Cultivating New Worship Leaders
Everybody understands that in order to improve upon the future, those that affect the future are the ones that need to be invested in. It is the same for those that are in and wish to enter the worship ministry. We need to have an understanding that what we do today and how we invest in the young worship leaders and pastors will affect the future of worship leadership.
Recruiting and Investing
One of the first things that needs to happen in order to affect future worship leaders is to have a person or team to invest in. Before I have someone go through the audition process I always try to establish a connection with the individuals that want to be a part of the worship team. Many of people at the church that I lead at will fill out a connection card dictating that they would like to be a part of the team. When I get their contact info, I always reach out to them and ask them to go to lunch. From there, I get to know the person. Hobbies, interests, musical tastes, favorite things — these are all things I ask to establish rapport with them. During this time, I’ll also ask about their faith story and how they came to be a believer in Christ. After I’ve helped them feel comfortable, the audition process allows me to assess skill. Once that is done, and they have joined the worship team, I can begin to investing in them spiritually and musically. YouTube videos, podcasts, books are all efficient tools that can be used to help invest into a musician that is a part of the worship team.
Youth Worship
Dealing with younger musicians has more challenges because of the age and lack of mobility, especially the kids younger the 16. At the church that I serve, we do host auditions but the bulk of those that are on the worship team are by word of mouth. I hear that a certain student has a really good voice so I go and talk to that student and build rapport with them all while encouraging them to try out. I’ve found that in most youth ministries, there are a lot of hidden gems, and just like any gem, they must be searched for and found.
While it is more challenging dealing with youth worship students, there are a lot of positive aspects to investing in the youth. One example of a positive aspect is that , because they are naturally in a phase of development, it is easier to help mold and shape them into them into a worship leader that is theologically strong with a firm foundation in their faith.
Another positive is that a majority of the time, the parents will be very excited to see their child serving the the church. Because of this, not only does the child have encouragement to improve while in rehearsals, services, and worship parties, but you will also have the help of the parents at home to continue to encourage the student to practice and improve.
Engaging Resources
With the internet giving us access to literally millions of resources for musicians, it’s hard to know where to start when trying to invest. We as investors in future worship leaders, especially for those in youth (cause we all know they need some help finding motivation sometimes) need to know how to curate through all the resources and find the ones that will help. For some, reading an article about guitar pedals and making a pedal board will be beneficial. For others, maybe reading seems like a bore so they would prefer a podcast where they can listen to and from work. Other people may prefer watching videos of someone explaining how to find the perfect sound for drums in worship therefore preferring watching video after video on how to get the right tuning and the perfect sizes. All of this is to emphasize the fact, that different people have different preferences when being invested in, and knowing the best way to provide them engaging resources will help save you and the team time.
