HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey Everyone, it’s January 1, 2008! I’m excited about a new year, new goals, and new opportunities, and hope you are too! From my family to yours, we’d like to wish you a blessed, prosperous New Year.

For the past several years I’ve sent an email to my “Highest Praise” mailing list, friends, and family with a little recap of 2007. This year I thought I’d just post it here on the ole’ blog and link back to it. I realize that there aren’t many people who would take the time to read a long recap of OUR YEAR, but I also find it quite refreshing to just take some time to journal and remember how God walked with us. In writing this, I’m going to link to sites, blogs, and categories on this blog that you can follow for more information if you’d like!

2007 was a great year – including a new job, amazing growth of our kids, continued love for my wife in a great marriage, family vacations, opportunities and rewards in music and business. I was honored to be voted as the “Worship Artist of the Year” by IndieHeaven.Com/Christian Indie Alliance at the annual conference in Franklin, TN. This was a huge honor. If you’d like to nominate me for that again in 2008, the voting begans Jan 3 at IndieHeaven.Com. I was also able to fulfill a dream for a web-based community of worship leaders, technicians, band members, singers, songwriters, and musicians by launching “TheWorshipCommunity.Com” this Summer.

2007 – Starting the Year with Questions

We started 2007 with a huge question mark in our lives. For those who have been reading the blog for a while, you may recall that I resigned my position as part-time Worship Leader at Christian Renewal Church of St. Simons Island – a position I’d held for 11+ years. Joy and I had been experiencing a growing restlessness in our hearts and although we loved everyone at our church, we both could sense God telling us that our time there had concluded. Personally, I’d experienced a return of the passion to be more involved in music ministry on a more full-time basis, and spend LESS time running my web hosting/internet company. We were fully prepared to pack up and move … and really thought God would probably relocate us, even though in our hearts, we really wanted to stay on St. Simons Island.

Little did I know that St. Simons Community Church (web site), another great, vibrant church here on the island was in transition themselves. They’d been praying and discussing the need for a Full-Time Worship Director to come aboard there. So, not long after my resignation was made public, Pastor David Yarborough (blog) called me and we began praying and discussing this opportunity. We all had lots of questions, of course. Joy and I didn’t want to rush things or jump ahead at the first call … so we prayed, and prayed, fasted, and prayed. Then in March (yes, that would be a nearly 3-month interview!), I accepted the full time position as the Worship Director at SSCC.

Now, entering 2008, we’ve been so blessed to be a part of this church and the super-strong leadership team. The staff is incredible and is constantly growing, just like the church attendance. We’ve nearly completed a beautiful, state of the art 74,000 ft2 facility. The staff will be relocating to the new building in just 1 week (Jan. 7) and we’ll work from there while some of the last touches are completed on the building in preparation for our first service which will be Sunday, Mar 2.

Trimming:

Not long after I began my job at the church, it became more clear that I couldn’t effectively operate my web hosting business (HPP Christian Web Solutions) so I had to either hire someone to run it for me, or sell it. After a good bit of prayer and counsel, I opted to sell the hosting company completely. This took a lot of stress and extra work off my hands which was a huge blessing. Oddly enough, trimming sometimes produces growth – and I’ve seen my online retail business grow dramatically. Several years ago I got started selling stuff online – Ebay, Amazon, etc. I discovered dropshipping and started a little business under the name “HPP Enterprises“. Now, my home office/studio has been turned into a small warehouse, stocking lots of items. I’ve recruited Joy to help out – so we often have our “quiet time” together in the mornings before the kids wake up and then print/pack orders. In December, I started a little blog to discuss my e-business stores, products, reviews, etc. I’ve not even mentioned it here, so this is the first invitation to checkout my HPP Enterprises’ E-Business Blog! Now, I’m back to a similar situation where I know that I’ll soon have to recruit more help, maybe a part-timer to help out with this little business. I’m still not sure why God chose to blend the music/creative talent with the entrepreneur/business mind when He created me, but I don’t deny it’s part of my blood! (category on my personal blog here called “The Entrepreneur In Me“)

The Family:

Joy would sob at this sentence: “for the first time in 7 years, we are starting a new year without being pregnant, or without having just had a baby”. With Jon Michael (7), Will (5), Rebekah (3-1/2), and Andrew (21 mos), we’ve had the 4 children we always said we wanted to have. What a house full – what fun, what craziness, what volume, what insanity, what blessing it is. We’re always told “it starts getting easier” and we’re beginning to realize some of that. JM and Will actually dress themselves for school, brush their own teeth, put their plates away, help set the table, do chores, etc. Rebekah is coming along with that, too. Plus, Andrew is the ONLY one left in diapers! He’s able to walk, starting to talk, and sits up at the table and practically feeds himself. The older boys can buckle themselves in their carseats by themselves. For those of you who have had small children, you relate. For those of you who haven’t yet, you just don’t know how big a deal that is!

Jon Michael (1st grade) and Will (Pre-K) are in school at Oglethorpe Elementary, only 5 minutes from the house. They are doing fantastic, and have demonstrated that they are both very smart, gifted, and talented.

Joy continues to teach a handful of classes at St. Simons Health and Fitness (web site). She’s got some great girlfriends that she hangs out with (they are at breakfast together as I type this!) and I’m so happy for her. I can’t think of a greater blessing than having a wife who loves God, who is gorgeous, who loves me (amazingly enough), and who is such an awesome mom and friend. I look forward to spending more New Years’ with her for decades to come. I’ve tried to get Joy to dive into the blogging realm but so far, I’ve been unsuccessful. I suppose she has her hands full with 4 little ones … and me. I know she has dreams and ambitions that are somewhat “on hold” while she devotes herself fully to being “mom” and taking care of the kiddos like she does … and I think she has no clue how big her reward is in heaven already for the way she serves and loves our kids.

We also enjoyed a great first-time family vacation to Disney this Fall. It was awesome – a fantastic experience for all of us. We spent an entire WEEK at the parks – and went from sun up to sun down. Exhausting, but rewarding. We’ll cherish those memories forever.

The Dave Factor:

2007 marked another milestone for us. I am ashamed to say that we, like so many other young families, had LOTS of debt. Thanks to me, mostly. We didn’t have a lot of personal debt – we had a van payment, and of course our mortgage. But because of some bad decisions and fiscal management, I allowed my business to pile up a LOT of debt … nearly $50,000 worth. (ouch). It was one of those monsters that just started increasing exponentially … not paying attention, bad investments, bad ideas, “spend money to make money” that didn’t work, etc. One of our friends introduced us to “The Total Money Makeover” book by Dave Ramsey. Joy read it and encouraged me to do it. This was actually in 2006. We became Dave Ramsey fanatics. We listen to him constantly. On long trips, the kids watch DVD’s in the car while Joy and I listen to back episodes of “The Dave Ramsey Show” (iTunes link). We committed ourselves to getting out of debt and staying that way on New Years of 2006. Well, in the fall of this year, Joy and I were able to pay the last bill … and with the exception of our mortgage, we are now able to scream at the tops of our lungs … “WE’RE DEBT FREE eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”. Dave has something he says over and over “live like nobody else, so later you can live like nobody else”. We’re at that stage. Lots of our friends spend as much money in one week eating out as we budget for ourselves for the whole month. But it’s worth it. I praise God for this, and know it will make us better stewards and allow us to ultimately be greater GIVERS for God, and leave an inheritance – not just for our children, but for our children’s children.

Looking Forward:

Looking forward, I have yet to sit down, get quiet and establish some goals for 2008. I desperately need to find the discipline and time to get in shape – lose weight and exercise has to be on the top of the list, as it will be for many of us. I usually join a group of men in January for 3 days of prayer and fasting … one of the times when I always unplug and seek God for the year. Unfortunately, it looks like I will miss the retreat this year for the first time in 12+ years because it happens to occur the same days we are moving our offices into the new church building. That being said, I’ll find time somehow, someway, to get quiet, find solitude, and get the direction I need.

I’d love to blog more consistently. It’s been a great outlet – a great way to clear my thoughts. I’ve developed some great relationships and friends through blogging, and hope that God can use me and my experience thus far in both ministry, music, leadership, and business to inspire and help others.

I’d hoped to record a Christmas album, but didn’t get it done. I still have about 5 songs for a new piano album – the same one I’ve been promising for the last 5+ years. I won’t pretend to promise that those will happen this year. I’d love to make new music, write new songs – and must find the “Creative Time” to make that happen. An overhaul of time management is critical, moving into 2008. For my role at the church, my plate is certainly full. I’ll be blogging about that a LOT this year … as I’ll be introducing new ideas and refining old ones as we transition into our new facility. I feel like God has given me a lot of responsibility and influence, and I want to be faithful to be a good steward of that.

Well, thanks for being a part of our family … of our life. This blog goes out to all those we love, those we know, and those that know us. To our family, friends, and even those “silent readers” who frequent this blog … May God Bless YOU!

Would love to hear back from you … if you read this from the email link and aren’t used to “blogs” – they are interactive – that means, you can leave a comment below! So, please let me hear from you!

God bless, and Happy New Year!
For the Kingdom,
Fred, and all the McKinnon’s!

Related posts:

1. Happy New Year – Momentum Update … I’m in the Finals!
2. Happy New Year, Etc.
3. Happy New Year, 2005
4. Happy New Year – Christmas Eve Reflections
5. Worship Confessional #4, June 24 2007