Fork In The Road Music

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

Russell Martin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:12:04 +0000

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?

Sunday Setlist 8/29/10

Russell Martin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:10:35 +0000

This Sunday was the first one back after school had begun. It was great to see everyone in worship. We had a full band, with the awaited return of our guitar player. It was also good to have Kerri back singing with us.

It was also one of our better Sundays figuring out our new sound system. Last week the left speaker was cutting out, a loose wire fixed that. We also played with the gate on some of the vocals and did some more EQ on some of the instruments.

Our songs included:

It’s My Joy

Today is the Day

Father Spirit Jesus

Only You

Sing Sing Sing

Awaken our Hearts

Our message was about ”Living Water” from Jeremiah 2:4-13.

So what happened in your worship service? Share it, and read what others are doing on the Worship Community Sunday Setlists

I’m Taking Your Requests

Russell Martin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:15:06 +0000

I asked on my facebook page , if anyone had hymns they would like to hear me record as Instrumental Reflections. I have not done many this summer, but now that school is back, and things are settling down I have time to just sit and play.

The requested songs so far are listed below. I linked those I have already recorded.

Solid Rock

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

It is Well With My Soul

Blessed Assurance

What Wondrous Love is This

Be Thou My Vision

All Things Bright and Beautiful

What songs would you request? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

The Instrumental Reflection page pulls together all of the Instrumental Reflections so far. Be sure and check them out.

Sunday Setlist 08/22/10

Russell Martin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:58:24 +0000

This week was the Sunday before school starts, and is always a big Sunday at our church. We had “Blessing of the Backpacks” and we pray for the kids as the go back to school and give them some small gift, this year a keychain for their backpacks. It was great to have four vocalists and a full band. Special thanks to Jimmy Callicot for filling in on guitar.

The songs we sang were:

In the Light- DC Talk

Days of Elijah- Twila Paris

He Reigns- Newsboys

Never Be the Same- Russell Martin

I Can Only Imagine- Mercy Me

In the Secret- Smithband

So what happened in your worship service? Share it, and read what others are doing on the Worship Community Sunday Setlists

5 Statements That Should Change The Way We Do Communications

Russell Martin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:02:24 +0000

I recently decided to create a separate blog called Simple Church Communications. It comes out of my own learning about church communications, and the needs we have to look for new effective ways to tell our stories. Most recently I wrote about What the “Social Media Revolution” Means for the Methodist Church. Here is the first part of what was said:

The updated “Social Media Revolution” video by Erik Qualman is a fast paced, fact filled, and eye opening. Beginning with the question “Is Social Media a Fad?” it goes on to show, through a variety of statements about current social media use, how social media is here to stay.

Although the video was more intended for businesses, it got me to ask the following question.
What does the “Social Media Revolution” mean for the church? How does it, or should it impact how we do advertisement, outreach, publications, even worship services?
In the video he mentions 42 different statements. I want to look at 5 specific facts, or statements, and see how they can have a huge impact on how we do things.

The five statements that I picked were…

96% of adults under 30 are on a social network

Fastest growing facebook demographic is females 55-65

The second largest search engine is Youtube

78% of people trust friends recommendations, 14% trust advertising

We will no longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media

I believe these 5 statements, when applied to a church setting can have a profound impact on where we spend our time, energy and money in our communication efforts. To read the reasons why, and to check other articles visit simplechurchcommunication.com

Breathe Your Love In Me

Russell Martin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:07:55 +0000

Free Stuff: Song-Breathe Your Love In Me

Splitting My Blog In Two- Simple Church Communication

Russell Martin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:34:17 +0000

You write about what you know. When I started Forkintheroadmusic I was basically just leading worship both in churches and out at camps, and retreats. Since that time I have become increasingly interested in how we as a church communicate. Because of that interest I have taken on some communication responsibilities in our church, and for our district. I have also been asked to lead a few workshops dealing with communication in the church.

For a while I tried to combine both of these topics into this blog. As I have continued to write though I have thought about the fact that even though I have interest in both of these areas, my readers probably do not. Readers of the Fork In The Road blog, which talks about worship leading, youth worship teams and my personal music ministry, do not necessarily want to learn about how to create a website, or the differences between a facebook page, or facebook group.

That is the reason I have started simplechurchcommunication.com. The purpose of the site is to provide a place to ask questions, give answers, and share resources about communication.

Sunday Setlist 08/15/10

Russell Martin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:21:48 +0000

love the fact that we celebrate communion once a month at our church. This was one of those Sundays. Our regular drummer, and guitar players were out for the week so we were honored to have one of our youth band members fill in on drums, and new friend Jimmy Callicot play guitar with us. (He’ll play next week too).

Since we had one of our youth drummers playing we chose songs that both the Youth band and Xperience Band were familiar with. We started out with One Way, then Everlasting God. Pastor Danny Wayman brought the message “Receiving Promises by Faith” based on Hebrews 11:29-12:2.

After the message we had the honor of praying for Stacey Pool on the day she left to teach in Africa. (check out her story on her own blog (discipleofgrace.blogspot.com). We sang Blessed Be Your Name, and then How He Loves for offering. Then it was time for communion. After the elements were consecrated we played Lead Me to the Cross. We finished up with the invitation song You Never Let Go.

So what happened in your worship service? Share it, and read what others are doing on the Worship Community Sunday Setlists

Youth Band: Three Things to Check Before Beginning After Summer Break

Russell Martin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 05:49:11 +0000

Our youth program, like many others, takes on a different schedule for the summer. With all the trips and unusual schedule we found it hard to keep up with our Youth Band over that same period of time. Now summer has come to an end and it’s time to get going again.

You also may be done with the hectic travel of the summer and are beginning to gear up for the school year. So what do get ready for your youth band to start playing again? Here are just a few ideas:

1. Equipment Check- Where did the kick pedal for the drum set go after your last service… 3 months ago? Are the bass strings still good after sitting out the same time? Did the adult praise team return the extra monitor they borrowed? One of the first things to do is to check and make sure that you have everything located and in working order. This is the time to replace strings on church owned instruments, purchase batteries needed for microphones, and to check all cables.

One way is to do this yourself. The other way is to get several of your youth band members together on a day when you will not be rehearsing. Have them sort, check, find and prepare their instruments. The more responsibility they take, the better.

2. Music Check- Where are your folders of music from last year? Are you planning on doing the same songs from last year? What new songs are you wanting to start off with when rehearsals begin? Last year I wrote about the process we use to evaluate our overall song list. It helps us to determine which songs we know we can play immediately, which ones we want to work on, and those that need a well deserved rest.

3. People Check- Two of our vocalists graduated and are heading off to college. Another member has moved away to another town. Now is the time to be thinking about how to replace those members. Whether you have a try out process, or you personally ask students, now is the time to fill those holes. At one church I had two youth bands. One was a learning band, and the other led on a regular basis. When we lost a member in the band, we had a member ready to step up and take their spot.

Does your youth band even take off during the summer? Why or why not?

Read more posts relating to Youth Worship Teams.

Check out my friend Jason Huffman’s thoughts on Youth Worship Bands, including last year’s post about Taking the Summer Off

Fork In The Road Music

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

Sunday Setlist 8/29/10

I’m Taking Your Requests

Sunday Setlist 08/22/10

5 Statements That Should Change The Way We Do Communications

Breathe Your Love In Me

Splitting My Blog In Two- Simple Church Communication

Sunday Setlist 08/15/10

Youth Band: Three Things to Check Before Beginning After Summer Break

Top 5 Post of So Far- Free Backgrounds and Iphone Apps