Kids across Spring Lake, Fayetteville and the surrounding areas who love music and the arts are welcome to join Jam Sessions, hosted in the Spring Lake Recreation Center at 245 Ruth St. every Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. These free sessions are open to anyone in the 6th grade and up (ages 11 and up) and allow participants to nurture existing artistic skills or discover new ones through faith-based mentorship.
Kenneth Hill is the Jam Sessions director, but he has also played many other roles in his life, including working as a licensed associate pastor and a juvenile court counselor. Creating Jam Sessions arose from a combination of his spiritual, military and youth counseling backgrounds and the musical throughline that has persisted across his life. He learned the drums as a child and played in the Grambling College Marching Band and the Army band.
“One morning I was praying and everything — Jam Sessions. The idea about Jam Sessions popped in my head,” Hill said.
The mission of the Jam Sessions program is to “cultivate creative excellence, character and community through mentorship, fine arts and faith-based programming for youth and families in underserved communities.”
The program has received major support from the Recreation Center’s supervisor Zefrim Lewis, also known as Coach Z, who was the “driving force” behind providing the necessary facilities for the youth to perform and learn in. Sessions began on March 6 and will continue as long as there are kids eager to get involved.
“No matter where you’re coming from, we’re just looking for people who want to come and participate with anything that we have going on here,” Lewis said.
As a free Community Fine Arts and Mentorship Program that has also recently gained 501(c)(3) status, Jam Sessions focuses on more than music. It allows young learners to get acquainted with different and unique forms of art, such as praise dancing, miming, poetry and drama. Those with an interest in communications can also prime themselves for the radio and TV fields through debate teams, public speaking opportunities and podcasting, all made possible by the media center provided by Lewis.
Through this communal experience, the young learners have developed and refined their skills, leading to the creation of their own band: JAMZ (pronounced Jam-zee). The musical outfit has already performed publicly at the Recreation Center’s Juneteenth celebration and Spring Lake’s First Friday on Main on Aug. 7. They have more First Friday performances scheduled through November, which they will balance with the return of the school year and other activities. JAMZ performs a range of music, covering artists like Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson and Coldplay.
“I’ve seen kids, through his mentorship, just totally transform,” Lewis said. “When we heard them play at Juneteenth, it was really my first time hearing them play, and it was mind-blowing.”
Several of the band’s members started with little or no knowledge of how to play instruments but quickly built their skills through Hill’s flexible mentorship style.
“What I do is let them come in and explore. I don’t teach them,” Hill said. “I teach them about music, about chord progression and all of that type of stuff, but I don’t give piano lessons, I don’t give drum lessons. I just expose them to it.”
Hill’s vision of providing access to creative arts instruction in a safe and affirming environment has made him an excellent leader to both youth and adults.
“He’s the right guy to get it done. We call him the Terminator — the Terminator is the person who makes sure he gets the job done, and he stops at nothing,” said Lewis.
He has also invested his own money in the instruments available at Jam Sessions, in addition to receiving donated instruments and sound equipment from the community, such as drum sets, guitars, and keyboards.
“I don’t look at money first. I look at the need first, and then I ask God to provide,” Hill said.
Jam Sessions exemplify a foundation of faith without requiring a specific denominational framework, so young learners can feel empowered to believe in themselves and believe in God’s purpose for their lives in a way that’s comfortable for them. Lewis believes this program has the power to spread to a national level over time.
In alignment with that goal, Hill said, “My desire is not just to come in and jam every Friday — which is good — my desire is to even have satellite programs.”
These satellite sites would allow youth living farther from the Spring Lake and Fayetteville areas to still benefit from program values such as creativity, accountability and excellence within their own communities.
For more information on how to get your kids involved in this program, reach out to Hill at 980-229-3425 or Coach Z at 910-443-1350.

(Photo: Children join in on Jam Sessions at the Spring Lake Recreation Center. The weekly get together teaches children about music. Photos courtesy of Kenneth Hill, Director, Jam Sessions)