It is clear to every pastor, church musician, and theologian that we lose young people after high school, when they entertain the notions of sin for a while, then finally finding a job, settling down, finding a spouse and getting married. When they have their first child, they start listening to their parents and find a church. So what happens in those 15 years in between?

I find myself in a region of the country that is, to my eyes, either atheist or fundamentalist, and much heavier in the former. I have no problem with fundamentalism, socially, either, I just don’t enjoy their patterns of worship as much as I enjoy the liturgy of my youth. I still love Setting 2 (in the Lutheran Book of Worship) the most. I grew up with it.

I see the only reason that the youth do not join churches, attend worship, or anything else in those 15 years, is that the church loses them in their youth. We teach them the wrong things! We teach them to value praise music with its empty theology and great beat, and when they first experience suffering, and when they outgrow their childhood faith, they find God and religion uncomfortably restricting, and they embrace the ‘reality’ of our new world on the internet, in chatrooms and in clubs…

How do we, as composers, liturgists, creative pastors, etc., connect to kids who are into hip-hop, alternative, pop, country, when forming new worship resources for the church?

Do we write a liturgy in each style, and pray that congregations will choose one genre and stick with it? I think the solution is in the congregations themselves. If you give a child a chance to have input, they will work themselves on finding new music. If you tell them to be in a praise band, that is what they will do. If they like country, why not encourage the students to work on that. Or if they like jazz, to work jazz into worship?…

The problem is, how do you INTEGRATE old and young within the church, WHILE still having worship that the young like?…

There are many issues involved:

1) Church musicians — traditionally, there are organists, and in ‘modern’ congregations, there is a band. What about the under-disclosed talent in the church? I guarantee, in every church, there is a banjo player. I’m not saying that the banjo belongs in every church, but why not?…

2) The ‘traditions’ — because of such strict traditions in the church, the only modern music allowed in most congregations is the music called ‘contemporary’ by Baby-Boomers. It is from the 1970s, hardly contemporary any longer! And when those churches realize that, they form a band, hoping that the band will amuse itself, and not disturb the ‘contemporary’ or ‘traditional’ services…

3) The liturgies/music available — more modern music is simply not available from any centralized source. Augsburg hasn’t opened its doors to independent artists and composers yet. They stick with the tried ‘contemporary’ of the 1970s. I have heard that they are trying to change that… We will see in the coming months/years…

I think the reason that so many people connect emotionally to two elements in their lives: music and liturgy (or ‘church’) is that those two practices make us exposed, naked and vulnerable, though safe in the context of the congregation.

My music tears me open at the seams, and shows everything I’ve got! That’s also why it’s intensely emotional for me to take praise and criticism both — this is the filet of my soul waiting for the spices of judgment!

I think youth connect better than any of us to things like music and faith, but we don’t trust them to think for themselves, so we often closet the doors they discover. I had many doors closed, as a child — in school, in church, all over… Luckily, I had parents and art/music teachers that taught me to look out the window when the door was closed!…

And even so, I didn’t feel comfortable stepping into the shoes of an artist until I was halfway through with college — it’s an exposed, difficult path (with little monetary reward:)…

The newest American Roots Music Podcast is about my own special brand of roots music! Check it out for a sample from my upcoming album Troublin’ Mind: a secret window into the ways of working in the studio with the raw track I bring in!

Listen here: www.kentgustavson.com/podcast

 Kent Podcast [6:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A capella version of And Am I Born to Die (Idumea) from the lead singer of Stolen Shack (me), my album featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered. I learned this tune from my good buddy Micah, who learned it off of Doc Watson’s first solo album…

This hymn means a lot to me, and in my mind is a political and religious statement. “And am I born to die, to lay this body down, or must my trembling spirit fly into a world unknown…” That is the cry of the oppressed, the cry of the scared soldier, the prayer of the terrified soul… Are certain people ‘destined’ to die, or can we help to create a world where children are safe from harm?