YOUTH BANDS, PART II

The second section in our "youth band" segment involves the non-essentials. In other words, "what can we leave behind?"

As before in our first section on youth worship, the non-essentials in this post are 100% opinion. I have worked with youth bands and feel pretty confident in my list, but as always, these are up for discussion.

So...what can we forget about? What's non-essential?

COVERS
I think leaving behind the idea that "we have to nail this song perfectly" is a wise move.

But not an easy one.

If you have teenagers who dig a song (or at least are willing to listen to something an old fogey like you want to play,) they're going to want to do it like the CD version. Because they like that version.

And that's okay...sometimes that happens.

But I think killing this idea that we have to (or even able to) perfectly replicate the song really makes a big difference in your team.

It's not a hard sell, really. A simple ten minute discussion about overdubs will quickly show your kids that there's no way a 4-piece band is going to nail that Casting Crowns' version. Eliminating this pressure to perform frees your kids up - both to experiment within their own ability and to realize that worship songs must be used in the congregational context. Teaching our bands this goes a long way toward building pastoral care in them.

LABELS
Labels have killed many a youth band.

Look, I don't have a problem if the youth band wants to have a "name." But we name the band and talk about the band and encourage them to particpate in community Battles of the Bands and make flyers with their pictures and promote them like we would any other "event" or concert within in our ministry.

But here's what that does:
1. It reinforces the very thing we need to kill in our hearts. Musicians are egotistical, applause hungry individuals. I know. Believe me, I know. Labeling a youth band only feeds that rock star mentality, which I can guarantee is already living inside each of us. And the rock star monster is insatiable...he consumes things like applause and stage lighting and web hits and gushing.
2. If the band doesn't "make it," all those labels feel pretty silly. To them and you. Christening your youth band is dangerous because, even at it's best, this band is not going to win a Dove award. They're not going to get a record deal and eventually, some of them will graduate out of your ministry. What do you do with all the fylers and promotion then?
3. Labels force kids to pick an "image." Start talking about naming your youth band and getting them gigs and pretty soon you'll have an all-out war about the band's "sound." Once you add a whole new dynamic - playing in front of strangers - you run the risk of beginning to select songs on their performance value rather than their worship worth.

DIY
Youth bands are hard work. And too many of them have suffered from a lack of support and encouragement. I think it's important to make sure we take a long time before we give control over to the students. And that's a hard thing, really. Once they're functioning pretty well together, it's easy to just buy them some music, make sure their sound gear is working and let them have it.

Lots of ministry resources talk about letting kids "own" ministry, and I agree. I just think a lot of us are too quick to give total control to our students in an area like worship - that's so hard most adults are still trying to figure it out!
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It's not my intent to sound negative here. I really do think that every youth band is different and so my ideas may not work for your team. But in my experience, these little lessons can help us to be better and do better for those students within our congregations who step up to serve.

YOUTH BANDS, PART I

Thanks to our very cool new "Skribit" window, I've had a couple of cool suggestions come through for possible subjects for worshipnotes to tackle.

The first one I want to approach is this question:

Priorities of youth bands...what's important? What can be left alone?

Wow! What a question! As always, it's best to remember that this is a blog run by me, one dude, with his own opinions about worship. What I offer on this site is a mix of what I believe theoretically about worship alongside what I've actually seen and experienced as well.

I can really only hit this question from personal experience. In other words, what do I prioritize when I'm in charge of a youth band? (I'd like to hit this in two parts...first talking about what's important and then, in a later post, what is non-essential.)

DISCIPLESHIP
There are essentially two modes of operation for youth bands. (And adult worship teams, too.)

One approach is evangelistically motivated. Meaning, that we open the youth band to find kids who are interested in music. In this mode, we're not really making a student's spiritual life a deciding factor. We use music as the "bait." We get kids involved and then, prayerfully and hopefully, influence them for the Kingdom.

The second approach is ministry motivated. This means that we view worship leading as a high calling - something that the Father calls discipled believers to do. If we take the "leader" seriously, we understand that students in the worship team need to exemplify spiritual leadership in all its forms. (Holiness, prayer, study, integrity...)

Personally, I am of the second thought. In my experience, evangelistically motivated youth bands have a strange record. I've seen it work, but for the most part, I've seen it become a disaster. I've seen a lot of youth bands filled with great musicians who lead pretty self-centered, Godless lives. This can only hurt worship, because it creates an attitude among their peers...students in the crowd aren't going to fully trust that worship is a God-motivated issue if the folks leading them are living lives that are God motivated. I prefer to use students on stage who are devout - certainly not perfect - but kids who are most definitely and obviously making God the utmost pursuit of their lives.

Regardless of your approach, discipleship has to be key. If you're leading youth band as outreach, you're going to have to invest a lot of time in teaching and leading by example. If you're running things "ministerally," you're going to have to work hard and making sure your kid stay faithful to their commitment to God as you all delve deeper into what God desires in our praise.

MENTORING
To most, this is considered a "no brainer." The truth is that most every ministry is going to have mentoring as a key component. But for youth bands, I think it's pivotal. Of course, there is musical mentoring...talking about artists, arrangements, different song ideas. But even more important is the idea of investment - that we make a passionate effort to involve ourselves in the lives of the students. That we care about them as people, not just players on our team. In all honesty, this is typically the hardest aspect for me personally. I've always struggled to find the time and opportunity to engage in students' lives in this way. In my experience, my best "youth band leadership" jobs have included positive, intentional, relational mentoring. My worst jobs, of course, have not.

DYNAMICS
Again, this ought to be taught, discusses and modeled in every kind of team, but I can honestly say that teaching students appreciation for and application of dynamic playing is critical to the success of any team. More than learning scales, memorizing charts or filling their iPod with setlists, learning how and when to play is vital. Teaching a team the benefit of thinking sectionally within a "linear" song arrangement is going to grow your musicians by leaps and bounds. Encouraging students to explore their own music - the stuff they dig - for dynamic builds and arragements is a great way to get kids to appreciate what skilled interplay among good musicians can bring to a worship set.
HOMEWORK

To me, these are the four biggies. As I said - this is all opinion - but I do believe there are some essential things that we simply cannot let go when dealing with students in worship.

Personally, I'd like to see more students "moving up" in worship. Because my job now doesn't involve as much student ministry, I can definitely see the giant worship gap in adult teams. I'd love to the be the type of worship leader that trains, enables and encourages teenagers and college students to continue up into the adult team, bringing with them passion, creativity and fun.

We'll hit the "what to leave behind" section in a couple of days, but for now...what do you think? Got some essentials I left out? Disagree with something in my list? Almost everybody who reads worshipnotes has some sort of youth-band experience. Please share!