YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
MOVING UP , MOVING ON & MOVING IN | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
We ’ ve had the unique privilege of teaching youth and raising up young worship leaders and musicians for 12 years now . Most of our students started their music lessons when they were seven or eight years old , and now they ’ re young adults , or getting ready to be . We ’ ve watched some of them move into full time ministry as leaders for YWAM , going to college for worship arts or various music degrees , and becoming a great addition to a church ’ s worship team .
As much as we ’ ve had hated to see them spread their wings and go , it has been a reward like no other for us to know that they moved into ministries and opportunities that we had the opportunity to help prepare them for . We see a very familiar cycle : as our younger students grow into their teenage years , their life gets busier , school requires more homework , and they get jobs which force them to miss opportunities to lead worship with our live worship band . This is why it ’ s so important as youth leaders to keep attracting new younger students that are preparing and wanting to lead worship , and not just be content with your current group of more seasoned musicians and singers .
It ' s so easy to let time slip away without thinking ahead to the next season and the next generation of worship leaders . It seems like we lose our teenagers almost overnight to adulthood . We must keep new students in training at all times to keep our worship teams vibrant and healthy .
When we were thinking about this subject this week , an idea came to mind that could be a great option to acquire musicians for your youth worship band . If you don ' t have any students currently learning an instrument or taking vocal lessons , or you simply have no pool of musicians that allows you to have a youth worship team at your home church , and maybe you don ' t have the time , passion or knowledge to teach music to others , an outside of the box option could be to schedule a meeting with your local music stores and local music teachers . Let them know that you have an outlet for their current students to play live for your church events . Be up front with them and let them know that it would be exclusively church / worship music . Chances are you will have some parents that are Christians , and they would love for their children to have the opportunity to learn music through the vessel of worship and play in a live band instead of just playing scales and secular songs that they probably won ' t have the opportunity to perform beyond their bedroom walls .
On the other hand , there is that possibility that you may get some musicians that are a bit “ rough around the edges ”. For those students , it ' s great to remind ourselves of the great commission ( Matthew 28:19 – 20 ). What a great way to get some young ones in the church and exposed to the gospel ! It can create healthy Christian relationships that they will have into their adulthood . The parents of these students would also have an opportunity to bond and grow healthy relationships with the other parents . We ’ ve literally seen this play out firsthand with our students that aren ’ t believers when they start taking lessons , but then are exposed to church and the church community when they get to play for live events in the worship band .
If you have success in partnering with a teacher or music facility , here are some points
that we would recommend to talk over on the first meeting : 1 . You would want to give the music professional a handful of songs that are in current rotation at your church , so they can then start teaching their students the musical parts that would be at their skill level . They can train the musicians for your event !
2 . Have the professional teach each song in a male key and a female key and teach the student how to transpose .
3 . If they have multiple guitar or keyboard students , request that they teach each of those students a different musical part , then rotate the parts amongst the musicians .
Implementing this method could be a great way to have trained professional music teachers get a team ready to lead worship at your church youth events . And this could also be an amazing outreach to your community !
May you be blessed as you pour into the next generation of worship leaders !
Vance & Michelle Shepherd Founders of The Shepherd School of Music in Las Vegas , NV , where they work with youth to raise up the next generation of worship leaders and musicians . facebook . com / shepherdschoolofmusiclasvegas www . ShepherdStudiosLV . com