Life Change
I have some news that I want to share with all of you.
About a month ago I applied for a part time position at my church for director of student worship. I interviewed for that position a few weeks ago and found out last weekend that I was chosen. My time at Sunset will now be split equally between student worship and weekend worship (my current position, students call weekend worship “big church,” ha), 20 hours to each position, starting December 10th.
I am very excited, and if I’m honest, also humbled and scared about this. I know and have played with many of the students in the past, but starting a new thing is always a bit intimidating.
Nick Lind has served faithfully in this student position as a volunteer for a year and a half and the transition will obviously take hard work. The past people in the position like this have created a strong ministry for students in music and worship. More than anything I hope to build on what the three of them have built in the past number of years.
Some exciting parts about this:
- Rose and I will have health insurance for the first time in close to 3 years. Both my parents and her parents are more excited about this than I am, but it is a great thing for sure.
- I’m hoping to bridge the gap between the student world and the adult world when it comes to music at Sunset. Having me in place in both areas should make that easier.
- 3 guys: Mike, Kurt, and Jay will now all be my bosses and they are 3 guys I also consider to be friends as well. That is rad.
- I’ll be scaling back the amount of classes I’m taking next semester while I get a feel for how much I can handle going into the future. I still value my education and the constant teaching I receive, but I value the journey of that more than simply finishing to get a degree.
- The small increase in money that I’ll receive because of this will allow Rose and I to save money for the first time in our marriage. We’ve been able to create an emergency fund of sorts over the past 3 years by being extremely frugal, but this should help us not feel up against it each month as previously.
- In many ways this is a continuation of what we both feel is God’s true blessing. A new house, a new job…we’re very humbled by what God is bringing our way.
I’d appreciate your prayers for the transition over the next month or so. I’m sure many of the students are upset that someone else is coming in to lead them. I don’t pretend to be the most talented musician, but I am honored to be chosen to lead students into worship.
Feel free to ask me any questions about this position.
said: 
said: 
said: 
said: 
said: 
said: 
Tyler Braun.
Awesome new, Tyler. Congrats. You’ll do a terrific job in the new position, as you have in Big Church.
SO excited for you, Tyler. I know you will do an amazing job!!
So excited for you Tyler! Rejoicing with you and Rose! And I love that you have a heart to have unity and oneness between student worship and “big church” worship. We did this quite successfully at The Brook due to three things:
1) the Student Pastor made this a priority. He set the attitude in this. If his attitude was that the student band was “cool” and the adult team was “old” then it would have never worked. This is step one – and it cannot be skipped!
2) I included students on my team when possible, even if it was just to fill in. Many times they were my best musicians. I also had them on my tech teams. When I left The Brook our best sound tech was a student. We also invited them to lead worship periodically on Sunday -not just on “Student Sunday” or whatever, but as a part of our rotation. Usually about once a quarter if all went well. In fact they led worship the Sunday our planting pastor resigned. And they did a marvelous job!!! We treated them like they were mature and they met our expectations.
3) I was very purposeful in building relationships with this team, even though I did not lead them. I had them over for pizza and hot wings and shared some teaching on worship. I made them cookies at Christmas. I sat in on their worship sets. I had our adult musicians spend time with them teaching, coaching, hanging out. (playing together helped of course) I sang BGV for them some when they were lacking. I spent time with the leader talking about all things worship. (when it was a student he interned for me for a summer) In short, I was their biggest cheerleader. We shared a stage and I tried very hard to never complain about the mess/confusion of that but instead to treat them as partners in ministry.
All of this really blurred those lines – on purpose. When I left The Brook, the students struggled just as much as the adults. I know you’ll do a great job investing your life in the student band there at Sunset. Having led worship for students in the past, I know it has it’s own set of challenges just like adults. I’m praying for God to use you to impact His Kingdom and those precious students you’ll be in charge of.
I really like the idea of you being able to bridge the gap now between students and adult worship (big church).
That is a great thing that I did not think about until you pointed it out, but that is going to be a great avenue and bridge to each service.
Congrats
Great news Tyler! A win all the way around! Looking forward to seeing what God is gonna do.
sweet yeah!
how rad was that Tebo game, the announcer read Hebrews 12:1-2 over national television because it was on his face.
Nice! Welcome to the party pal. Congrats
Congrats, man! That’s sweet.
suweet! good job!
Really excited to be doing high school side by side.
YAY! –that’s all i have to say
congrats, bud!
Congratulations Tyler!
love it. super stoked for you and Rose!
Tyler – this is awesome! I love what Nick has done in his role and thankful for how he faithfully and well he served SM. At the same time, I am stoked that you are assuming the paid role, and I am expecting God to use your gifting to draw students closer to Him!
Congrats, Tyler. Great to see God using you in an expanded ministry role. Great training and opportunity for growth. Glad, too, for the health insurance (your parents are right!).
Congrats, man….can’t wait to hear about the journey this takes you on.
P.S. the health insurance is sweet…trust all who’ve said this.
yay! congratulations! so excited for you
Congrats Tyler!
Great to hear the news. To ditto you and your brides’ parents…insurance is a BIG thing. I realized you ought to be glad the students call weekend worship “Big Church” and not “Old Fart Church” It would be harder to bridge that gap.
Peace and congrats again.
Alan
congrats, tyler. i’m sure you’ll do great in this role. here’s a long-term goal for you to consider: do away with the ‘big’ church ‘little’ church paradigm. i know sunset is a large church, but something of a multigenerational dynamic needs to be preserved in our larger churches. i think it’s a shame that so many of our friends that were really involved in youth group never made the transition to adulthood in the church because ‘big’ church wasn’t for them.
Yeah that is sad how many of our friends have no attachment to any church now. I do agree that a lot of this has to do with creating a divide between the youth group and the big church. More youth are involved in weekend events at my church than any church I’ve been to, so it isn’t necessarily a problem here, but I do think it is something we can build on into the future. Big church for them is more of a way for everyone to know what they are referring to, not a divide.
[...] Excited about Tyler taking on our new postion of Student Worship Director. Read his thoughts on it HERE. [...]
Congratulations, man! I really enjoyed what you did this past Sunday…just a solid job. You will do great, bud!
Congratulations!
Congrats!! That is really awesome! Will be fun to see what you do with the position and how you grow into doing both. I love the idea of trying to integrate adults and students a little more!
[...] Starting this new job has me looking at my amount of social media usage, including blog writing. My plan right now is to post 4 or 5 times a week, instead of the usual 6. In some ways I hope this allow my content to be better, but it is also just a recognition in myself that I don’t have time to write everyday and have it be meaningful. [...]