Many were searching for stimulating, mind and heart stretching worship experiences, especially in the Lenten season, which promised to bring them closer to God. I asked the following questions:

• How can a church leader break loose and depart from dusty traditions so that imaginative worships foster new life and interest especially in the Lenten season?
• What might a pastor do to engage the minds and hearts of children, teenagers, generation X, adults and especially male adults?
• What values support an intergenerational approach to learning and worship?
• How can a church clarify its purpose and focus and then see it clearly in its learning and worship life?
• How can one write and incorporate a theme song that is so catchy it sticks with you all week long?

A. I imagined my congregation(s) as an R and D laboratory. In a Research and Development context, one is able to invent, test, and produce. I would write, rewrite, critique, test, and then use in a parish setting. Always, always, the people perked up, attendance grew, and people left worship with a sparkle in their eye, a smile on their faces and a skip in their steps.

Using a Bible story for the weeks leading up to Holy week seemed to intensify interest and openness to the typical themes of self-denial, repentance, penitence, sacrifice and the passion of our Lord.