Campus Pastor's Office Worship Team

The Westmont Worship Team has recorded a series of live albums over the years. All profits from album sales go towards paying off operating costs and seeding any future albums.

Visit iTunes and search "Westmont College Worship Team" for full discography, or click here. We are also on Spotify Pandora, and most streaming services.

We hope these albums give a snapshot of the worshiping community here at Westmont, and act as a reminder of God's faithfulness over the years.

Below are requirements for serving on the Worship Team. Please contact Eben Drost with any questions.

Orientation Week

The entire Worship Team is required to attend a week-long orientation during the week before school begins. If you are a drummer on the Team, you are required to come a few days earlier for a Drummers' Orientation.

Please note: if you are a student leader for another organization (WCSA, Intercultural Programs, RA's, etc.), you are not eligible for the Worship Team since orientation for those organizations happens during the same week. If you would like to be considered for an exception, please contact both Eben Drost and Angela D'Amour. 

Sound Check / Morning Rehearsal

Sound check / Morning rehearsal is from 6:30am to 8:00am at Murchison Gymnasium the morning of each chapel day. Worship Team members must be cheerfully and consistently present for Sound Check.*

*The Worship Team is made up of two bands. Each band is 'on duty' for a week, then 'off duty' for a week. You do not have to come to Sound Check or Monday Night Practice on the week you're 'off duty.'

Monday Night Practice

Monday Night Practice will be held in Clark B Cottage. All worship team members* are expected to arrive on time. No worship team member will be allowed to schedule a class (or work) during this time.

Vocal Rehearsal: Monday nights from 6:45pm to 7:55pm

Full Band Rehearsal: Monday nights from 8:00pm – 9:15pm

*see 'on duty' & 'off duty' note above. You are only expected to come to Monday Night Practice for the week that you are 'on duty.'

Meetings

All worship team members will attend a mandatory monthly meeting to pray, worship and fellowship together. These meetings will usually be off-campus and will last the entire evening. Locations and times will change from month to month.

Year-Long Commitment Preferred

Serving for an entire year (two consecutive semesters) your first year on the Worship Team is preferred, although exceptions can be made. After studying abroad, you are welcome to re-join the Team without an additional tryout.

Practice Materials

Rehearsal materials in the form of audio recordings, chord charts and lead sheets will be distributed to all worship team members. All songs must be learned during the Summer before Orientation Week. Here are some details:

• Vocalists are responsible for memorizing all your parts exactly as they are on the recording. Once you master your parts, you are free to embellish and create.
• Bassists are responsible for learning all bass lines, all fills, etc.
• Drummers are required to buy a metronome and headphones at the start of the Summer. Drummers must be able to play all songs to a metronome.
• Acoustic guitarists are responsible for learning all acoustic lines in all songs, utilizing capos, and fingerpicking if needed.
• Electric guitarists are responsible for learning all electric parts in all songs, mimicking feel and sound of original recording whenever possible. Once you master your parts, you may embellish and create.
• Percussionists will learn all percussion patterns as they occur on the recordings. If songs recordings don’t have percussion parts, it is your responsibility to come up with a simple, tasteful and appropriate part.
• Keyboardists must be able to play piano and must be willing to explore other synth, pad, B3 and Rhodes sounds to create atmosphere, mood, etc. Familiarity with Mainstage is a plus.
• All other instruments, please see Eben Drost for details.

Fellowship

If you serve on the Worship Team, expect to reach out to each other in friendship. I’m not asking that you make worship team your only group of friends—but the team should be a high priority.

Prayer

We believe that nothing good comes without prayer. No amount of planning, musical excellence, money, personnel or resources will do any good without God's blessing. Thus, we will have regular scheduled times of prayer as a team.

Fun

Having fun is serious business! Since we’ll be spending a lot of time working it’s only natural that we also goof off. Night games, movies, dinners, frisbee games, etc… these things are essential to keeping a good perspective. If you want to serve on this team, expect to have fun.

Musical Excellence

I expect a very high degree of musical excellence from the Worship Team. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned musician, expect to be stretched and challenged.

Academic Excellence

I expect all members to be in good academic standing. If you cannot keep your grades up, I may work with you to have you temporarily step down from leadership until you remedy the situation.

Taking the High Road

As campus leaders, I also expect all members to steer clear of any inappropriate behavior, including (but not limited to) underage drinking, partying, sex outside the boundaries of biblical marriage, dishonesty, foul language, or anything else listed in the Westmont Community Life Statement.

Servanthood

Expect to serve! This ministry is best when done selflessly.

Conflicts

Busyness is an epidemic problem at Westmont! Stacking campus involvements on top of an already full life can result in spiritual and physical fatigue.

If you want to serve on Worship Team you must make it your #1 priority.

Organizations like:

• Vespers
• Spring Sing
• WSM
• Potter’s Clay

…or any other extra-curricular activities must be secondary to Worship team. If a practice conflicts, you are obligated to go to Worship Team practice. If a meeting conflicts, you are obligated to go to the Worship Team meeting. Why? I believe that committing to one activity is a way of safeguarding yourself against overwork and fatigue.

Don’t get me wrong—I think these other activities / ministries are wonderful things! But I would rather have you choose one of these and do it with all your heart than suffer from ministry overload.

Please prayerfully consider these expectations. Can you make the commitment?

Tryouts are held in the Spring for the following year. Students who make the Team are expected to serve both Fall and Spring semesters of the following year.

1st Year students are not normally allowed to be full-fledged members of the Worship Team. This rule is designed to enable 1st year students to get used to the rigors of college life before stepping into leadership.

Contact Eben Drost about this year's tryout details.