Giving youth pastors the tools they need to make and shape disciples.

Getting Past “We Can’t Have Worship, We Don’t Have A Band” Part I

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CDorBand

I have had a worship band, of some kind, in every youth ministry I have served. I did not say they were all good worship bands, but they were bands. Some were better than others. None were worse, or more fun, than the band I led at a small church in Panama City.

I had taken guitar lessons as a teen and then taught myself all the basic chords and strums. I went thought chord books and played every chord in it whether I would ever use it or not. I put together a rag tag group of guys who were all just learning how to play an instrument. We were pretty bad, but you know what? It was worship. It was worship because our hearts were in it and we wanted to lead other to God through it.

Fast forward to today. I was reading some posts on our denom’s FB page and I found where one of our youth pastors was asking about worship and wether we should use a cd or videos. I could totally relate to his frustration because we are in a similar place. Some times your talent pool just graduates, moves on, or “takes a break”, which is fine but it still puts youth pastors in the position of selling a “new idea” of worship to our youth ministries.

If you have had good bands in the past, it’s harder to say (sell the idea of) “We’re going to play some cd’s tonight” or “We’re going to worship along with some videos for a season.” We Pentecostal folks love our lives bands. We love them because they entertain us and sometimes excuse us from entering worship ourselves because some one is doing it for us. But our DYD, Steve Mason, made a great point about using CD’s and videos

Honestly I think having a cd playing can be more effective than a worship band at times. I have a really good bands through the years but have let them take a break at times and used CDs to keep emphasis on what is important…Worshipping Jesus.

Why use CDs?

They are always in tune.

They never give attitude or pre-madonnas.

They are never late.

They sing the song perfect and

You know what you’re getting.

Students need to learn to focus on worshiping Jesus not the people on the stage. Create a culture and set a tone as the leader that says we are purposely and intentionally using CDs instead of “we have to do this”. – sharing “this is why we do this”.. At the beginning will help.

Wise words. It’s time we stopped feeling bad about how we worship and start feeling good about the why we worship. We have a God who loves us, saved us, and leads us to victory and wether we use cd’s, videos, or a live ban, God is worthy of our worship. God will never be insulted by our methods of worship, but he’s always been insulted by our attitude towards worship. Does Cain ring a bell?

I have been working on my own situation for the past 3 months and I’ll share what I have been trying to do tomorrow.

Tell me, do you worship to a live band? CD’s? Videos?

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What do you do with a group who is committed to only one method of worship?

What have you done to turn attitudes around about your methods of worship?

Want more ideas? Check out my Three Part Series on Worshiping Without A Band

 

 

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