For years, Stan Henson, worship pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Northport, has been helping kids and teenagers get more involved in worship.
“Our heart was to train the next generation of worship leaders,” said pastor Eric Boykin, who has worked alongside him toward that goal in recent years. “It wasn’t a program, it was just something that we did — we thought, ‘Let’s train the younger generation in how to play some instruments and get up on the stage.’”
Then in April, Henson died after a short battle with cancer, and the Mount Olive congregation was devastated.
“He was greatly loved,” Boykin said of Henson, who had served at the church for 26 years.
Amplifying the mission
As they grieved, Boykin shared with the congregation a vision to make Henson’s informal mission more formal — to start The Stan Henson Worship Learning Center.
“It was paid for within 10 minutes of announcing it,” Boykin said. “Before I left the sanctuary that day, people had put some money in my hands.”
And Nov. 17, the church dedicated The Stan Henson Worship Learning Center with about 300 church members in attendance.
“We wanted to honor him and honor the legacy he had here for 26 years,” Boykin said.
The center is a miniature sanctuary fully stocked with kid-sized instruments, drums, guitars and keyboards.
Step-by-step strategy
“We want kids and teens to fall in love with worship and leading worship,” he said. “We have about a dozen in our program now, and we give them coaching, training, networking and resourcing.”
They hope to pair 12–15 kids and teens each year with a coach in the church who meets with them weekly.
“We give them some official training, like how to play the guitar, and we teach them music theory, how to read music,” Boykin said.
It’s a step-by-step strategy, he said. The students also learn how to sing on a praise team, and eventually they participate in the church’s main worship services.
Raising up the next generation
“We’ve got two or three young people who actively participate in worship on a weekly basis,” Boykin said. “We’ve got 15 and 16 year olds that play numerous instruments and have written quality songs. We are hoping that a whole wave of worship leaders and musicians emerge from this strategy.”
Worship is the heart of Mount Olive and where they put the most energy, he said.
The church is also planning to offer scholarships to Henson’s alma mater, William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for students who go through this strategy and want to take the next step at WCU.
“We hope to raise up the next generation of worship leaders, not just official worship leaders, but those who lead worship in the pew too,” Boykin said.
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