Background

Kids Worship Arts is a ministry of First Baptist Church, Corinth, MS. The site is authored and maintained by the Associate Pastor of Music and Worship at the church, Royce Wilder.

Purpose of Site

This site is provided as a resource for churches who have a desire to strengthen their children’s music and worship ministry. We want others to learn from our successes and failures and to apply these to their own unique ministry settings as appropriate.  

Ministry Schedule

With that in mind, it would probably be helpful to provide a general overview of a typical Wednesday evening's schedule for our kids during the school year. (The tracks offered will vary from semester to semester.) The following schedule pertains to first through sixth grade kids. Information on our ministry to preschoolers can be found later on this page.

Additional Logistics

  • Children’s Wednesday evening activities at our church are basically divided into two parts. For the first half of the evening, the Music and Worship Ministry is responsible. For the second half, our Children’s Ministry is responsible. This site will primarily focus its attention on the Kids Worship Arts component of the evening which meets from 5:55-6:45 PM.
     
  • Our 3, 4, and 5 year olds meet concurrently, but separately, with the older kids. The preschoolers have their own choirs and curriculum. Outstanding things are happening in that area of our ministry, but this site is primarily devoted to what occurs with the 1st-6th graders.
     
  • All of the 1st-6th grade kids are assembled for the opening session, but only the 4th-6th graders are given the choice of the various tracks. During the “track time,” the 1st-2nd graders are in a class devoted just to their age, and the 3rd graders are in their own class as well. Our reasoning is that we want to lay a solid, age-appropriate, musical foundation for the kids before they are given the opportunity to choose tracks that "specialize" in their areas of interest.
     
  • Each of the older kids, 4th-6th graders, choose from the various available tracks at the beginning of each semester, and they continue in that class until the semester is complete. At the beginning of the next semester, they can choose a different track, should they so desire. While not always possible, we try very hard to allow the majority of our kids to get either their first or second preference of tracks.
     
  • For security reasons, we make sure that we have at least two adults in every classroom. From a practical standpoint, this means that one person is designated the lead teacher, and the other person is their assistant. We also have a list of substitutes who are willing to step in when a teacher or assistant needs to be absent.
This site is maintained by Royce Wilder, the Associate Pastor of Music and Worship at First Baptist Church, Corinth, MS, where he has served for over fifteen years. He holds a Master of Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctorate of Worship Studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. In his spare time, Royce enjoys helping his wife homeschool his three awesome kids, jogging around his beautiful city, and playing with technology – especially things with Apple logos.