I read an interesting blog today, written a couple weeks ago here on the homebrewedchristianity.comblog on the future of the church.  I have been thinking and talking to a number of people about this topic a lot lately.

The author of this blog (Deacon Bo) concludes that within the next 50 years there will be a 50% decline in Christians in North America.  Obviously this is speculative, but the reasons he lays out are:

• The majority of our church structures are carry over from a Christendom paradigm, combined with a lack of self awareness of this fact.

• Many Baby Boomers are retiring, and so no longer funding ministries.

Last year, Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian scholar and outstanding speaker and writer, made some compelling remarks regarding the future of America. Here is an excerpt from an interview dated last summer: (the full interview can be found on examiner.com)

"How can you be so sure that America will turn into a third world country?"

Let me tell you this, how I can be so sure. Right now the FBI is investigating 52,000 wealthy Americans who are hiding 15 billion dollars in secret, safe accounts. America is a very rich country with lots of millionaires, and altogether they have 15 billion dollars in tax-evaded secret, safe accounts.

India is a poor country. How much money do you think Indians have in secret safe accounts? It’s 1500 billion, 1.5 trillion dollars that Indians have in secret accounts. We’re number one. Russia is number two; Russians have 350 billion.

Now, what does that tell you about America? It tells you that Americans pay taxes. Very few people cheat. They hire tax consultants; they save as much tax as they can legally. Very few of them take illegal means to save taxes.

Why do Americans pay taxes? Is there any reason for you to pay your tax if the government is going to take that money and give it to corrupt corporations that have made a mess of your economy by billions of dollars…trillions of dollars? 

While you are making money, they are messing up money. Why should you pay taxes to bail them out? The reason we pay taxes, is because the Bible said that you shouldn’t steal --that you should pay your taxes.  

- Vishal Mangalwadi 

Yesterday, BBC News Magazine ran an article about a nine-year-old boy who wrote in to a BBC children's program 35 years ago, telling them that he had a "strange" belief that he would someday know how to save people's lives. This boy did, indeed, go on to become a doctor whose groundbreaking research has saved lives. (Read the full article here...)

This article got me thinking about my own childhood dreams, and I wondered - how many of you knew at the age of nine what you wanted to be? And how many of you have become that?

I started playing piano at a very young age (see picture). My parents swear that when I was less than a year old, I could plunk out a recognizable melody of  "The First Noel"by ear (my dad used to sing it every time we drove past the post office at the corner of Fisher Ct. and Main St. in Clawson, MI, where I lived for the first seven years of my life, at Christmastime. There was a big "NOEL" sign hanging in front.) By the time I was twelve, I was writing a lot of songs and already performing a lot.Today, playing piano and singing is a huge part of my life as a worship leader and performing artist (see other picture).