OK - I ain’t gonna lie. I’m very excited about Neil Diamond being on American Idol. I realize that for most folks my age (and younger), that’s not necessarily cool. I don’t give a rip. This guy is a legend.

Part of the reason I’m a music lover is because I was exposed to so much music growing up. Coming from a family of musicians and music-lovers, I was constantly exposed to music. My parents were HUGE fans of Neil Diamond. As a kid, I heard lots of Neil Diamond, John Denver, and the Kingston Trio. (remember eatin’ Goober Peas?).

Perhaps the biggest influece was Neil Diamond. I must have been less than 10-years old when my parents took me to my first concert. Every time Neil came to Atlanta, we were there.

His songwriting is incredible. His performances were inspiring. His orchestrations and band arrangements were simple and rich at the same time. His ability to add guitar, percussion, and orchestra into what was like a pop-folk type music is timeless.

I’ll never forget the “America” tour. The Atlanta Omni was packed. That huge flag came down, pyros going off … oh man, as a kid, I thought I was in heaven. Some would think a 10-year old is too young for that - but let me tell you, it inspired me for a lifetime. His concerts left me with an incredible desire to perform. I would come home and pick out every single note on the piano, and play along with the records.

So, obviously - somebody else must agree that he’s a legend, because he’ll be the mentor this week on American Idol. So what will the contestants sing?

I’ve got no clue, but wanted to publish this BEFORE it airs tonight in hopes that some of my wishes come true.

I’d love to hear:

David Cook sing a rocked out version of “America” or “Cherry Cherry”
David Archuelta sing a beautiful rendition of “I Am, I Said”
Jason Castro OR Brooke White do a bluesy, acoustic guitar version of “Song, Sung Blue” or “Forever in Blue Jeans

Those are some of my all-time favorites, along with “Sweet Caroline”, “Red, Red Wine”, “Cherry Cherry”, “Play Me”, and “Done to Soon” … anything off the “Hot August Night” album would be awesome.

I’ll leave you with this video I found on YouTube, Neil singing my all-time favorite, “I Am, I Said”:

So am I the *ONLY* person out there in my age bracket that thinks this guy is awesome?
Fred

• Comments (26)

Hey Everyone -

Just discovered that the live concert video from another one of my songs from the “Worship Under the Stars” DVD is featured at CCLI.Com’s new Video site, CCLITV.

I have already received an email today from someone out there who was really blessed by the song and wants to use it in their corporate worship services. Man, that’s so inspiring and humbling at the same time.

If you have a sec, jump over to CCLITV and watch “Restore My Heart” and leave a comment. “Fix My Eyes” is still over there, too - you may have to refresh the page a few times to see it.

Thanks for all the support, CCLI!

PS:  can’t post this video without giving kudos to Kim Dixon who sang the duet w/ me … wow, she’s awesome.

• Comments (1)

Psalm 112

1 Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. ;
2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. ;

(from NIV, YouVersion.Com)

Do we realize that our choices can have a ripple effect into the next generation?

Psalm 112:1-2 tells us that the man who “fears the Lord and finds delight in his commands” will have a blessing that extends beyond his own life, and into the next generation - affecting his children. They (the children) will be “mighty in the land” and “blessed”.

As a father of four beautiful children, I can truly attest to the fact that I want my kids to be blessed. I want them to succeed, prosper, and walk in favor in the land.

According to the Psalmist, I can have a direct role in bringing them this favor and blessing by simply fearing God myself, and delighting in His commands.

How quickly we stumble and choose sinful actions without thinking of the consequences - immediately, generationally, and eternally. We forget that by choosing life, by fearing the Lord, and delighting in His commands - obeying Him, submitting to His will, and walking according to His Spirit - that we are essentially sending a ripple into the future carrying God’s blessing for our children.

My prayer is that we would become more aware of the ripples we are creating today. Those ripples are created with the impact of our decisions and they roll across the waters of time into the next generation, affecting our children.

Will the ripples we create send favor and blessing to our children?

By the grace of God Almighty, yes, yes.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
http://www.fredmckinnon.com

• Comments (4)

Hey Everyone,

Phew, it’s good to be home. We took a trip up to Gainesville, GA to visit Joy’s parents and celebrate her Dad’s 81st birthday. We had a blast, but it was so good to finally get home about 9:30 tonight. When we piled out of the van, the breeze was coming in cool off the marsh, the air was salty and beachy, and the stars were shining bright. There is NO PLACE like home.

So in my absence, Shannon led worship at SSCC. I talked to Travis (our Tech Director) and Shannon, all who said the services were very good. Seems like our drummer’s IEM battery died in the first song, and that was a little crazy, but other than that - I think it went off fairly well. It’s a huge blessing to know that God has raised up some great leadership in our church. I was able to enjoy a weekend away without worrying about how things would go.

So this morning, I got up and decided to visit North Point’s “Browns Bridge Community Church” in Cumming, GA. I’d thought about driving down to see Vicky Beeching lead worship at Buckhead Church, and possibly get a quick “hello” to Carlos, but Buckhead was a bit too far to drive and get back in time for Nanna’s famous pot roast and one last birthday meal for Grandad!

So I must say, very impressed with Browns Bridge. Thanks to Shae (she was producing) for hooking me up with the audio guy who gave me directions to the best seats in the house. I got to see Tyler and his gorgeous new kiddo as well. Had hoped to hookup with Elliott, but he wasn’t around when I was hanging out at the FOH area.

It was my first encounter with a “video campus”. I gotta tell ya … I was blown away by this technology. It wasn’t Andy Stanley on the screen, it was the campus pastor from Buckhead Church, Jeff Henderson. The sermon was great and the technology was incredible. I really thought that it would look real, but it would become “fake” the more I looked at it. Actually, just the opposite was true - the more I watched, the more real it became.

So, I took these two pics w/ my Treo phone … must’ve looked like some nutty tourist or something snapping photos, but when you are constantly in “I might blog about this” mode, you get where you don’t care.

First, the view from the back row of the balcony:

Second, the sermon video of Jeff Henderson … kinda hard to tell how it looked, but there was a set behind him in the video of a smaller wall with a picture on it. Dude, doesn’t that look real?

So this is a packed week coming up. Gonna hang out some tomorrow w/ Russ Hutto here on SSI, and we’ll be hosting Bebo Norman this weekend in our facility for a concert.

So, at 11:42 PM and after nearly 7+ hours in the car today, I think it’s time to get some sleep!

How was your weekend?

• Comments (10)