Gospel Jam

From Christian Collegiate A Cappella Notes

Insights from NickFitzkee - see also Gospel Jelly

Typical Schedule

• Groups generally arrive Friday night, with some sort of reception/ice breakers to get groups acquainted.
• Saturday morning usually starts with some sort of pre-arranged quiet time and a worship session, followed by (or after) breakfast.
• Sometime during the day, there are workshops, usually run by the leadership of the guest and hosting groups, on issues pertinent to a cappella ministry.
• The guest groups may/may not sing on or around campus to promote the concert
• A speaker may address the groups as a whole during the day on Saturday (for instance, if a pastor is speaking at the concert, then he may give a more specific message to the groups in the afternoon).
• Time is given in the afternoon for lunch (typically on your own, but possibly not), and dinner is usually provided before the concert.
• There is typically some group prayer before the concert itself.
• The concert itself, possibly with an invited speaker.
• After the concert, some groups may leave, while others may stick around for a post-GJ party.
• Depending on who stays for Saturday night, arrangements may be made for groups to attend various churches on Sunday.

Host Group Responsiblities

• Picking a theme.
• Ensuring sanity between repertoires and making sure there are no duplicate songs.
• Generally there is a CD recording made available.
• Generally there are T-shirts made available.
• Possibly some sort of meal is provided.
• Administrivia: printing schedules, name tags, organizing people.
• It's great if the host group can fundraise from various local churches to pay for meals, CD's, etc. Joyful Noise was able to do this is '98, and no one had to pay for anything. It took a lot of work, though.
• Housing is provided, by either the host groups or other fellowship groups.
• And, of course, obtaining the venue, advertising, and all the normal concert stuff.

I'm sure others can contribute to this list. The most important thing in deciding to do a Gospel Jam is lots of prayer. God really needs to be in the planning, otherwise members will just get exhausted and frustrated.