When our church started, my vision as the founding pastor was to gradually move from a traditional approach to ministry to a more contemporary one. I believed we could blend the two traditions.

I was wrong. Although our church grew rapidly as many were attracted to the contemporary style, most of the founding members still desired a traditional worship service, and they told me so. To satisfy both groups, we began a traditional service and expanded to two contemporary services.

This presented me with a new challenge. I found that people in the different services didn't respond alike to my sermons. Soon, I realized I was going to have to preach differently to the contemporary crowds than to the traditional.

Today I preach the same text in both styles of service, but I significantly rearrange the content. I often use different illustrations and a different style of delivery.

During the half-hour hiatus between the early traditional service and the first contemporary service, I tinker with the ...