TBC Student Worship Camp trains teens musically, spiritually

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College welcomed more than 75 students to campus for the fourth annual TBC Student Worship Camp, held June 2-5, providing campers an opportunity to learn from faculty, alumni, and students of the School of Church Music and Worship.

Joe Crider, dean of the SCMW, told students that one of the goals of the camp, “is that the Lord, by His Spirit, does something in each of your lives. That this is a time for you to set aside and to really seek the Lord, and to listen to His voice through all the activities and all the things that are going to happen. … I pray that by the end of this week you’ll have a sign, a marker in your lives, that you’ll be able to put a stake in the ground and say, ‘You know what, something happened to my mind and my heart at camp on Seminary Hill.’”

Marc Brown, assistant professor of church music and worship, served as the camp director and said he sees the camp as a way to partner with and support churches as they raise up worship leaders in their own congregations.

“At TBC and Southwestern, we have designed our own unique camp experience with one thing in mind – training up the next generation of worship leaders,” Brown said. “Most SBC churches have a midweek meeting for their youth group or student ministry. Many of those churches also have a few students who faithfully serve as the worship leaders. Their student pastor or group leaders often struggle for ways to mentor and train those students in their ministry role. We get to help fill that gap.”

Tamiera Jackson of Aledo attended the worship camp for a fourth time, having just graduated from high school. She came the first summer the camp was offered at the suggestion of Southwestern alumnus Michael Palomo, the praise band instructor at her school, Trinity Christian Academy, where she helped lead worship.

“Over the years I’ve really learned what leading worship really means,” Jackson said, adding she learned about the significance of pointing others to Jesus, not herself, and creating an environment for worship. “It’s not just going up there and singing a few songs and getting off, worship is a really vulnerable thing.”

Richard Ross, senior professor of student ministry, led morning devotionals each day, walking the campers through times of revival in the Bible and in history that were started by young people and challenging the campers to be open to God using them for similar revivals.

“Do you have enough faith to believe that God can capture worship for His purposes and go far beyond anything we have planned for?” Ross asked, sharing ways the students can be prepared for when the Holy Spirit might move around them, such as with prayer, holiness, and seeking the Lord’s direction in everything. “Do you believe that? Do you want to be a part of that?”

The week gave students an opportunity to audition and be divided into eight bands that included students participating in acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals, and other instruments including saxophone and violin. Those students received training from Southwestern student band directors throughout the week before performing in a showcase on Friday, which also featured the students singing as a choir.

The camp provided training through breakout sessions led by Southwestern faculty, staff, students, and alumni covering topics such as worship leadership and design, AV and the church, song writing, music reading and improvisation, vocal explorations, song arranging, and leading oneself in worship and knowing and responding to Scripture.

Crider led the session “What’s at Stake on Sunday Morning?” which defined worship, named purposes of gathering for church, and described the themes of the Gospel that should be included in worship.

“What we’re hoping to do is to expand your vocabulary and the way you think about the Lord, and the way you think about worship, and the way you think about that whole consuming idea of what worship is,” Crider said. “Worship is an all of life reality. We worship everywhere we breathe.”

Crider pointed out that every worship service should show God’s character and the Gospel to the congregation, avoiding a focus on the leaders themselves.

“You are in as much need of the Gospel that you sing and the Gospel that you proclaim as anybody you proclaim it to,” Crider reminded the campers, describing worship as a divine dialog between the God of the universe and His redeemed people. “… Praise fits the person who is righteous, and the only righteousness we have is through Christ and through our relationship with Him and our understanding of the Gospel.”

First-time campers Lily McKinney and Talitha Rata, whose fathers are faculty members, said they especially enjoyed Crider’s breakout session and were grateful for the many professors who took time to participate in the camp.

Jackson said her favorite breakout session this year was the technology in worship class led by Jimbob Brown, Southwestern’s audio/visual director, who emphasized the idea of undistracting excellence.

“We need to be good enough at our job so that it doesn’t cause a distraction, but we don’t need to focus on making everything so perfect and so over the top that God is no longer the focus,” Jackson said.

Rata and McKinney both said they were also grateful for the week of fellowship with other teenagers who are Christians.

“It just makes me happy to see all these kids who are believers, too,” McKinney said, while Rata agreed that the worship aspect of the camp provides a place where they share a love for Jesus even with campers they have never met before.

Jackson said that although it can be scary going through auditions at first, the bands become like a little family before the end of the week.

“If you’re thinking about going to worship camp, do it,” Jackson said, saying she looked forward to the camp every summer. “It’s one of the best experiences.”

The campers had an opportunity to share what they worked on through the week during an open mic night on Thursday and a showcase Friday afternoon, which was open to the Southwestern community and friends and family invited to see the students perform through bands and the choir.

Brown said he found fulfillment in seeing Southwestern and TBC students take what they have learned and then pour it into the campers, saying the SCMW is, “providing a model to our TBC/Southwestern students and the campers for how they can train up leaders in their own churches.”