On Friday evenings, freshman Garvin Young packs his microphone and heads to Cupertino’s Chinese Church in Christ. Once he arrives, he meets with a collective of young flutists, pianists, cajon players and guitarists to practice their worship set. As a singer in the church’s youth group, Young guides its worship team through classical hymns and contemporary Christian hits.
Young’s connection to Christian music blossomed long before he joined the worship team. He grew up going to CCIC with his older brother and parents. Attending the children’s ministry and Sunday school, Young was quickly introduced to popular worship songs such as Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons.”
It wasn’t until fifth grade when his brother, Edwin Young, introduced him to a Spotify playlist with hundreds of Christian songs that Young started exploring Christian music. He was drawn to its breadth and depth.
“I like how some songs are pretty calm and how there are different types of moods,” Young said. “If you want hype songs, they have them, or if you’re feeling anxious or sad, there’s also songs about that.”
Young built his own playlist of Christian music, which he listens and sings along to while completing homework or chores. Young joined his church’s youth group in sixth grade. Friday night gatherings began with a time of singing worship songs, followed by a sermon, then more worship. Young was immediately drawn to the worship team, who sang many of the songs he was familiar with. With encouragement from his brother, Young joined the worship team as a singer in the same year despite lacking singing experience.
“At first, I was kind of nervous,” Young said. “But when I just sang, a lot of people said I did good, and my brother said that I’m better at singing than him. I just thought about the words I sang and sang like I would usually sing at home.”
Adapting to the song rhythm and harmonizations with the other vocalists was initially hard for Young, but improved with practice.
“His singing definitely got way better as he was on stage more, and he got less nervous as he sang more,” Edwin Young said. “Just having that calmness around, just learning how to be calm when you’re always on stage is a very good thing.”
One of Young’s favorite memories was creating his own worship song. Ahead of the youth group’s annual retreat in February 2025, a youth group counselor suggested the idea. Young worked with another team member to write the lyrics of the song, which they named “We Are Yours,” two months before. After a few weeks of practice, Young and his team performed the song at the retreat.
Today, Young continues to listen to Christian music to remember that he is not alone. The songs uplift him in times of personal strife.
“When I feel sad, I listen to it,” Young said. “I listen to the words and some lyrics stick out. Some of them say that God is with you. It’s played a big role in my life because when I listen to Christian music, I get reminded about God and what he’s done.”
