Last week I spent some quality time in my native (warm and sunny) California, far from my new digs in the Midwest. It was refreshing and delightful in every way. Not so much because of the weather, but because I got to talk with colleagues and friends about the state of worship in America. These are smart Who's Who folks with vast experience in church growth and practices.

Their remarks, in part, might be summed up in these six questions and amalgamated answers:

1. How are we doing when it comes to the effectiveness of worship every weekend?

"We are both failing and succeeding–succeeding because we've never worked harder at growing our churches and bringing people in to 'have a taste' of the Christian faith. We're failing because we are losing many believers out the back door because they think our emphasis on marketing is wrong."

2. Do you believe modern worshipers are givers or takers?

"The fact that we're trying to give our congregations exactly what they want musically suggests that they ...