YOUTH WORSHIP TEAM
GOAL SETTING | Vance & Michelle Shepherd
We ’ re now well into the new year , and some of us have been committed to our New Year ' s musical resolutions , and some of us have let them fall by the wayside . Maybe it was your hope to join the worship team at your local church . Maybe it was your goal to learn another instrument or musical technique . Whatever your goals were , looking back on the past few months , do you feel that you ’ ve set aside enough dedicated time and energy to reach that goal ? Maybe you ’ re not happy with the results of your time commitment and you see the last few months as a loss of energy . In either case , it ’ s important that you have a plan , a goal and also a time frame to reach that goal .
Here are some strategic steps you can take that will be sure to help you become successful in your musical goals :
Why not seek out a group of musicians and vocalists and share with them the idea of forming a band ? Pick three songs that you are most experienced playing or singing and schedule a band rehearsal ( aka “ jam night ”). Once you have your band polished up on the three songs ( however long that takes ), set a day to meet with your youth pastor and let them know what you have going on . Toss them the idea that you would like to have your music team volunteer to lead worship or do special music for their youth service . More than likely , they will be happy to have you and your team – they ’ ve probably been hoping that somebody would step up and volunteer , even if they already have a team . You can ’ t have too many musicians , and it allows people to be able to rotate .
If you get a date on the calendar , it will motivate you and your team to put more time in on your instrument or vocals to be the best you can be for the event . Most people know about the ten-thousand-hour rule : It takes at least ten thousand hours to master any skill . That ’ s a lot of hours ! This method of putting together a team of musicians and working toward the goal of leading worship with them will add to your skill level immensely and get you closer to your 10,000 hours .
If you are the youth pastor or leader at your church , can you imagine someone having the desire to play sports , then working hard to get into shape , running laps , doing push-ups , situps , etc . every single day for two hours without seeing any opportunity in the future to get to play the sport ? How many football , baseball , soccer , or basketball players would we have if that were the case ? When we train in something like sports or music , we need an immediate outlet to exercise what we ’ re learning to keep us encouraged and driven , and to then excel at it and reach for the next goal .
As youth leaders , you have this amazing opportunity and a great platform to grow and cultivate these young future worship leaders , providing them with a goal and a vision . They simply need to know that there will be an outlet for them to play . If they never have a goal to work toward , there may become a day when we look back and say , "… the day the music
died ". Okay , that ’ s maybe a little dramatic , but It ' s no secret that our churches are struggling to find musicians and vocalists , even in our main houses of worship . How many people in your congregation do you walk past every week , that used to take music lessons and never pursued it because they never saw the goal ( reward ) in sight ? When I cross paths with these people they always say , “ I wish my parents would not have let me quit ” or , “ I regret the lost hours when I was younger that I didn ' t take advantage of lessons to become a musician or vocalist ”. Help set the goal for them , give them something to work toward , and they will more than likely have their own built-in time management and self-discipline , and you will be on your way to helping build your next generation of worship leaders in your church and city !
May you be blessed as you pour into or become 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