Description: In their search for relevance, long-standing steeples are pursuing just about anything that promises numerical growth. The driving force behind the frantic attempts to stay current? Fear. Fear of irrelevance. Fear of diminishing memberships. Fear of shrinking numbers. Fear of extinction. Fear of something dying on my watch. Now a decade or two down the road of trend-chasing, many churches and their staffs have turned around to discover that the younger demographic to a large extent has departed anyway despite our best efforts to stay on the cutting edge. Why is that? At YouthCUE, we believe that most churches have thrown away the wrong baggage, tossing suitcases containing real treasure and keeping the handy carry-ons containing commitments which quickly go out of style and leave us malnourished, hungry, and thirsty for the long haul.

Location: Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, Waco, TX.