While most conventiongoers slowly file out of the Nationwide Arena each night after worship, six people always remain longer, ready to talk about song transitions and selection flow.

The six are members of the youth worship band, headed up by the returning lead singer, Jeremy Kempf. Kempf is joined by drummer Kyle Baker, of Henderson, Nev., who is also a returning band member from San Jose. The other band members are vocalists Erin Weaver, of Bluffton, Ohio, and Erica Weston, of Cleveland, Ohio; and guitarists Kaleem Kheshgi, of Evanston, Ill., and David Kempf, of Libertyville, Ill.

Each band member brings a unique musical background to the team, some with overlapping careers.

“(Weston and I) knew each other from Bluffton University,” said Weaver.  Both vocalists were part of the university’s music ministry team “Shining Through.”

Jeremy Kempf and Baker had played together in the band “Thirstborne.” As second cousins, Jeremy and David Kempf have played together before. Weston sings in the gospel choir of her home church, Lee Heights Community Church.

To prepare for an audience of about 4,000 youth, the Kempfs, Kheshgi and Baker devoted two days to song form and instrumentation.  Weaver and Weston then joined them for two eight-hour practice sessions.

“There’s a certain amount of connection we made before we sat down to work,” said Baker. “We all had a common goal to work towards.”

According to Weaver, the team would go through each song, practicing and talking about the different components such as vocals.

The band considers both convention theme and musical transitions in picking each night’s songs.

“(The song list) is going to change each night depending on the message,” David Kempf said.

Since several band members switch instruments between songs, Jeremy Kempf also keeps instrumentation in mind when developing the song lists. He consulted the “Top 10 Praise Music” charts and used his background in working with youth and music composition to come up with song lists.

After Jeremy Kempf gives an initial outline of songs, the rest of the band members collaborate with ideas.

“Every once in a while I say, ‘Executive decision!’” Jeremy Kempf said.

Part of performing for convention is getting used to having their images shown on large projection screens.

Baker said his previous experience playing in front of large audiences made it easier to endure the cameras this week.

“It didn’t faze me as much as I thought it would,” Weaver said.