FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Folks - it’s time to share our worship services again! You can write a blog about it, do a video “Worship Confessional”, textfessional, recap - whatever you want. You don’t have to be the Worship Leader, you can just be someone who attended your worship service. The idea is that we share what we’re doing in our worship services and see what others are doing as well.

To participate, you gotta “follow da rules”:

1. Blog about your worship service. (simple enough)
2. In your blog entry, you must link BACK TO THIS URL:
http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2008/09/28/sunday-setlists-10/

(you may just want to link back here using that URL above and say something like “I’m posting my Sunday Setlist in collaboration with other worshipers at Sunday Setlists blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.Com”)

3. After you post your blog, and link back here in the blog, please fill out the “Mr. Linky” box below.
IMPORTANT: the URL you enter must go to your actual “Sunday Setlist” post for this week, not your blog’s homepage or main index page. Homepage links will be deleted. Link directly to your post.

4. Leave a comment below sharing that you’re “in”.

5. Visit the other links and comment on their blogs if you can!

****************

Sunday Setlist for St. Simons Community Church, Sunday Sept 28, 2008

Once again, I’m not there … I can’t remember when I didn’t have any responsibility or was “absent” for two back-to-back Sundays.  If you’re been reading here you are aware that I’ve been on a trip to Mexico with my wife, Joy - celebrating our 10-year anniversary.  We fly home today.  Shannon Lewis, our Associate Worship Leader is leading the people of God at St. Simons Community Church in the musical portion of our worship today at SSCC.  So I’m going to be logging into our trusty “PlanningCenterOnline” account to see what he’s got drummed up.

Walk-In:  Happy Day (Tim Hughes)

Opening Songs:
Your Grace is Enough
Mighty To Save

Sermon:  Trusting God in Tough Times
(this is a crucial sermon - discussing the financial status of the people in our church and the church itself, due to the tough economic crisis)

Communion:
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
The Wonderful Cross

Closer:
My Heart Will Trust (Hillsongs)

It’s 9:05 AM EST right now as I type this so Shannon would be up on the stage with the band now.  Pray for them.  I’m about to spend some time doing just that!  It will be an incredible service I’m sure.

Now let’s hear about YOUR service!

• Comments (53)

FreePlay Friday Logo by Russ Hutto - www.russhutto.com

MEXICO VACATION

Hola amigos!  Joy and I are still in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico on an awesome vacation.  Thanks to a sporadic wireless signal that comes into one corner of our suite I can get online.  I thought ahead enough to bring my USB-headset so we’ve used Skype to call home a couple of nights ago.  “Nana and Grandad” are doing fine with all four kiddos who we miss terribly.  We’re winding down our activities and plan on being completely lazy today and tomorrow.  Our flight leaves mid-afternoon Sunday, so the next few days will probably move very slow.  That’s OK, because once we return, life resumes and the days fly by.

Joy and I took the bus into Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday and did the tourist thing.  It was fun - we grabbed some of the fajitas at the legendary “Pipi’s” restaurant.  They lived up to the fame.

Yesterday was perhaps one of the highlights of the trip.  We hooked up with Vallarta Adventures for their “Outdoor Adventures” tour.  To make a long trip short (the total trip was about 6 hours) we were given a nice breakfast at the tour office here in Nuevo Vallarta.  Then we piled on an inflatable speedboat and went across the Bay of Banderas here on the Pacific Ocean.  We arrived on the beach at a small fishing village … I was thinking “Survivors, Hit the Beach”.  From there we boarded a big jeep truck that took us up winding roads into the mountains.  When we arrived at base camp we were suited up in all of our climbing gear, helmets, gloves and we got on mules.  Rode the mules about 15-20 minutes further up into the mountains.

Fred & Joy on Zip Lines over Jungle Canopy

From there we spent hours flying over the canopy of the jungle on zip lines and repelling down waterfalls.  It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done.  Talk about “once in a lifetime” opportunities.  Joy and I had a blast.

Fred Rappeling Down Waterfall

FINANCIAL BAILOUTS:

We have limited English channels here - Hallmark, CNN, Headline News, USA, TNT … but all we’re hearing about is this “financial bailout”.  I’m no economic guru but it just makes me sick.  I can’t believe that we’re gonna let this pass.  Sure, I realize if we don’t do anything it will make it hard on everyone.  But I think that we - Americans - are to blame.  Sure, bad bankers and lawmakers are to blame.  Greedy Wall Street Execs are to blame.  But what ever happened to common sense?  Why don’t Americans admit that our “loans to get loans to pay more loans”, “credit card driven” society is a bad idea?  Don’t we know that the Scriptures say that the “borrower is slave to the lender”.

I want to throw up when I hear President Bush explaining why we MUST go this deeply into debt … because it will do what?  Free up the “credit market” so we can all get loans again.

HELLO AMERICA - FREAKIN’ CREDIT IS WHAT GOT US IN THIS PLACE TO BEGIN WITH!  STOP LIVING ON CREDIT!  STOP TRYING TO GET LOANS THAT YOU CAN’T AFFORD.

In closing, let me tie today’s two points together.  I’m grateful for this vacation we’re having.  One of the biggest reasons I’m grateful is that “it won’t follow us home”.  What do I mean by that?  It’s paid for.  We budgeted for vacation.  We won’t be paying down this vacation on a credit card for months to come.  We’ve disciplined ourselves to be on a strict, detailed budget.  Thanks to Dave Ramsey, our lives are changed forever on how we deal with finances.  With the exception of our mortgage we are 100% debt free, and I cannot imagine going back to the bondage of debt.

What’s your thoughts on the financial situation?  Let’er rip!

• Comments (14)

So this is the view from our table Sunday evening.  Not bad, huh?  We’re down here in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico during the rainy season, so the rivers are rushing and the water is high over the banks, churning with the brown water from the mountains.  As a result, we’re not seeing the blue water we’d expected but it’s still a beautiful sight regardless.

The mountains are gorgeous and honestly, don’t even seem real.  The grounds here are amazing and there is a constant flurry of people cleaning and keeping this resort picture perfect.

There is some outside wireless signal that sporadically comes in our room which is how I’m able to blog.  Joy is a Matlock freak, and she’s happy that it comes on (multiple times per day) in the morning.  So her “Matlock” time has been my “try to get online if the signal is strong enough” time.

Joy and I have already ventured out of the resort - riding the city bus to the local “Wal-Mart” to get groceries.  We’ve quickly learned to identify the kazilions of timeshare sharks at every block trying to get you to come to their presentation.  Of course, they first pretend to be someone who is just trying to help you.

When we got out of customs, we were told to go to the 2nd gate after the exit and look for men in blue t-shirts with MTS on them for “Miller Travel Service”.  They would have our names on a list and give us a complimentary drive to the resort.  Well we hadn’t even walked 10-steps past the customs exit before a guy in blue shirt says “what resort?”.  We told him and he says “I’m your man”.  He had on a blue shirt, but it didn’t say MTS, so I asked him and he said “yes, MTS”.  He took us to a counter at the airport where we were tricked for about 15 minutes with a review of all the places to go, maps, etc., and he finally got into the timeshare spill and we said “no”.  We left and walked about 50 more feet when we saw the “real” MTS guys who were completely professional.  Ahhh, nothing like being in a foreign country.

• Comments (6)

Hey Folks - it’s time to share our worship services again!  You can write a blog about it, do a video “Worship Confessional”, textfessional, recap - whatever you want.  You don’t have to be the Worship Leader, you can just be someone who attended your worship service.  The idea is that we share what we’re doing in our worship services and see what others are doing as well.

To participate, you gotta “follow da rules”:

1.  Blog about your worship service.  (simple enough)
2.  In your blog entry, you must link BACK TO THIS URL:
http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2008/09/21/sunday-setlists-9

(you may just want to link back here using that URL above and say something like “I’m posting my Sunday Setlist in collaboration with other worshipers at Sunday Setlists blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.Com”)

3.  After you post your blog, and link back here in the blog, please fill out the “Mr. Linky” box below.
IMPORTANT:  the URL you enter must go to your actual “Sunday Setlist” post for this week, not your blog’s homepage or main index page.  Homepage links will be deleted.  Link directly to your post.

4.  Leave a comment below sharing that you’re “in”.

5.  Visit the other links and comment on their blogs if you can!

****************

Sunday Setlist for St. Simons Community Church, Sunday Sept 21, 2008

I’m not leading worship … I’m not even attending … I’m typing this from the JAX airport about to board my flight to Mexico for 8 days of vacation with my wife.  Woo-Hoo!

Kim Dixon is leading at SSCC this morning - so I can report in advance what the Set List includes:

Walk In:  I Have Found (Kim Walker)
Lord Reign In Me
Come Now Is The Time to Worship
Amazed
Beautiful One
Closer:  Center

Today we’ll be installing two new elders.  Pastor David Yarborough will be on Part 2 of the “Jonah” series.

I’ll miss being there this AM - but can’t wait to land in Mexico!

Your Turn!

• Comments (41)