What Are We Leaving Behind?

The book, Worship Foundry, is complete! I will make final corrections, graphs and proper reference notes before handing the document over to another who will format and ready the book for the electronic download and paper editions. 

I offer here a portion of my final chapter, one that may very well be the most important in the book. I'm excited that soon you will be able to own a complete, organized version of all the teachings I've shared here in this blog over the years! I'll be offering it for sale (maybe even as a free, limited-time digital download on Amazon.com) very soon.  

Even though writing a book is daunting, it has given me hope of the possibility that there may be other books in the days and years ahead. Thanks so much for reading...come back often!

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Since becoming a Christian decades ago, I have always sensed God's call to help others. Nothing energizes me more than helping young people connect with their life purpose and to see them flourish in their relationship with the Lord!

Because I am a teacher, a professional musician since the age of thirteen, and my passion for music, worship, songwriting, and all-things-guitar is burning bright as ever, I tend to find myself drawn to help people who are talented, yet humble--willing to learn, and hungry to grow as Christians and musicians. Living near Nashville, Tennessee, I see many people migrate here to pursue their dream of making it big in the industry. But I tend to stay away from folks who's ambition is to simply “make it big” or to “become a star” because I've seen those self-centered dreams crash to the ground and break into a million pieces. They eventually wander back to where they came from. Rather, what I'm drawn to is the talented person with the desire to become the best Christ-follower, musician and leader they can be.

I was taught early on in my Christian training to leave a legacy—to train others and to help perpetuate the skills I've learned through teaching new generations of ministers, musicians, artists and leaders. This reminds me of the merchant and craft guilds of the Middle Ages. Back then, craftsmen were trained over several years, starting as an apprentice, working for free under a master craftsman for between 5-9 years. They would then advance to the paid-position of journeyman, continuing to work under the master. One day, they would attain master status themselves, when they could open up their own shop and train apprentices, and the generational process started over. This system of training helped pass down skills, discipline, excellence and quality to new generations, and effectively helped maintain a standard of quality for goods and services, benefitting the Medieval consumer.

College and seminary worship programs are necessary, but we must begin to train future ministers and musicians as early in life as possible. Why can't we have training centers in the local church for young people and new converts, where they can be tutored by “master craftsmen” to be released into the world as top-notch ministers and musicians...even before they go to college and seminary? I believe the church has attempted this, but I think we are intimidated by the enormity of the proposition. Still, it's up to the local church to meet the challenge and rise to the task.

There are three general ways to train potential worship musicians and ministers in the church.

1. In a hand-picked, one-on-one mentoring relationship
2. As a hand-picked group of students, in an ongoing, open-ended basis
3. In a general classroom format, open to everyone, on a semester-basis

Mentoring

I thank God for the mentors that came into my life and helped train me for the ministry. I have been guided, molded and counseled by some of the greatest musicians, songwriters and ministers in the world.

I am grateful for people like Mary Lewis who, back in 1976, reached out to me and invited me to play guitar for the youth choir when I was a new believer (and very rough around the edges). I am grateful for Stan Morse, arranger-extraordinaire for American Entertainment Productions, who believed in me and told me so by whispering in my ear during rehearsal one day: “You're good; you're gonna make it in music one day!” As a fledgeling songwriter and a young minister of music in a small Mobile, Alabama, church, the piano player, Nancy Gordon, unselfishly invited me to write with her after I recognized her name as the author of a song the choir was rehearsing. Her invitation opened doors to the folks at Integrity Music, where I would one day become an exclusive song writer. I thank God for Gerrit Gustafson, who sat with me, critiqued my songs, and wrote a check to help me purchase the multi-track cassette recorder on which the demo for “Ancient of Days” was recorded.

These were unselfish acts of Godly people who saw potential in me as a writer, musician and minister. I want to bring the same blessing to some unsuspecting young person who crosses my path, to spend time helping them meet their goals and aspirations.

When we recognize persons of exceptional ability and potential, we might be the very person God wants to use to help them in their formative process. Be wise, though, in choosing a candidate because one-on-one discipleship—whether it is spiritual in nature or for technical training—is best suited between persons of the same gender. This cannot be over stated. There may not be a temptation to cross a professional line, but it's important to never project the appearance of impropriety, or give anyone an opportunity to misinterpret the relationship. Therefore, it's best for guys to disciple guys, and girls to disciple girls.

Pray about a candidate first, then invite this person to talk about their future—what they want to accomplish through their gifts and abilities. Then, if they are willing, help create a plan of action with goals and directives, with built-in periodic evaluations as to their progress. Give the disciple an opportunity to “shadow” either you or a person on your team—so they can get hands-on experience in their field. This student/teacher mentoring can last as long as both parties determine.

Group of Hand-Picked Students

This process can a very effective and efficient use of your time as a teacher. The training is much like the one-on-one process of discipleship just mentioned, with goal setting, evaluation, and hands-on training. These students can be gleaned from those who rise to the top of a general classroom format of training.

I want to spend the remainder of this section on leaving a legacy to lay out the structure of a student ministry-based music and worship program I started several years ago.

Worship Foundry

As a teacher, songwriter and musician, I spent a significant amount of the 1990s teaching classes on worship in conferences held in the States and all over the world. During that time, many churches in Asia, and other continents of the world, were making great strides in adopting a modern worship approach to their music programs. Companies like Integrity Music and Maranatha! Music rose to meet the need and sent teachers like myself all over the globe as “musicianaries.” Language barriers didn't stop us as we were given translators for all of our classes.

I remember thinking that this type of training doesn't need to be limited to a one-and-done regional conference that happens every year or so in someone else's church. This could be accomplished on a week-to-week, ongoing basis in my own home church. In other words, I asked myself: Why can't we have our own school of worship here in the town where I live? (This was in 2001, two years before the School of Rock movie came out). A big barrier to this idea for a local music school was organization. I felt it was important to administer the program to suit the church I was serving, to be self-supporting, and to bring on teachers who were considered "masters" at their craft. A tall order, indeed!

So many people are intimidated by ideas like this. I certainly was at first. But a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step! I talked with the pastor over the next several months and we decided to start what was to be called Worship Foundry when school resumed after the summer break. In the course of two semesters, we enrolled dozens of students. Many of the kids that were in the program have since made the leap into full-time ministry, and are still playing, singing and leading in churches all over the nation. I later served a church where I implemented this program again, and it was even more fruitful and successful than the previous one.

Here's a breakdown of the Worship Foundry program:

1. Class offerings were chosen (guitar 1 & 2, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals and tech) and teachers were asked to commit to at least one semester--to teach for an hour per week
2. Tuition was established at $5 per week for each student, and there were scholarships available so that no student would be left out
3. Accounting was to be done through the church, and each teacher was to receive a monthly check as an independent contractor. Most classes had at least 10 students the first semester
4. It was to be open to everyone, regardless of ability, and students were asked to pay tuition each week
5. The Sunday evening program was to begin with 10-minutes of big-group worship, then students were  to be dismissed to their breakout classrooms
6. Sensitivity was given to other church events to avoid conflicts with the church calendar. The schedule was determined before the program commenced, so families could make personal plans
7. Each teacher was required to develop their own lessons and to submit a teaching plan. It was necessary that they be endorsed by the pastoral staff, along with being cleared to work with children, using appropriate background checks
8. At the conclusion of the semester, the number had grown beyond the 50 that started on the first week
9. Plans were made to expand classes when the second semester started
10. When implementing Worship Foundry at a second church, Fender Musical Instruments provided electric and acoustic guitars, basses and amps, along with accessories for the students to use during the teaching sessions at the church

In the second semester, the new church moved the time slot for Worship Foundry to one that wasn't conducive to the schedule of many of the students. In order for the program to function properly it's important to find the optimal time in the student's schedule in order for them to participate. In this particular case, Sunday afternoon at 3PM just didn't work for all involved.

For the two years that Worship Foundry operated, it was an incredible success. I look forward to helping others create a unique opportunity to serve their local churches with a teaching program like the Foundry.

It wasn't perfect, but Worship Foundry proved that a comprehensive worship and music program can be launched and maintained in a small church. There are areas that will need to be customized for churches, most likely in the way of funding and payout for teachers. I chose to let students pay a weekly tuition fee. This created a dual commitment between the teacher and student. You may choose to offer a program free of charge with a volunteer teaching staff. Either way, the important thing is to raise up a new generation of worship singers, musicians and technicians to then be graduated into the adult program, over time. The apprentice form of training can prove to be an effective method in equipping young people in the church, especially in the area of music and worship,

 Even if the Lord tarries, people are still going to be gathering each week in churches or living rooms to sing songs of praise to God a hundred years, even a thousand years from now. They, too, will require strong leadership. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each successive generation to train up the next generation of Christ-followers to serve the Body of Christ.

Though musical styles come and go, and technologies continue to evolve, the need for strong, undaunted, God-fearing leadership will remain the most important human ingredient in a growing church. I hope that what I've sown here in these posts over the last three years will reap a bountiful harvest in the hearts of Godly leaders, who will place the glory of God above personal gain, and service to others over selfish pleasure.