Youth worship...

[hoonah*]

It's been a while since I have dropped in here!

To start off...I am a singer on my youth Praise team/band. I've noticed here lately that the set we've been playing are really not...how do I put it...not really youth worship sets. Last night, we started off with "I could sing of your love forever." Now, mind you...there is nothing wrong with that song...but if you walked into a youth sanctuary with electric instruments all on stage, stage lighting, projector screens, the works...would you expect for the worship team on stage, composed entirely of students, except for the lead singer, to begin with that and move on to equally tame worship songs?
I really think that we need to step up a little.

The worship band that led before us[the singer got a job as a mananger and couldn't make Wed. nights anymore, and the rest of the band kind of fell apart after that] played plenty of stuff that would really get us going...clapping...etc. before moving into slower worship songs. It really did draw us from enthusiastic praise into heartful worship. And it was all stuff that our youth group enjoys listening to.

I was curious to know...what bands do you guys really feel would be fitting to youth worship? Hillsong United, David Crowder...things that teenagers like.

Thanks for any input...I am still praying about this...and we are having a two hour band meeting tonight...hopefully this subject will come up and we can discuss it.

[RevZeek]

I really like Hillsongs United. Songs like Now that You're near, King of Majesty, Everyday.

I've been playing David Crowder's You are my joy...

[clemsontigers23]

Kutless "Strong Tower" would be a really good song to play if you want to rock out a little.

I've always like Sonicflood's "I Want to Know You" and "Open the Eyes of My Heart" too. Chris Tomlin "Holy Is the Lord", Jeremy Camp "Here I Am to Worship", plus there's plenty of Third Day songs that you could play.

I'm trying to throw out songs we sang at chapel at the Christian school I went to...there's plenty of good ones out there, though. I noticed those got the most response and were easiest to worship with.

[ExtravagantlyLoved]

"The Happy Song" by Delirious? is a really good one to get everybody going. I can't help but dance when I hear it. And "So Good to Me" by Darrel Evans is another good one. Very energetic. And "No One Like You" by David Crowder Band would be great also.

[Kasie_89]

I really like "Dead Man" by Jars of Clay and "Forever and ever etc." by David Crowder band.

[Someone]

I'm a huge fan of Lincoln Brewster's songs, especially off his All to You...Live album. There are some great louder songs (Majestic, Love the Lord, You are Good, Let the Praises Ring, All to You), and some amazing softer songs (Surrender, Amazed, Hallelujah, Son of God, etc.). The group I play with at church does probably half the songs on the album on a fairly regular basis.

Other then that though, Chris Tomlin has some great upbeat songs as listed above (the album Arriving has a lot of great ones). Paul Baloche also has some solid songs. Check his live album "A Greater Song" for pretty much all his best ones.

[clemsontigers23]

I'm a huge fan of Lincoln Brewster's songs, especially off his All to You...Live album. There are some great louder songs (Majestic, Love the Lord, You are Good, Let the Praises Ring, All to You), and some amazing softer songs (Surrender, Amazed, Hallelujah, Son of God, etc.). The group I play with at church does probably half the songs on the album on a fairly regular basis.

Other then that though, Chris Tomlin has some great upbeat songs as listed above (the album Arriving has a lot of great ones). Paul Baloche also has some solid songs. Check his live album "A Greater Song" for pretty much all his best ones.

I was going to say Lincoln Brewster, but it depends how talented the guitar player is...Lincoln Brewster is an amazing guitarist and All to You can be a tough song to play. My favorite song by him is "Everybody Praise the Lord".

Chris Tomlin is the king of worship music at the moment so he's always a good choice.

[Sharon]

........... and what about doing your own "stepped up" versions of the classics?

Ever hear "Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour" done as a blues tune? I've done it and it works!!

[JTindle]

........... and what about doing your own "stepped up" versions of the classics?

Ever hear "Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour" done as a blues tune? I've done it and it works!!

Hey Sharon,

Sounds pretty cool, do you know where I could listen to that?

Thanks

Jeff

[truster]

Both Hillsong and Hillsong United have very good upbeat songs. "All of the Above" is a really good cd, and "Mighty to Save" is good, too. Hillsong Live also has a new cd out in Australia, and it should be releasing in the US pretty soon... it's called "Saviour King". I watched some clips from the DVD on youtube, and just from that, it sounds phenomenal.

David Crowder Band has some very good, but hard, upbeat stuff.

Shane and Shane have some good upbeat songs, and they're all extremely Scripturally based. Problem is, they're really acoustic driven, and they both have really high voices, and most people can't sing as high as they do, so you might have to transpose it.

[Les_Is_More]

Tree63 has some good upbeat songs: No Other, Treasure, Lift, Look What You've Done

[iLoVeJeSuS23]

mercyme has a new song called "bring the rain"... its amazing

[RevZeek]

We did "Now that You're near" this morning and it was rockin!

[iLoVeJeSuS23]

omg any songs from Hillsong work amazing

[E. Blues Gomer]

In the past we've done some 3D, Tree 63, Crowder, and Jeremy Camp and threw in some that made you think (secular) songs... My personal belief is that a record label or artist shouldn't determine when and where a song should be played, If you can find the right message in it, hey it's fair game.

[JTindle]

Sunday morning we played, How Great is Our God and All Bow Down by Chris Tomlin, O Praise Him by David Crowder and All Who Are Thirsty by Kutless.

Jeff

[Torie Snow]

I know from the reaction at our church that Any one of "Desperations" songs
are awesome for teens to worship to( since i'm a teenager too.)They really help you see everything in the right prespective and God as the most important thing in life.


A few of tobymac's songs would be a great addition to any worship set,though alittle more challenging.

And i think that Todd Agnew's version of amazing grace "grace like rain" is almost essential.


And you can't forget Aaron Shust! If you don't know his music i really recommend that you get his cd "anything worth saying" and just listen to the whole thing through.it's an awesome cd.


Last but not least!Think about using"Glory revealed" in your set.It's so cool how they used scripture as lyrics.It is also a great help in memorizing those encouraging verses. The tabs for those are pretty simple too.

Hope i gave you some ideas.:D

[Unstereotypical]

Try some early U2, or Deliriou5?, or some SonicFlood.

If you really want to get into it, try some recent BRIDE and some Disciple or Living Sacrifice.

[Someone]

I was going to say Lincoln Brewster, but it depends how talented the guitar player is...Lincoln Brewster is an amazing guitarist and All to You can be a tough song to play. My favorite song by him is "Everybody Praise the Lord".

Chris Tomlin is the king of worship music at the moment so he's always a good choice.

You don't have to do all the technical stuff he does though. Just look on youtube for some examples - plenty of people have found ways to simplify his trickier guitar parts and yet still sound good.

[rockin' for One]

You could ask some of the band members that are in the youth group what might be some good songs! I'm the band leader for the youth group at my church in MI. We do a lot of Hillsong United. Just this last service the set list looked something like this:

1. One Way
2. All Day
3. Revelation Song
4. Fire Fall Down
5. Who You Are

We are getting ready to learn some more songs, just to name a few..Mighty To Save, Take It All, None But Jesus, Indescribable, Strong Tower, He Reigns, Communion, Mountain of God, Give. Most of these songs the band has mostly learned already, we just need to get together with the vocalists.

Hope these help!

[dmock66]

I play in a worship band at the Sunday morning services and lead the youth worship band at my church. Here's some of the stuff the youth band plays:

Joy - Tree63
Blessed Be Your Name - Newsboys/Tree63
He Reigns - Newsboys
Open The Eyes Of My Heart - Sonicflood
No One Like You - David Crowder
Rooftops - Desperation
I Am Free - the Desperation/Michael Gungor Band version
I Walk By Faith - ???
Rise Up And Praise Him - ???
Everyday - Lincoln Brewster
Love The Lord - Lincoln Brewster
You Are Good - Lincoln Brewster
Let It Rise - ??? (Big Daddy Weave recently covered this)

Our typical service would be 5 songs that rock - then our youth director will give a talk/message - then the band will come back and play a slower song, then we'll finish with something that cooks.

Slower songs are:

Amazed
Here I Am To Worship
How Great Is Our God
Heart Of Worship

Stuff we've got on the horizon are:

Better Is One Day - Kutless
Strong Tower - Kutless
Jesus Freak - dcTalk

Hope that helps...

[Sharon]

Side note .............

I'm 41 and I still like to "bang my head" in worship!! You're just as likely to see me in the mosh pit! My point is this ..... I never did understand why the distinction between "youth worship" and "adult". Worship is worship. (IMHO)

Is it just me?

[clemsontigers23]

Side note .............

I'm 41 and I still like to "bang my head" in worship!! You're just as likely to see me in the mosh pit! My point is this ..... I never did understand why the distinction between "youth worship" and "adult". Worship is worship. (IMHO)

Is it just me?

Honestly, I don't think there's anything worship-like about mosh pits. I remember when a band called Project 86 went to Purple Door Festival and had the people in the audience start throwing mud and there ended up being somewhere around $3,000 in damage done. There's a line that needs to be drawn. I like some of the hard stuff, I just don't think anyone can really worship to it.

[Sharon]

Honestly, I don't think there's anything worship-like about mosh pits. I remember when a band called Project 86 went to Purple Door Festival and had the people in the audience start throwing mud and there ended up being somewhere around $3,000 in damage done. There's a line that needs to be drawn. I like some of the hard stuff, I just don't think anyone can really worship to it.


I didn't mean it that way .... I was just making the point that I still like that style of music.

But I do like the "rock" worship more than the "muzac" worship styles ..... there's a place for everything and everything has its place. It's just a matter of personal taste.

[SGRocker]

Honestly, I don't think there's anything worship-like about mosh pits. I remember when a band called Project 86 went to Purple Door Festival and had the people in the audience start throwing mud and there ended up being somewhere around $3,000 in damage done. There's a line that needs to be drawn. I like some of the hard stuff, I just don't think anyone can really worship to it.

Don't anybody take this in a bad way, but the flip side is also true. Boring, uninspired songs hiding under the pretense of "worship music" is copping out. Just because the song has words positive, spiritual-sounding lyrics with lots of God's, Jesus's, and religious cliches doesn't make it good worship song. Thats what I think anyway.

Just thought I'd stir up the pot of healthy discussion.

SG

[clemsontigers23]

I didn't mean it that way .... I was just making the point that I still like that style of music.

But I do like the "rock" worship more than the "muzac" worship styles ..... there's a place for everything and everything has its place. It's just a matter of personal taste.

Yeah, I'm not at all a fan of classical music and I'm not a huge fan of basic hymns. I definitely prefer the contemporary worship, like Chris Tomlin, Third Day, and Jeremy Camp. Jeremy Camp's pretty easy to worship to and it's pretty passionate the worship that happens at his concerts. Same with Third Day. A band like Skillet is amazing in concert, but impossible to worship to with the style of music they play.

I think me and you agree though. ;)

[ExtravagantlyLoved]

Somebody's mentioned "All Bow Down" by Chris Tomlin. We're doing that one this Sunday. The other upbeat song we're going to do is "Promises" by Jared Anderson....at least I think it's him...anyway, it's a really good song.

[faithingod]

just because it sounds new or electric dosent subtract from the reason youre sining! thats all inside you! i listen to secular music and think of god so yeah ion my mind its all in you rmind what determines worshiup or just music!

[Calex]

we play a lot of Hillsong United.... but have you guys ever looked at anything from the new Parachute Band, or Planet Shakers?

or...

you could just go and write your own stuff.

here is a link to our relatively new CD/DVD that our PW team did with all original tunes written by our team members.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwM1hz2UEuc

anything is possible if you put god and your heart into it!

[DanGross]

Being old enough to be a father to a teenager I can't say what would definitely work. BUt if you're looking for worship music (as opposed to "just" Christian Rock) with energy, I'd echo some of the above suggestions. I'd also point you in the direction of Tim Hughes, Darrell Evans (some of his stuff has been mentioned, but there's also songs like "Trading My Sorrows" and "Fields of Grace" (the Big Daddy Weave's version is all right, but listen to his version sometime)) and Steve Fee.

[Sam!]

Honestly, while musical style is important, there are other much more important factors. For example, songs that use "I" a lot - well, that's awfully personal for a group of peopel to be singing. Chances are, not everybody in the group genuinely feels the way the songwriter wrote the song. Does the song expound good theology? I heard a song the other day that said somethign like "when this darkness passes on, then I"ll praise you O Lord" ... Um... God is worthy of praise at ALL times, not just when things are going well. Do the words have any depth to them? Do they teach something? Do they truly praise God? At the end of the day,t he style has to make it conducive to worship and to inviting people in but remember that worship is about participating in something that is going on all the time... God is not just the object or hearer of our worship, but He is also the one helping us to worship.

A lot more should go into picking songs than just "will teens like it?" Much better to adapt the style of a good song with "old" music than to just take a song that already has a certain sound to it.

[Jason]

"when this darkness passes on, then I"ll praise you O Lord"

ACK! :mad:

I prefer my lyric:

I've stood in the pouring rain
I've been knocked to the ground
I have fought and still lost
But I will praise you ... here and now