A few years back, a Church College Minister came to me and said, "Why don't you let me help you put together a killer band?". He said he would get his music guy at church and some different people out of the community and we could have a really terrific, professional worship band at our weekly event that he thought would draw an even larger crowd.
I like large crowds and I know how important the worship music is to students....but, I said, no thanks. We use students out of our ministry to make up our band. They aren't pro or semi-pro. A time or two we have had students quit our band because it was not pro enough for them. So, why am I so stupid?
I believe one of the main tasks of a legitimate College Ministry is to be training students for future service in the church. I don't think we do that well when we are always having "the pros" do things for them. I have seen student worship bands start out weak and end the year strong..getting better every week. Why? Because, they had the opportunity. Last Sunday at the church I attend, 4 of the 6 worship band members in the Contemporary service were past members of our student worship band. The paid "pro" leading had started out as a bass player in our band. The next year when we asked him to lead the band, he said he was the wrong choice because he wasn't a worship leader...that there were better musicians than him. I told him we wanted him because of who he was. He did it and he got better every week. Now, after graduating, he is a "pro".
There is a distinction between a service or ministry TO students and a College Ministry. A College Ministry is using students to train and prepare them for service in the future.
One question you may need to ask yourself is, Are we a College Ministry or are we a Ministry aimed at college students? They're both good...they just aren't the same thing.
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