Hi Wayne.
Iâm not Ben but I would like to throw a few ideas at you. Just for reference, iâm 58 and spend several hours a day playing different instruments.
Playing scales is a great exercise, but it isnât necessary to get one thing absolutely perfect before starting the next thingâŚand it doesnât teach you to play chords.
Once you have a scale memorized you can play through it for a short period and give it your best attentionâŚunder normal circumstances, after a certain amount of time on a specific thing you will naturally start paying less attention and not progress further on it until you get away form it for a while.
this is where having a variety of things to work on helps a lot.
If you start getting any pain, or tiredness in your hands, or tight musclesâŚit is time to change what you are working on or stop for a while to recover., constant repetition gives us enduranceâŚbut, also can damage to your body,improvement comes from attentive repetition (high amount of concentration) Which can deteriorate over an extended time of playing.
If your Goal is to play chords with the âteamâ Iâd suggest part of your practice routine be dedicated to something to help you toward your goal.
It could be learning a chord you donât know, working on getting the right strumming pattern down to match the song, memorizing a chord progression, etc.
It would probably help a lot ot work your way through the mandolin path Ben has set up here on the site. There is a lot of great information there that can help you to become more accomplished on the instrumentâŚ
Might be a good idea to talk to someone who plays on your worship team about getting a chord chart or two to a couple of the simpler songs they do.
Hope this helps someâŚgood luck and have fun with the journey!
Dave