FredMcKinnon.Com

Tam,
In 5 years, I’d like to see myself more solidified and focused on the areas I’m most gifted at. I still find myself trying to wear too many hats at one time – for random reasons … I dunno, financial goals, insecurities, scratching the “can I do that” itch of an entrepreneur, etc . But lately, I keep asking myself “what legacy do I want to leave” … and some of the stuff that really occupies my time doesn’t fit into that answer. So, I can’t offer a geographic location (I’d be thrilled to be right here on St. Simons Island, God willing), I’d like to be in a place of leadership where I’m impacting worshipers and worship leaders through teaching, mentoring, music, and writing. And THANKS for the upcoming post … as you are led.

And speaking of ants – we had a horror story like explosion of them under our deck last week.

Be Thou My Vision – thanks for stopping by, and yes, I hope you’ll be here more often. I’ve added you to the blogroll!

Brooke – I realized that since your URL change, you weren’t on my blogroll, so I updated that, along with your husband (who hasn’t checked in here yet, so get’er done).

As to the redneck verbage, my accent comes out very quickly within minutes in the woods. And something comes over me and says “yeah, this is who I am”.

PS: Forgot to answer the second part .. I’d say the pivotal event was my risk to leave the position I was in, and to step out in faith and obey God, even though I had no promise of a job, no open doors, and no clue what we’d do to provide for ourselves financially. It was that leap of faith, and act of obedience that landed me in the place of ministry where I am now, quite fulfilled and blessed.

OK – still catching up here … me thinks maybe it would’ve been a good idea to answer each of these separately as a new blog post … then again, that might be a bit much, eh?

OK, Mathew Daniel writes:
What’s your background? Does the church you’re in now reflect your theological beliefs (feel free to email you answer to that one)?

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Mathew,
Great question … glad to have another Charis-maniac out there. (haha). My background, as I’d stated earlier, was United Methodist. In my teen years my parents were exposed to more “charismatic, or full gospel” teaching regarding the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the sign gifts. This caused a shift in our place of worship, a new church plant in our small town, etc. Over the years, I’ve gone back to the Word of God and challenged almost everything I ever learned growing up in church, which has shaped (and continues to shape) where I stand today.

As for my church, the answer to that question is “yes” and “no”. Yes – they know where I stand, clearly. Yes, many on our staff believe the same way, and would fall into the same, or at least “somewhat similar” camps. On the other hand, our church has focused on unifying our “foundational doctrine” around the main elements of the Gospel – more of what you’d read in the “Apostles’ Creed”. So, for the more Charismatic leaning, this falls under our “Structural Doctrine”, which isn’t required for “membership”, etc. It basically expresses that our leadership gives the people the freedom to search the Scriptures and discover for themselves how they wish to interpret Scripture in these areas. If asked individuall, you will get a direct response from the leadership; however, it’s not a structural part of our Sunday AM teaching or doctrine every week. Clear as mud?

More answers coming … in stride.
Fred

Rick from SD wrote:
“I’ve listened to your podcasts and to the wonderful worship music you have produced, my only question is why don’t you produce and release more?”

Ah, Rick. That’s a great question, and one that is troublesome to answer, because I’m just as grieved that I don’t put out more. There are several reasons, all of which could lump into the “excuses” category.
1. time … with all the hats I wear these days between my full-time job at the church, my e-business, theworshipcommunity.com, blogging, and of course, being a husband and father of 4 kids, I don’t seem to find much time in the studio these days. Which is a shame.
2. response … I’m so grateful to hear of your testimony, but the testimonies and/or podcast comments are far and few between … obviously, I should do it regardless if I feel I’m led to do so … but I’d seldom get any response, making me feel like I was just wasting my time. Response, testimonies encourages me that it’s not a waste of time, and that people really DO subscribe and really DO get ministered to from the podcasts! Your story really helped today!

For the Kingdom,
fred

Bobby, yep – never thought of it like that, but bubbas can be homies.

Robert – that could be catostrophic.

Kim wrote:
“in your role as worship leader, what’s the part of your job you love the most, and how have you been able to leverage your time toward those things?” ….

Kim, my favorite part is the actual corporate worship time … leading worship corporately … I just love it. It’s not really something I have to leverage my time for, as it happens regardless – actually, I do this LESS, because part of my role is training and enabling new worship leaders … but this is turning out to be quite fulfilling as well!

OK – that’s got me caught up … I know a bunch of blog buddies who have NOT checked in yet … so c’mon gang, get with it!

Fred

Hey Alastair (aka snowjunkie) … I didn’t know you were from Ireland – you should hookup with Gary Holdges @ http://www.garyandbeth.org

Well, I was living in Vicksburg, MS … so my bearing was hard due East. Basically, I was flying onto the mainland several times a year from MS to produce and record in the studio at Christian Renewal Records (no longer an entity, but a studio/label we’d started out of Christian Renewal Ministries in Brunswick, GA). The Worship Pastor there, Mack Tucker, indicated that the smaller “Christian Renewal” church on St. Simons Island was in need of a music minister, so I jumped at the chance. The rest was history for nearly a dozen years before I felt it was time to step away from that ministry and make myself to available for whatever God had for the next season of my life, which in this case, was a great church a few miles down the road, still on St. Simons Island!

Some visit sometime!
Fred

Welcome, Mandy -
I don’t like to play favorites, but since you asked, I guess my fave thus far would belong to Ronnie (MandoRon) above.

Russ,
I just realized I never answered your question … I’d probably say a film composer. I love soundtracks and film composition. When I go to a good movie, I usually get pretty emotional if the soundtrack is amazing, especially the orchestral stuff, and I begin to ask myself “maybe I’m supposed to be doing this” …

Thanks for asking!