FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Everyone,

I didn’t lead worship today, so I’ll pass on making a video “Worship Confessional” this week. I did sit in and play piano with the band, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve had two back-to-back weeks off from being the main worship leader and I’m ready to get back in that saddle again next week.

Recently I was chatting with Alastair Vance online because he was engaged in a Twitter conversation with someone about doing a “Worship Confessional”. The person he was chatting with had some concerns, and because I’ve experienced a handful of triumphs and pitfalls with them myself, I saw him recommend that they contact me.

So now a week or more later, I present to you my ideas of:

“Worship Confessionals - The Do’s and the Don’ts”

First, it’s important to understand what a “worship confessional” is. I’ve discussed them many times on the blog so you can do search the archives, or better yet - visit my friend Jay’s post, “What is a Worship Confessional” published back in June 2007 for a great read.

Assuming you “get” the concept of a Worship Confessional, let’s talk about a few do’s and don’ts. Please know that I don’t consider myself the authority by any means - make your own rules, but these are some of the things I’ve learned from doing a few of these over the last few years.

Do’s:

Mostly these are covered already in the concept of what a Worship Confessional Is. However:

1. Do be honest and authentic.
2. Do try to be short on video length. Nobody has time to watch your 15 minute video.
3. Do respect your church staff, leadership, band, and singers.
4. Do get ownership from your team members and leadership.
5. Do share what you did to make the songs and arrangements “your own”.
6. Do give credit where credit is due.
7. Do try to give a text-version so those who don’t have time to watch the video can get the setlist.
8. Do also post your setlist and worship confessional on TheWorshipCommunity.Com’s forums.
   (sorry, I couldn’t resist a shameless plug for our site!)

Now, from personal experience (my own experiences, and those around me), let me share a few pitfalls.

Don’ts:

1. Don’t try to copy or imitate everyone else. Be real, be authentic. People who watch the videos probably care more about hearing what songs you did, and how you used them, and don’t care so much about all the cool themes, titles, transitions, and credit rolls you create.
2. Don’t ramble on and on. Keep it around 7 minutes or less … 5 minutes or less is even better. Nobody has time to watch your 15 minute video.
3. Don’t use the worship confessional to bash your leadership, musicians, singers, or tech team. If you had problems or issues, it’s great to hear about them … that’s why it’s called a “confessional”. However, you should never use the internet as your public stage to gripe about the people who are volunteering with you. Discuss it first, then share it respectfully.
4. Don’t do worship confessionals and constantly mention your church by name, by link, by tags in the keywords, etc., without first getting the ownership and vision of your leadership. If your church would rather not have your YouTube videos ranked in the Top Google Results of the search for your church name, don’t mention the church by name, and DEFINITELY don’t tag it in the video tags. On the other hand - if you do have their support, GO FOR IT - it’s a great way to get additional traffic and interest in what you are doing. (and oh, by the way … all that stuff about the disclaimer you have on your blog, and how it’s your own, and you can say what you want, and it doesn’t reflect the views of your church … BULL CRAP (sorry) … if you use your blog as a forum to discuss the specifics of your job and role at your church, and you do it by name, you are linking the two, I think your leadership has a right to speak to you about how you represent your employer. )
   
5. Don’t make it all about “you” … include your band and singers whenever possible. (if they want to be involved)
6. Don’t disrespect other team members who wish to not be included. Not everyone chooses to live the super-transparent lifestyle of a blogger, twitterer, or video blogger. Not everyone wants their mug on YouTube for everyone to find.
7. Don’t let your Worship Confessional video be the first time your Worship Leader, Pastor, Elders, Musicians, Singers, or Church Members hear your frustrations over a situation.
8. Don’t assume that nobody from your church reads your blog or cares what you do … they WILL find it, the WILL watch it. Also, those who are looking for something “bad to say” about your church will find it, too.
9. Don’t say stupid things that will come back to bite you.

Example: We once did a Worship Confessional where I was talking about how good the breakfast was in the green room. A lady brought some taramasou once, and of course … any alcohol used in it was likely cooked out … but I made a joke on the worship confessional that “we had rum cake and were buzzing on the platform”. Someone was pretty offended by that remark. In addition, because I’d tagged the video with strong keywords back to our church’s web site, that video was the Page 1, Link #3 result on Google Search when searching for our church by name and city. In retrospect, that was a DUMB THING to say.

Resolution: I’m much more careful now, and I removed that video from YouTube.

I’m sure all of us have our own rules, or lack thereof. Nobody really likes rules, but boundaries can be helpful and can help save you some grief down the road. Just remember that what you do and say on the Worship Confessional videos is “public” in a major way, and once it’s online, you can’t really take it back … even if you delete it, there are copies of it in cache. Use wisdom.

Lastly, have fun. And don’t forget … you may want to remind your “viewers” what a “Worship Confessional” is every now and then … it helps new viewers “get it”.

Tell me about your “ups and downs” with Worship Confessionals!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

• Comments (12)

Hey Everyone,

Hope you had a great 4th. Again, I realize my blogging has been insanely inconsistent, and the content has been … well, “less than on topic”. I wonder … does anybody care? Have those who do care already unsubscribed from my blog? Probably so - I’ve noticed a dip in readers, and a dip in commentors. Oh well, I will try and get back in rhythm next week.

Weekends aren’t big for traffic and readers anyway, so thought I’d post yet another off-topic post, but relative to my life and love .. my Georgia Bulldogs. Thanks to Travis for forwarding this article to me via email. It’s a bit sad.

UGA VI Obituary (Loran’s article, published 6/29/08)

My friend Uga VI is dead.
His death is not exactly a shock—he was old for a Bulldog—but the news hit hard. Of all the Georgia mascots, he was the most special for a special reason. He was named for me. I can remember when his owner, Sonny Seiler, called nearly ten years ago and told me that Uga VI’s kennel name would be “Whatchagot Loran.” Naturally, I was overwhelmed. You can only imagine the feelings I got when I would see him on the sideline. When he took the field with the cheerleaders, good feelings washed over me. I couldn’t help it. When the network cameras would focus on him, it made me proud and stimulated feelings of great affection. I was immodestly given to pointing out our connection to sideline announcers like Tracy Wolfson of CBS and Holly Rowe of ESPN. I was there when his grandfather put on a tux for the Heisman trophy banquet when Herschel Walker was awarded college football’s highest individual honor. I went fishing with his grandfather, too. On Sonny’s boat, Silver Britches. Once when I went to see his great-grandfather at the Selier’s home on Dutch Island, he wet my pants leg. “You are now a member of the family,” Sonny laughed. While I have known all the Uga’s and have celebrated countless Georgia victories—milestone wins like eight SEC titles and the 1980 national championship—Uga VI, the biggest of the Uga’s, was the one I spent the most time with.
Last summer, I went to see the Seilers and stayed overnight. Uga VI slept down the hall and kept waking me up with his heavy snoring. I didn’t mind. He would snore and then awake with some sort of garbled grunting sound. I think I could make out what he was saying. “To Hell with Tech.”

Saturday, Sonny called with the news about Uga VI’s death. It was a disheartening call. I felt that I had lost a close friend. And I had. This was news I had not anticipated, thinking that we would have one last season together this fall. He would have been ten years old if he had lived another three weeks. That’s a long life for a bulldog. Nevertheless, it hurts to give him up.

Losing your namesake who is universally popular with college football fans across the country brings a tear to your eye. You see, Uga was important to those who follow the game—not just the passionate Georgia fans. It was always uplifting to see fans of other schools, with their team colors prominently displayed, stop to have their photos made with Uga.
Over the years when I traveled and my relationship with the Bulldogs surfaced, there was always considerable interest in Georgia football. There was Herschel Walker of course. You lead a team to the national championship and win the Heisman trophy and football fans know plenty about you and your school.
People have always been interested in the hedges. They find the hedges attractive. The hedges bring about sentiment. Usually the stands and the playing field are separated by a stale and nondescript fence of some sort.
The thing that most nonpartisan fans you meet in other sections of the country are most intrigued by is the reverence we hold for our mascots. They find the treatment of Uga fascinating.
They are amused by the big red fireplug, which was Uga’s chariot for escorting him to the sidelines for years. Unfortunately, that tradition has become inactive—mainly because the fireplug is too heavy to manage and manipulate. For Uga’s sake we need to find a manageable fireplug. What is more amusing to people everywhere than a fireplug and a dog?
Football fans everywhere are charmed by the fact that the Ugas are buried in Sanford Stadium. Once on a trip to Phoenix, I had lunch with Chip Wisdom who had played and coached at Georgia and wound up with an assistant’s job at Arizona State. “People out here,” Chip said, “are overwhelmed by the fact that all of Georgia’s mascots are buried in Sanford Stadium. That is something that they really find interesting.”
On Monday the Seiler family will bring Uga VI to Athens for interment in the Uga family cemetery at the southwest corner of the stadium, just a few feet from the famous hedges.

As we say goodbye to Uga VI, I propose a toast to former Athletic Director Joel Eaves. He was the one who suggested to the Seilers that Uga I be buried in the stadium. As time went by, Uga I’s descendants got the same treatment. Every home game, the Seiler family drives its big red station wagon down to the stadium and takes a bouquet of flowers over to the cemetery containing all the Uga gravesites in memory of the mascots buried there.

On August 30th when Georgia plays Georgia Southern to begin a new season, I think I will ask the Seilers if I can place the bouquet in the Uga cemetery. In memory of my namesake. My friend, Uga VI.
A damn good dawg.

• Comments (10)

Hey Ya’ll,

OK, so I readily admit that lack of quality content on worship, worship leading, leadership, church ministry, and music has been the norm here lately.  I truly want to amend that, but for now .. I’m swamped with several things.  I haven’t really been doing much blogging, and my GoogleReader shows nearly 400+ unread blogs that I probably won’t get to.

But, I was just starting to scan the most recent ones, and this caught my eye … so while you’re waiting for me to reveal my awesomeness in blogging and writing (hahaha) … checkout Jordan’s great post called “Why I Hate Patriotic Songs (in worship)” over @ WorshipTrench.

Speaking of Patriotism .. Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends, eh?

I’ll be back soon … be sure and comment on Jordan’s post, and let him know I sent ya over there!
Fred

• Comments (4)

Hey Everyone,

Well, sorry it was a quiet blogging weekend … I don’t typically do a LOT of blogging on the weekend, but I do typically try to catch up and read blogs on Saturdays when I can …

Not so this weekend - I made a wild decision earlier this week to sneak off to Orlando, FL with the family so the kids could enjoy the pools, slides, and characters at the Nick Hotel in Orlando, FL. We had a BLAST, and YES - we got slimed … several times. I probably still have some of the green stuff stuck down somewhere.

I don’t often take Sundays “off” … we left Friday (which is already my day off) and stayed Friday and Saturday nights, and got late checkout today (Sunday) and hung around the pools until around 4:00 PM. It was an incredible time for just us … myself, Joy, Jon Michael (7), Will (6), Rebekah (4), and Andrew (2). Kim Dixon led worship at SSCC and I knew it was in good hands … I hung out for her rehearsal with the band on Thursday night and can’t wait to hear more about it tomorrow. (Monday)

The best part is … I xferred points from my American Express Membership Rewards Program to the Holiday Inn “Priority One Club” to pay for the room, so it was essentially a free get-away, except for the gas and food. The A&W, Pizza Hut, and Subway in the “Food Court” of the Mall Area at the hotel were very good, and the prices were the same as if you went out anywhere else. YEAH!

Here are a few Treo shots … I should’ve taken a LOT MORE, and we didn’t even take ANY photos of us (or the kids), but we were constantly getting soaked, so having a camera or phone around was not very practical.

(the Lagoon Pool area)

(the Oasis Pool area, shot from our 5th floor room after the pool closed)

So readers, family, and friends … what did YA’LL DO this weekend?
Fred

• Comments (7)