My first (paying) gig as a worship leader was just after I graduated from high school for a church in Scottsdale called Scottsdale Wesleyan.  I was worship leader there for about two and a half years.  In that time the church went from about 60 in attendance to over 170.  During that growth we made the decision to two services instead of one.  Now Scottsdale Wesleyan had quite a few seniors that attended the church and hearing we were going to two services asked that we do two different formats, have a traditional service first hour and a contemporary service second hour.  So the pastor and I gathered that group together and asked them how they would like the music to be done.  Unanimously they said that they wanted just hymns.  No choruses.  No band.  Just piano and hymns.  So that’s what we did.  The first week doing two services was great, we had over 60 people in the traditional service.  The second week we had 40.  We thought it was just a fluke but the next two weeks told and interesting story.  The third week had 30 and the fourth 20.  In one month we succeeded in killing a service.  So the pastor and I met with the group again to inquire if we had done things wrong.  They had no answers for us.  They just said they didn’t like it.

Nostalgia- noun

a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Nostalgia is an interesting thing.  It tends to remember the good feelings or thoughts surrounding a particular thing.  In this case hymns.  The group from the church remembered a time when all they sang in church was hymns and all of the good time, the youth of that day, the potlucks, the community.  What they forgot was how far musically church had come.  Worship music is more vibrant, expressive, personal and passionate then ever before.  When I did get answers from the group they said the service felt lifeless and lacked energy.  (for those of you that know me I rarely lack energy)  So the pastor and I prayed a lot about it and decided to continue the traditional service with some tweaks.  We kept piano but added a guitar, we kept the hymns but added some newer choruses and eventually a couple more singers.  The service thrived quite well under those conditions.