“Some of the struggles we now face in the American church we created on our own by ignoring the power of predictability and expectation. Take Community Bible Church as an example. Pastor Myles Garrett caught the vision for reaching out to the youth culture in the late 1950s and created one of the first church youth programs in his state. As youth leaders sought to reach the young adults, they began to modify the standard church curriculum to reach the students in high school. In the 1970s they began to discover Christian rock and some of the early praise music. Students visiting Community Bible [Church] connected on a deep level with the music, the passionate teaching, and the relationships they developed.

But a new trend began to surface. Many of the students Community Bible [Church] reached with the gospel did not continue at the church once they arrived at adult age. Most of the former youth checked out of the church, citing boring music and preaching along with a lack of connectivity. Those who stayed in the community tried to bring the forms of music and teaching they experienced in youth group to the congregation as a whole, only to find severe reaction against it. The church leaders were fine with that ‘wild worship’ so long as it stayed in the youth area and did not change the way the church as a whole worshipped.” (Thomas White & John Yates, Franchising McChurch, 2009, p.48)