ALL THE RAGE!

The "old" is becoming "new"

Dear Reader,

Thanks for reading The Three Taverns. PASS IT ON!

Have you ever noticed how cyclical life seems to be?

I am traversing my 7th decade in life at 61 years old. The longer you live the broader your lense when reviewing life.

The pendulum swings conservative to liberal and back again. The religious tone swings too. Stately and dignified to wildly expressive and “anything” goes.

We are a reactive species.

Emily and I were at a small birthday party yesterday and while there I spoke with several young men and women who are in their early to late 30’s. I was so struck by their curiosity about what I’m doing as a leader of a small congregation. And a lot of the conversation was about style.

All of them said they like hymns, that they have grown weary of the lights, production, fog machines, emotional overload. One of them said they are done with the “Coldplay” style worship where all the songs have the same tempo and sound. All of them said they are looking for meaty, solid, meaningful worship.

I found that extremely interesting.

I also spoke with the hosts of the party, the birthday boy at 69 years old, and his wife. Both have had a lifetime in the music industry. Both had the same input, that they want genuine, sincere, heart-felt worship and meaty teaching from the Bible. In fact, they said sometimes they would just go without music/singing and just dig into the teaching of the Bible.

One gentleman there also has spent a lifetime in music, having toured with Elvis for several years to being in the gospel music arena as well as now being a statesman in the music industry. He also spoke of longing for real connection in church, friendship, simplicity, sincerity.

Isn’t it funny how the “old” becomes the “new” and then becomes the “old” again in life? ALL THE RAGE now seems to be a massive return to foundational things.

Young men are returning to foundations at a tsunami rate.

After the failure of social revolution, of the political systems, and of material pursuits to bring meaning and satisfaction to life, young men are returning to growing in the Rock of Salvation, Jesus Christ, and to real and meaningful relationships.

Young women, not so much. There is a real divide between young men and women right now.

The differences between men and women are stark. The majority of young men say abortion should not be legal, women on the other hand have a majority saying it should. To men, LGBTQ practitioners should not be able to have legally recognized marriages, women think they should. Men don’t believe homosexuality is acceptable, women by a wide margin say it is. The majority of men do not accept transgenderism, and the majority of women do.

This article spells it out: The Gender Gap in Church is Growing - The Survey Center on American Life

I find myself pursuing this: continue working with men hungry for God to make disciples and grow in the Lord, and keep praying that the lies of modernism will be exposed and that we will all discover our amazing identity in Christ found in foundational Truth from the scriptures.

CHRIST IN CULLEOKA

To return to the main mission, we at Sweetwater Church are digging into scripture to re-discover what Jesus said the purpose of the church is, what He is doing, how He gifts His church to carry out His call to make disciples and to demolish the gates of Hell throughout the nations.

Listen to this short message on ROMANS 12- THE GIFTED CHURCH PT. 2- What is the Point?

Sweetwater Church isn’t fancy. We are growing, hungry, learning to love and fellowship, and taking a no-compromise look at the word of God. Come jump in and discover what Christ is building in His church with us if you are looking for a home!

We meet at 11:30AM in a rented space in the Glendale United Methodist building, 1423 Culleoka Hwy.

TAVERN TALKS TUESDAYS

May 5- CINCO DE MAYO morning at Tavern Talks.

May 12- Gregg Tipton- Gregg is one of the co-owners of Mission Cigar in Franklin. He is a man on a mission to share Jesus with as many as he can. Gregg has overcome personal loss and kept his focus on what God called him to do. We look forward to hearing some of his story.

May 19- Willie Horton- we all know and love him! This is round two for Willie.

We meet at 7am on Tuesday mornings at The Mission Cigar & Social in Spring Hill. Tavern Talks is about our stories and God’s story. It’s not about perfect people with perfect stories but authentic working out this salvation in our lives.

Thanks to the Mission owners Mark, Monte and Willie for making this possible and participating in these gatherings.

Looking Up! (Luke 21:28)

Tod Bell