Last September, I took over my church's Intermediate School Praise Band (6th - 8th graders). As you may know, Baptists are big on music.

We had been doing it wrong, IMHO. The guy that had been leading it was a great guy, but his idea of a Praise Band was him on guitar and vocals, two other adults on guitars, and everyone else filling in. He tended to choose slow-to-mid-tempo songs, too.

When I took it over, I decided that no adults could be onstage. Everything had to be played and sung by the kids. Also, we were going to go much more up-tempo.

It was rocky at first. But the kids got it together and now, I cannot overstate how great they are!

My band consists of: 1 guitarist (7th grade); 1 bassist (8th grade, but currently on parent suspension so I have to play bass); 1 drummer (7th grade); 2 keyboard players (8th graders); and 8 singers (all grades). Trying to find parts for 8 singers ain't easy!

Our song selection is...COOL!. I decided that we would take popular/classic songs and praise-up the lyrics. For some songs, that hasn't been hard. For others, we had to completely re-write the lyrics. Here's our current song list:

Raise Your Hand (Bruce Springsteen)
Mercy (Duffy)
Shine (Collective Soul)
Shine (The Newsboys, a different but totally kick-ass song)
Guitar (Prince)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group)
El Shaddai (Amy Grant)
We Won't Be Quiet (David Crowder Band, a Christian Band)
There Is No One Like You (David Crowder Band)

I'm thinking of adding The Cross, 4 the Tears in Your Eyes, and especially One of Us. Our Youth Pastor said, and I quote, "The more Prince, the better!"

We did "Guitar" last week, although we call it "My God". My little 7th-grade guitarist TORE IT UP! The lead riff is simple, but he also played the first solo, pretty much note-for-note. I felt just like Jack Black!

I wish I could post their stuff, but I don't think that's a good idea given they are kids. But I am so proud of them that I wanted to say something to the world about them.

They rock!

P.S.: Mods, please leave this in GD, as this is not a thread about a published band or anything like that. Thanks!
[Edited 2/17/09 7:05am]

Congrats and godspeed, bro.

Gotta love a man who can successfully employ songs by Prince and the Cure in a worship service!

Lammastide said:

LOL, thanks but I screwed up. I meant "Collective Soul" not the Cure. I knew it began with a "C", though!

RodeoSchro said:

that's really cool rodeo! how has the switch gone over with the congregation?
what about with the former leader dude? people can be kind of possessive about stuff like that.

hey maybe just hold the camera at the alter or something and let us hear their work?

awesome!

I LOVE it!

That's wonderful.

PRAISE THE LAWD!!! Seriously though, congrats!

emm said:

They open up the 9:30 intermediate school class, not the main service. However, we have two main services - a traditional one at 9:30; and a contemporary service (read: concert) at 11:00. I'm not sure that we couldn't carry a contemporary service.

Our audience of 6th - 8th graders is not very awake at 9:30. We used to play at 11:00, and everyone rocked out. But at 9:30, the kids are still mostly asleep. However, last Sunday when we did our version of "Guitar", I saw a LOT of dancing.

The former leader is cool with everything. His son has moved on to high school, so he was ready to move on, too.

I'm thinking about making an audio recording. We'll see.

If we had this much music in my church I probably would've kept on going.....

You do important work. Awesome!!!!

Speaking as a person who spent most of his childhood in the church, I wish I had a praise band leader like you. Keep it up!

that's cool!

something i miss about going to church in brazil was the music! the people there really knew how to rock at church!
[Edited 2/17/09 15:26pm]

Congrats! Sounds good.

Maybe you could post the audio only so we can hear?

that's awesome

May God continue to bless you and your ministry of music.