Bold is fastest talk possible, for least time
Bracketed normal font is slightly longer, slightly more information
Italics is what I'd say if I have all the time I could want, and time for discussion after.

Hey guys! Mr. Jeremy, Mr. Jason, Miss Ashley and I talked over the weekend, discussing our music situation, and we agreed that we needed to talk about it with you all – and I volunteered to do it. I just wanted to have a chat with you and get some feedback – because I think it's clear that we have an issue, but the nature of that issue isn't entirely clear. I know I've been here for a while, but I'm not the best when it comes to “social” stuff. I care about you, though, and I want you to praise the Lord. If I'm getting in the way of that, I want to know that, too. {{I'm “the new guy” here at church, and here in this group, so if you don't mind, 'll tell you just a bit about me: I've been a volunteer for church music for just about my entire life. My mom leads worship at Diamondhead Community Church, and has previously done so at First Baptist Gulfport, and Michael Memorial. Prior to that, she did children's choirs for quite literally my entire life. I grew up on stage, (my first children's choir pageant, I was 2, where I was a little sheep that sang a song) and basically never left.}} [I was on my church's worship team at 12, was helping to lead worship in youth the next year (where I picked up the guitar) and have basically done this sort of thing for the majority of my adult life.] I'm a former youth pastor myself, and most of the songs I have shared with you come from my library of songs I've collected over this time. 

I have a passion for praise, but not always the talent to back it up – which is a fact I am very aware of . I'm not the best guitarist in the world. I'm a very experienced singer, but not so much with the guitar – but even granting that, there's something different about the “one guy” format than the “full band” format. {{In addition, most popular “worship bands” and/or music leaders you see at conferences are professional musicians. My mother, for example, is a professional musician – by definition. She is far, far better than I am. In the same way that a college basketball coach is better than your middle school coach. The musicians in these videos you've been watching are as much better than my mother, to continue our example, than an NBA player on the bench is better than anyone who makes it to a small division college team, but never “makes it” any further. The separation between even a benchwarmer on a professional sports team and the ones who don't make it that far are profound. I played minor league hockey for a very brief time – for the Mississippi Seawolves. It was very quickly evident that, while I made the team, I had no business there. I lasted 2 exhibition games, got injured, and I was done. If you ever see me skate, you'll find that I am significantly better than the average joe. But most of the guys on that team made me look like a hack.}} Why am I bringing this up? One guy with a guitar that grew up in church will never have the “polish” that you see in these famous, professional bands – or the polish of “one guy with a guitar” that is also a professional musician, and gets to do this for a living. [I'm not a professional musician, and while I have been on stage my entire life, it has primarily been as a singer, not a guitar player. Managing both is a good deal more difficult than it looks. Live music is hard to do – but it's also responsive to the congregation – when done properly.] Bro. Allen has been doing it here, at this church, for a very long time. Much longer than any of you have been alive – and he has the “music culture” in big church set up a very particular way that you can do when you've been leading for a long time. [The way we have things set up here is what I was able to do with the equipment I had laying around my house, along with the equipment the youth group had laying around from before. So, it is very cobbled together, and we're aware of that!  What may not be so obvious is that this format has constraints – I can only play what I'm able, and the repeated choruses the “big” bands use are, to be honest, kinda awkward in a small setting like this. In addition, practically everyone who “covers” a particular song does so in their own way. Bro. Allen covers the same songs slightly different from me – and places like SOAR do them differently as well.] Even so, It's just me up here, and it it is probably different for you.

This is not a bad thing to feel that way. What I want to talk about is this: Live music is never, ever the same as studio music, or “live music” that is set up to be recorded – by professional musicians. [The entire process is choreographed, the audience is subtly led to do exactly what the band wants done – because it's their job to create a very particular atmosphere, in a very particular setting.] In addition, though, there is a difference between a large scale “worship experience” as the big worship bands do, and what is appropriate in a church setting. Lots of those big worship bands write songs with a ton of choruses, because repetition tends to get one into a particular mindset, and a call and response, chanting sort of deal. This repetition provokes an emotional response, along with the atmosphere they evoke with the environmental effects. [This is a fairly modern philosophy of worship. The life of the church, however, is not a ”worship experience”.] What else I have done a for a very long time, is teach in the church. As I mentioned, I was a pastor, and I'm speaking now as a pastor, even though I'm not your pastor.  Where is our heart at? Do we want an emotional experience, or are we praising our Savior, which makes us emotional? Sure, you can have both – but the emotion should flow from the praise – not the other way around. When we praise, we should praise from an understanding of who God is, and what He has done, which further directs our heart toward Jesus, and from that grateful heart, we praise Him for who He is, and what He has done.  Our praise should come from our Theology – our knowledge of God. [This is the major difference – and I'm going to name names here - between folks like Elevation, Bethel and Hillsong, to name a few examples, and folks like the Gettys, Sovereign Grace Music, and City Alight. The former three create emotional “experiences” by means of the setting, while the latter three work very hard to point you toward the scriptures, and who God is, and why He is worthy to be praised. The difference between them is due to the theological differences between the churches they represent.]

I'm not saying this to rebuke you in any way. I'm saying it to provoke discussion. But before we discuss, I also want to talk about one other thing, which may explain the “issue” we're having. In most youth groups, there is a constant ebb and flow of a particular “culture” that is refreshed by older kids moving out, pastors continuing what was done previously, and building on their predecessors. From what I understand, we, as a youth group, are essentially “starting over” as a group, and we're building a culture as we go.  This involves growing pains. In a lot of youth groups, the older kids sort of help the pastor(s) “onboard” the newer kids into a certain “way of doing things”, which subtly evolves over time as the kids in the youth group, as well as the leadership, does. [In this group, as I said, we're sort of “starting over”, as there really wasn't a youth group here for some time, and there was only a short time span with Bro. Derek before Bro. Jeremy and Bro. Jason took things over. It's sort of a weird thing to talk about, I know, but I'd like us to talk it over. What culture do we want to create? It has to be in line with the church's purpose and theology; it has to actually be praise of our savior; and it has to be beneficial to you, and make you disciples.] As I see it, we have 3 options. We can a) Just do what we've been doing previously  b) Use “canned” music videos like we have the last couple weeks c) Find some sort of compromise together, and continue to praise Him with song with live music. 

Option a – while there's an issue – and yes, I can tell from up on stage that there is – I'm not quite sure what it is. [Yes, I mess up slides sometimes, but I don't think that's it. It is either a technical issue with something I'm doing, musically, which is very possible; a theological issue with our understanding of praise – which is also possible, given our “starting over”; or maybe even just a heart issue that some of us are having, that requires being addressed. I don't know hearts, and I can't – but I think we can figure it out if we make an effort.] What I don't think is an option is to just keep on doing *exactly* what we've been doing. Our hearts aren't in it. So, something needs to change. Option b – I'll be honest with you – seems like effectively, collectively, listening to Spotify together and singing along – maybe. [The musicians are better, but there is absolutely no “participation in the life of the church” there, and just like piping in a sermon from someone else's church, there doesn't seem like much of a connection – either for you, or for the church.] While I'm not as good as those guys, at least I know who you are – and I care about you. I'll continue being honest with you – Option c is what I'd pick, so I'm going to make a bit of an argument for it – especially since it means I can keep praising the Lord with you. I can learn some new songs you are more familiar with, and we can make the “environment” a bit more pleasant for you – by doing things like updating the slide system, turning the lights down, changing around the set list, and providing you with access to recordings of all the songs we do so you can listen to them at home. I can also practice more. I won't be any better at this at first (but practice will make even me better!), but maybe we can do more songs you know – and set you up to know them better. And who knows, we might learn each other's foibles and start doing better together?  I care about you praising God, and I want us to do it together. So, what is going on with us while praising the Lord? Tell me. No wrong answers.