In all
the worship teachings, ponderings, and musings that I read, I don't
hear much about worship mentoring. I have never been a part of a church
that does this intentionally. The reason for this may be that in the
Nashville area there is such an abundance of good musicians that there
is not a need to recruit young people to help. While it's great to have
good players, I believe we are missing the blessing and a mandate of
raising up the next generation of lead worshipers.

I think there are several reasons why worship leaders avoid working with young people:

1. There's not an immediate payoff.

Most worship
leaders I know are more concerned with this Sunday than 5 years from
now. It's easy to fall into this way of thinking. We want instant
results and Lord knows, working with teenagers is 2 steps forward and 1
step back! Many times in ministry leadership we have the mindset of
"What can this person do to help me and my ministry?" We must change
this to "What I can do to develop this person?"

2. We fall for flash instead of fulfillment.

When
selecting players, everyone wants the guitar player who can mimic all
the tasty licks from the recording, versus the teen who plays
everything with hi-gain distortion :). At the end of the day, nobody's
going to remember the great guitar riff in "Let God Arise", but a you
may direct a young person's destiny by giving them the opportunity to
serve along side you.

3. Nobody wants extra baggage.

Beware! Integrating
young people into your band will cost you. There is a certain amount of
hand-holding that must happen, especially at first. My son Christian,
who plays guitar and is 12, has started helping me when I lead. The
first few times he helped out I had to double check that he packed all
his gear, set up his guitar rig, and help calm his nerves. Now that
he's been doing it awhile, he knows what gear to bring, sets up his own
rig, and is getting more confident with the band.

4. We believe the lie that teens don't want to be involved with adults.


This is so bogus. I hear this argument against older youth pastors or
adults who work with students. I turned 40 this year and my wife and I
both have incredible relationships with a bunch of teens. Nobody cares
that we are old enough to be their parents or that we are not cool. All
they care about is that we care about them enough to invest into their
lives.

5. We feel pressure from the pastor and/or congregation to have a professional sounding band.

Okay, I'm going to try and stay off my soap box, but... I sometimes
think that the church has forgotten why it exists. In visiting some
churches, I get the feeling that the most important thing is how good
their music is. We relegate our young people's service to the youth
service or the once a year "youth Sunday". That sends the message "this
is big church and there's no place for you to help here". If we want
more young people in our church services, how about giving them a place
to serve?

The seed we sow now will yield an abundant harvest in time if we are
faithful to plant and water. So get that spiky haired kid with the
Flying V involved in your ministry. You will change his life and he
will change yours.

Read more great posts like this at the WorshipTogether.com Blog!