June 12, 2000
Denver innovators examine age
of leadership in reaching youth
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___GLORIETA, N.M.--John Miller wears a short ponytail, plays the keyboard and exuberantly directs the praise team of The Next Level Church in Denver.
___Miller, who studied classical music at the University of Colorado, told participants at the National Innovative Church Leadership Conference that he feels he soon will be over the hill as a worship leader for the Gen-X-style church.
___"I am looking now for someone 18 to 20 to take my place," he said.
Innovative church conference highlights four working models
___Miller was one of the founding pastors of the church, which attracts about 2,000 twentysomethings every Tuesday evening. He was just 20 when the congregation started as an outreach of Applewood Baptist Church in a Denver suburb under the leadership of Senior Pastor Trevor Bron.
___Bron told participants at the conference he believes it takes young leadership to reach a young crowd. "It says something when they come and see young guys leading the service," he explained. "They can relate to that."
___Thus, Miller thinks he is getting outdated because he is not far from 30 and is thinking about marriage and children.
___What happens when he is "over the hill," he was asked.
___Using a Native American analogy, he said the young men are the warriors and the older men are the elders. He anticipates when he moves off the stage as the worship leader he will become an elder. "The elders, when they stopped going out as warriors, became the mentors," he said.
___The vision of The Next Level Church is to "restore our generation and generations to come to be worshippers of God," Miller said. "We believe that, as humans, we are naturally worshippers. The question is, 'Who or what do we worship?'
___"Worship is the single most important thing in life. Humankind was born out of God's desire for worship. Worship is the doorway to God's love and provision. When we become worshipful people, the floodgates open and God enters into our lives."
___The young music leader described worship as "singing praises to (God), giving sacrificially of our resources, reading his word and communicating our love to God and his people."
___Miller and Bron are two of the four ministry leaders of the congregation, which has moved several times in its short history to accommodate growing numbers of worshippers. The church soon will move into a large building in Denver that it hopes will serve for some time.
___The other two ministry leaders are Chad Leavitt, community pastor, responsible for small groups, mentoring, equipping leaders and other aspects of discipleship, and Jared Mackey, ministry pastor, overseeing the local ministry operations of the growing congregation.
___Bron said all four areas--teaching, worship, community and ministry--"are our core values and are so interconnected that none of them stands on its own. If one of them is raised above the others, the church does not do what it was intended to do."
___The name of the church, he added, comes from the fact that "everybody is at a different level spiritually" ranging from the new believer to the longtime follower. "No matter where people are, it is our desire to help and encourage them to go to the next level spiritually in their relationship with God and his son, Jesus.
___"The Next Level Church seeks to be a community of diverse people with common commitment and central focus," he said, quoting one of the congregation's core values.
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
