Praise the Lord:
When I was the President/Choir Director/Musician for the Youth Department, most of the children was stubborn. Some of them would even get mad at me. First you have to think about getting the victory over the enemy (satan). I would have contests such as who come to practice on time and who comes to practice the most. I would also make practice fun such as dividing the choir into groups of teams. We would practice on a song and whatever group sang the song right would win. Whoever messed up in that group by not singing loud enough, twisting and turning or whatever it was that was wrong, they would have to sit down. The last team standing (it didn't matter if it was 1 or 2) would win. That encouraged team work plus they had fun. What they didn't know was that I got them to practice a song and practice it right. I would then reward the winning team. Sometimes, if it was a tie or if all the teams were doing good, I would reward everyone. I also gave out prizes and rewards for most improved choir member, best attitude, as well as other things. I would also listen to their input. I never made the choir about me. We would also have a gripe session to address any issues that anyone had. To this day, even though I am not over the Youth Department anymore, these children respect me so much. They love to be around me. They even appreciated the things that they were taught. One of the Youth Department members moved to another state. Everytime he comes back, he always comes to visit me. He was the toughest out of the group to win over. He even comes to my job to visit me. He's doing well at his other church.
If I could be of any help, pm me. I hope this helps.
caisza
