I feel as if I have correctly setup my pointer and addresses within te arguments, but that's more than likely where I'm going wrong.

Quick question: Do you need the text object to be a pointer in the prototype of fadeMessage also?

Code:
#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>
#include <time.h>
#include <string>


using namespace std;


void fadeMessage(sf::Text *text, unsigned int length);


int main()
{
    sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(1000, 450), "Tpyor");
    window.setFramerateLimit(60);


    sf::Text text("Welcome to my game.", sf::Font::getDefaultFont(), 36);
    fadeMessage(sf::Text &text, 200);


    while(window.isOpen()){
        sf::Event event;
        while(window.pollEvent(event)){
            if(event.type == sf::Event::Closed)
                window.close();
        }


        window.clear();
        window.draw(text);
        window.display();
    }


    return 0;
}


//text object, effect length (max 255)
void fadeMessage(sf::Text *text, unsigned int length){
    *text.setString("worked");
}
Error:

Code:
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\Logic\main.cpp||In function 'int main()':|
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\Logic\main.cpp|15|error: expected primary-expression before '&' token|
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\Logic\main.cpp||In function 'void fadeMessage(sf::Text*, unsigned int)':|
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\Logic\main.cpp|34|error: request for member 'setString' in 'text', which is of non-class type 'sf::Text*'|
||=== Build finished: 2 errors, 0 warnings ===|