Fork In The Road Music » youth

5 Posts to Help Your Youth Worship Team

Russell Martin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:50:57 +0000

Our youth band recently led worship for our district camp. One comment I heard several times was how great it was to have youth leading youth in worship. Youth leading youth in worship is one of the things I am most passionate about. I have worked with youth worship bands at three different churches. I have consulted with churches and led workshops on youth led youth worship. I strongly believe that awesome things can happen when adults get out of the way and allow youth to play their hearts out, and be lead worshippers within their group of peers.

Would you like to have a youth worship team as part of your youth group but don’t know where to start? Youth worship is one of the main categories I write about on forkintheroadmusic.org. Here are 5 articles that might be helpful to you?

1. Five Things I Learned When our Youth Band Led a Week of Worship

Our youth worship team got the opportunity to lead 200 of their peers for 5 days at district camp. It was a great experience, and a learning experience for us all. See what we learned.

2. Youth Worship Teams: Be Creative by Not Leading

Right now our youth worship team leads worship almost every week for the youth group. However this wasn’t always the case. There was a time we took almost a year off from leading in any form, to work on things like playing as a group, learning new songs and more.

3. Working with Youth Worship Teams - An Interview with Jason Huffman

When in ministry, it is always good to have others you can ask for help, bounce off ideas and share your thoughts. Jason Huffman is a youth director with many years experience working with youth bands. He has his own blog http://jasonbhuffman.wordpress.com/ where he writes about a variety of subjects, including youth worship and where you can download his e-book “Starting a Youth Worship Band from the Ground Up”.

4. Starting a Youth Worship Team in a Small Church

You may want to have a youth worship team but not know where to start. One challenge you face is finding the musicians and singers you need. The key is to start small and work with what you have. This post talks about ways you can get started, and some tips to take you to the next level.

5. Worshipping Without a Band

Sometimes, no matter how hard you look, you will have times where a youth band is just not going to happen. What do you do then? Here are a few ideas on how to have worship services and experiences, when your own youth worship band is not an option.

There are many more posts about youth worship. Click here to see the archive for the Youth Worship category.

Do you have a question about how to start, or work with a youth worship band? Leave it in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

Youth Group Games: Photo Scavenger Hunt

Russell Martin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:27:08 +0000

We did this photo scavenger hunt with 200 Sr. High youth at our last camp. Here’s how it works.

We made sure each group had a cell phone that could take photos and email them. I made sure they all had my email address.

I gave each of them two sheets of paper. The first had a contact photo sheet with photos of objects around the camp ground. They might be of a fire hydrant, a corner of a sign, or a side of a building. The second sheet had a list of items, poses, and people.

We assigned points. 200 points for each item from the contact sheet they could find and take a photo with their group in front of. 50 points for each item from the list they could include in the photo.

Each team could submit only 15 photos to be judged. They figured out the best way was to combine as many objects in the photo as they could. For instance get a photo of everyone behind the fire hydrant, sitting on yellow chairs, with a musician. 200+50+50=300 pts.

We also told them that there was a bonus for the team who came back at the designated time. We told them the time was somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. This eliminated the need to finish first, and run all over camp, with some fast runners ahead, and leaving others in the group behind.

The Good: When I have done scavenger hunts in the past, the problem usually comes as groups try to race from one clue to the next. Half the group runs ahead, the rest lag behind. By making a designated time to aim for, and weighting it heavy with points, most of our groups returned in that 30 minute window.

The Bad: Though cell phones were not prohibited, some felt that using them for a game encouraged their use more than should be.

How to make the contact sheet: I took about 30 minutes and rode around camp taking photos. I then came back and loaded them into picasa and printed a contact sheet for each group.

How to make the list: Well I have listed our extra items list below. Sort it and edit it to fit the needs of your camp, retreat or youth meeting.

(I created this while at Methodist District Camp at Lakeview in Palestine. If you would like the photos and items selected specifically for this camp just leave a comment and let me know.)

Extra Items List

Your group …

charlies angel pose

laying in a circle with your heads together

set up like opposing football teams

riding imaginary bikes

Spell out “prayer” with your bodies

With a pastor

With someone wearing a green shirt

re-enacting a scene in a disney movie

blowing bubbles

re-enacting a famous painting

standing on one leg

with a watermelon

with a musician (musician must have instrument)

in front of a chapel

On a pier

on the prayer trail

With a live fish

with a live bug

Playing ships and sailors

Playing duck duck goose

in a road

on a sign

Writing your name

With a cafeteria person

Photo with camp staff person

pretend like eating a worm

lined up

photo of a bird

With a gift shop stuffed animal

With a (select a christian artist) CD

All wearing hats

More than 3 people doing hand stands

Make ATT bars logo

sitting in chairs

with a watermelon

sitting in pews

around a musical instrument

under a cross

with destruction behind you

over water

in front rocks

With Camp director

All wearing same colored shirt

All wearing sports team hats

in the woods

in a field

in a four square court

building a pyramid

With a name of a church

sitting in yellow chairs

wearing name tags

with a letter

with a softdrink

reinacting a famous point in history

everyone with a bible

Your group on one facebook photo

Photo of a song

Three “Leading Youth Worship” Guest Posts

Russell Martin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:47:36 +0000

A few years ago I was asked to contribute guest posts to The Worship Community blog. Though I have not posted as often as I would like, I have submitted several articles on leading youth worship teams. Check out the following…

Create a Sustainable Youth Worship Team – One of the greatest challenges I face working with the youth band at our church is having a consistent team from year to year. Find out how…

Engaging Youth in Worship: Give Them Ownership -It is scary to take something as important as worship and turn it over to someone other than yourself, especially a youth. But it could be the best thing you could do, for your youth group and for those individuals. Here area few reasons why.

Engaging Youth in Worship: Opportunities to Respond: We often think of worship as a one way communication. The pastor, worship leader, and song leader speak or sing… we listen or sing along. We need to find ways to help youth be engaged in the worship service, here’s one way.

Looking for more Youth Worship Artciles? Here are some suggestions for further reading.

5 Things I Learned When our Youth Lead a Week of Worship

Naming Your Youth Band

We’re a Traveling Band- 5 Ways We are Better For it

3 Things to Check Before Beginning After Summer Break

Be Creative By Not Leading

Working With Youth Worship Teams – Audio interview with Jason Huffman

The Right Key is One Key to Strong Vocals

Working With Adult and Youth Bands: Use the Same Music

Russell Martin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:08:54 +0000

I have been all over the place in my years as a worship leader when it comes to choosing the music we use. I have spent countless hours writing out praise charts. I used packaged material like S.P.I.N. which combines chord charts, rehearsal CDs and powerpoint slides. I have bought song books, chord books and scoured the internet for tabs and chords.

Working with adult and youth worship teams, I have decided that it doesn’t matter so much how you get your songs, but use the same versions with each. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Organization- When you have several versions, from several sources, of different songs it makes it hard to keep track of which song is used with which group.

2. Mentoring- When you use the same versions of songs, it makes a learning partnership possible. I can have my keyboard player from the adult team work with our keyboard players from the youth team and they are both working from the same reference music.

3. Fill In- From time to time members of our Sunday morning team are out of town. Since we use the same versions of the songs for our youth band it makes it easy to have one fill in when needed without having to learn all new songs.

I will note that we do not do all of the same songs with both groups, however we have enough overlap that it works most of the time.

So how about your groups.. Do you use the same music? What resources do you use?

Naming Your Youth Band

Russell Martin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:29:13 +0000

For 4 years now I have been leading our Youth Worship team at the church, and for 4 years we have been nameless. This has not really been an issue for a while, except we are now getting requests to come play for different groups, camps, retreats, etc.. and we really are needing a name.

I suggested Williams Youth Band, but that didn’t take flight.

So I ask you. Does your youth band have a name? How did you come up with it? What are some names you would suggest?

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?

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

So You’re Leading Worship for Church Camp?- My Packing List

Russell Martin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:26:13 +0000

When you head off to camp it’s a good idea to have a list of items you will be needing. This will help to solve two problems.

1. You can make sure and take everything with you that you might need to camp

2. You can make sure and take everything home that you brought with you.

So what I decided to do was just to share my list based on my needs as a worship/program leader at camp.

Read through and then let me know what you would add to the list.

Here is my list:

Guitar- Strings, Picks, Extra Guitar, Amp, Cable

Keyboard- Stand, Pedal, Stool, Cable, Power Cord, Music Stands

Sound System- Microphones, Mic Cords, Instrument Cords, Mic Stands, Sound board, Speakers, Amps, Speaker Stands,

Projection- Computer, Projector, Monitor Cable, Power Cords, Printer, Correct Software, Screen

Other- Digital Camera, Video Camera, SD Cards, Batteries, Chargers, Wireless Router, Assortment of Cords, Extension Cords, Power Strips

Cabin- Sheets, Sleeping Bag, Pillow, Toiletries, Clothes, Extra Clothes, Shoes, Sunscreen, Sunglasses, Hat, Bath Mat, Fan, Towels, Alarm Clock/Radio, Phone Charger, Power Strip,

Fun- Baseball Glove, Frisbee, Disc Golf Discs, Fishing Tackle and Rod, Bocce Ball, Horse Shoes, Cards, Dominoes

What would you add?

Youth Worship Teams: Be Creative by Not Leading?

Russell Martin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:35:55 +0000

This past year our schedule for youth has changed, and our youth band is not leading worship for the youth as often as we once had. This has given me a great opportunity to try something new. Being Creative!

Since we do not have the schedule of having to work up songs for the next week, we now use our weekly rehearsals to work on a variety of things.

1. Work on Solo Songs- It’s been great to work on some songs that we would not necessarily use to lead worship, but could use in services sometime. These also would be great when our group goes outside of the church to play. Maybe it’s something by Switchfoot, Jars, or Fee the kids have heard and brought in.

2. Try Out New Songs- The youth have had a blast just bringing in music to try. We’ll listen to it and play through it a few times. Sometimes we like it and put it in a folder to work on later. Sometimes we say Nahh!! and move on.

3. Test New Styles of Songs- With this freedom we have also been able to try different styles, instrumentations, arrangements etc… Maybe its a style we don’t normally play, or even switching up instruments to try something different.

What do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

The Importance of Teaching

Russell Martin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:23:22 +0000

When working with my youth worship team I often find myself emphasizing rehearsing the songs. After all, we generally have one event or another to prepare for so that means creating a songlist, and working up that music to perform or lead with.
I have realized, however, that there is a huge benefit to teaching, and not just rehearsing. When I first started to teach guitar lessons I told myself that I wanted my students to learn why a chord was what it was, what the names of the notes they were paying etc… Instead of just “play this chord”
I believed by teaching them how to learn to play guitar, then they could continue to learn whether I was teaching them or not.
The same thing should be true for worship teams. We should work with them to teach the basics of chord structures, rhythms, balance, tone, song structure, etc… So that they begin to recognize these things.
What’s cool is that when your group starts to learn these things, they begin to play musically together. You don’t have to explain every part of every song, but they begin to feel it.
For us this has resulted in more productive rehearsals, and more enjoyable ones too.
So what basic lessons would you teach a beginning praise band?