I was talking to an old friend today who was a student at my first Worship Foundry school. He’s now a grown man with a college degree and a new bride, but fondly remembers those two semesters he spent learning about the guitar in a context of worship. He said he’d love to start a Worship Foundry in his current church, where he says there’s interest but no opportunity there for future generations of worship leaders to begin their journey as a worship musician—the kind of opportunity he had more than a decade earlier. I loved being a mentor to those students, many of whom are still playing in worship bands all over the country.
While clicking through the cyber edition of our local paper, The Tennessean, I discovered an article featuring Justin Timberlake and his budding ambition as a teacher and a mentor—at the ripe old age of 32. No one is too young to be a mentor, especially if you’re Justin Timberlake and have millions of fans. (After seeing his amazing laser-light-laden performance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, it’s not hard for even an old fogey to realize his immense talent).
In the Tennessean article by Cindy Watts, Timberlake said:
“There might be another calling for me out there,” he said. “And it might be being a part of music in this way as a communicator and a teacher and a guide.”
Might Taylor Swift be a potential student? He questioned what the multi-platinum-selling singer’s career will be “when she crosses over the threshold of adulthood.”
“She’ll get her day in the sun when she’s ready to move the needle,” he said. “That was something I was very conscious of. I was in a group that was bigger than bubble gum (*NSYNC). Talk about stadiums. We played every stadium in the world, it feels like. It’s almost like, with anything, when you do settle into adulthood is when when people respect you in a different way. But there’s no question in my mind that that’s where she’s going, if she so chooses. For me I am sort of the oracle of the idea, and I’m also the communicator of it.”
He also wants to break down genre barriers in songwriting.
“When are we just all going to sit in the same room and go, ‘You know what? The clash of cultures is what it’s about,’ ” he said. “And to be honest, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, about how I’d like to be a part of it. That’s what I’m looking forward to in the next 10 or 15 years, helping these young kids who are songwriters make a career out of it.”
I am still passionate about being a mentor—so much so that I dedicated a chapter about it in my new book, Worship Foundry. I hope you pick up a copy so that you, too, can learn to create a worship school for your own church. I promise that it will be a blessing for your students, the church, the Kingdom, and incredibly fulfilling for you as a teacher and leader.
Merry Christmas!