His opinion for the future of Southern Gospel music was basically this: things are going to be about the same in the long run. The crowds for the typical concert will basically hang around the same number they've been for ages unless someone could successfully re-introduce the heavy-duty mega events like the all-niters in Atlanta, Birmingham, Bonifay, etc. He went on to point out that it might be possible to do such a thing as promoter Ray Flynn averages 10,000 or so for his annual event at the end of each October.

At the same time, he pointed out something that is truly becoming a new fad (my word, not his): the multi-day events like Singfest in Tulsa, Brumley, events in Gatlinburg, Myrtle Beach and Bill Bailey's week-long February Florida event. As these type of events continue to grow in stature and popularity, he theorized, regular one-night concerts might suffer somewhat, as could the National Quartet Convention since a lot of people use their vacation time to attend such events. (As most people realize, for a long time, the NQC was about the only multi-day event in Southern Gospel. Though some of the other multi-day events may have lured a few people away, the NQC continues to be a strong leading six-day happening.)

As we concluded our conversation, he pointed out one thing that I had heard many other long-timers say. "Ever since I've been in Gospel music, people have been predicting the end is just around the corner. I've heard that for 50 years. Groups are still booking dates, groups are still wanting to burn their bus, and groups are still selling product. I'm not sure I'd be real worried about it."

When I asked him why, he offered this: "As people get older, their tastes mellow and if they like Gospel music at all, they find that the style of Southern Gospel suits their taste best. They start coming back to the concerts and they start buying product again. I saw this in the 70s when contemporary got started, saw it in the 80s when 'Christian Rock' became popular, I saw it in the 90s when praise and worship became the rage. I'm seeing it in the 2000s as people are trying to figure out what they want. Yet through it all, Southern Gospel still has an audience. I guess only time will tell."

I've shared this conversation with you this week to get to this one point: are we over-analyzing Southern Gospel? By that I mean, are we trying too much time trying fix something that might not be broken?

There are real right or wrong answers. But Southern Gospel is quickly approaching it's 100th birthday. God continues to use it for His glory and as I see it, we're along for the ride. It's up to us to handle it properly.