Music—where would youth ministry be without it?

Whether you struggle to keep up with the latest flavor-of-the-month band your kids are suddenly gaga over, or if you surf the Net like Kelly Slater through a fiber-optic half pipe, you know fully well the music you bring into youth group settings and share with select kids looms large on the spiritual development meter. It’s a tool not to be trifled with.

Maybe the biggest questions that have perked up between tracks of your latest David Crowder Band release are Am I on the right track? What’s working for everybody else? Even I’m hittin’ ’em out of the park with music—but can I do even better?

So we bent the ears of some of your peers. We got the skinny on what’s phat on their phonographs (OK, OK—iPods), how they stay in tune with their kids’ tastes (and what’s heating up the charts everywhere else), the best ways to use the constantly changing world of technology. And most of all, what’s working.

Atmosphere, Atmosphere, Atmosphere

The most frequent and widespread use of recorded music in youth ministry is for setting the mood. For what? You name it.

“The most prominent use is background music in our youth rooms and vehicles,” says Bob Schuman, associate pastor of Warrington (Pennsylvania) Fellowship Church. “Music sets the mood and the attitude; so if we want the place to jump, we use bands that crank the energy. I notice this happening all the time at indoor sporting events. They use music to create an atmosphere that moves fans to the place they’re hoping they’ll go. If we want contemplative attitudes during a prayer event, we use mellow instrumental music. Phil Keaggy’s The Master & the Musician still does the trick!”

Tom Parker, student pastor at Wall Highway Church in Madison, Ala., agrees. “We use recorded music one hour before we start anything,” he says. “We try to get music that matches the mood we’re trying to set. We also use recorded music during games to give them a ‘fun’ feel. We often use kickin’, upbeat music for announcements and after services; and we’ll at times use quiet mood music for testimonies.”

Sometimes the mood-setting can lead to unintended (but welcome) ministry, as has been the case with Erica Delp, youth director of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Riverton, New Jersey. “Sometimes I’ll have a CD playing when everyone is first coming in to youth group,” she says. “Sometimes they like it, and the kids will ask me questions.”

John Denton, the director of Accept Youth Ministries of Central Community Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., hatches his own, field-tested method of using background music every week. “In our youth ministry, we try to incorporate lots of extra noise,” he notes. “I’m a fan of silence, but I’ve noticed nothing can shut teenagers up faster in a room or van than silence—it creates awkwardness. So, we always have light music playing through our sound system from a simple playlist of random music on my iPod. We use it to set the tone for the gathering or event.”