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We’re a Traveling Youth Band, 5 Ways We are Better For It

I have been working with our youth worship team for a little over 4 years now. In that time we have mostly played for our own youth evening programs and a few Sunday Mornings. This past summer that began to change. In June we had a District Youth Week. Several churches volunteered to sponsor a night of youth week by planning an activity, meal etc, but we also wanted to make sure worship was a part of each night. Since most of the participating churches did not have a youth worship team, they asked if our team could play.

Our team did play, did a great job, and I noticed that the act of playing outside our walls forced us to get better in different ways.

1. Efficient Setup- During the youth week we basically had about 30 minutes after arrival to get set up, sound check and be ready. Now I will not pretend that the set up was perfect, sound system dialed in, but we were able to play, hear ou selves and be heard. The team worked together to make sure that all the cords went into the right slots, the instruments got set up in the right place, and that we were ready to go.

2. Song Selection- When we were not playing often we would rehearse any number of songs. When we started playing for other groups we quickly took our list of 30 songs we could do and narrowed it down to about 15 songs we do well. This gave us enough to lead a few days of services without repeating too many, but without introducing too many new ones either.

3. More Involvement- When we began to travel we found that more people became involved in the youth band. We had the same number of singers and instrumentalist, but suddenly extra ways for youth to become involved began to surface. One of our girls took the responsibility to make slides for the screens. A few youth helped with set up and tear down.

4. Growing Together-Finally I think that playing outside our walls has helped our group to grow closer together. Long drives in close quarters, the stress of setting up and tearing down, having to make choices as a group of songs etc, all have allowed opportunities for our kids to learn how to work as a team, and grow closer as a team.
5. Sense of Accomplishment and Confidence-When I come to the band and tell them that we’ve been asked to play somewhere special you can see their eyes light up. Playing for others gives them a chance to receive words of encouragement from someone else besides me. I know they do a great job, and I try to tell them often, but it’s different when it comes from someone they don’t know, or just met.
Does your youth worship team play outside your church walls? What benefits have you seen?

 

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  4. Working With Youth Worship Bands: Back to Basics
  5. Working With Youth Bands: Point and Play

About the Author

Russell is worship leader and communications director at Williams Memorial United Methodist Church. He is married to his wonderful wife and has 4. He writes about music, worship, and communication on his blog, fork in the road music. He and his wife also blog about their adoption process, to family and friends informed, and to encourage others in their own adoption journey.

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  1. [...] we have led music for some one time events like youth rallies, this was the first time for us to be in the same location leading several times per day, five days [...]

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