FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Everybody -

Welcome to “FreePlay Friday” – the spot where I try to break out of the normal postings on Worship, Faith, Church, etc … and just post crazy, random, real things about real life.  RSS Readers – come on over and leave a comment today, alrighty?

* I Ain’t No Metrosexual:
(from Wikipedia)
Metrosexual is a neologism of the 2000s generally applied to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance, and/or whose lifestyles display attributes stereotypically attributed to gay men.

So, a friend of mine from SSCC used Twitter to alert another one of my friends about this blog “Understanding How Metrosexual Your Worship Leader Is” .  It’s a hilarious little quiz you can take.  I took it for myself, and scored a “2″.  Would be interested in knowing how others scored me.  My friend Jay scores much higher.  His wife Brooke thinks that I’m slamming him for that – heck, I’ve asked him to be my roomie on concert gigs, so clearly, I’m OK with it, right?

However, I do get some highlights in my hair from time to time – I think they look cool.  I did start getting a haircut somewhere besides the $10 barbershop.  Yikes.

* Twitter, FaceBook, and Life:

I’m always talking to people about Twitter and the internet.  (not on Twitter yet, check it out and follow me!)  Sure, it can be a colossal waste of time.  Even my buddy and co-worker Travis caved in and became a Twitter-ite.  Last night, at 11:00 PM EST – every single smoke detector in my house started going off.  I’m talking LOUD.  Not the random, single “beep” that happens every year or so from only one, single unit when the backup battery is dead.  I mean the whole system.  Nothing we could do would make them stop.

I hit Twitter and typed “11:00 PM EST – every smoke detector in our house going off, but no smoke or fire – HELP“.

Within 5 minutes, I’m getting tons of @replies on Twitter, and since my Twitter status updates my “Facebook Status” – I started getting responses there too.  The solution?  Start pulling those babies out of the wall – and pulling the wires out.  They are hardwired – the batteries are only in them to keep them useful in case the power goes out.  I even switched off the breaker.  I started yanking those babies off the wall one by one.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to rip the wires out of the wirenuts – the wires go into a plug which can easily pull out of the back of the detector.  After I got 3 or 4 removed, I got upstairs  and removed the one out of Rebekah’s room.  (Note – all 4 kids are sound asleep – this is ear-piercing noise, and they don’t even stir … but if I were to have turned on “Max and Ruby” on the TV, they would’ve been up in 3 seconds).  After pulling off the one in Bekah’s room, they all stopped.  So, I’m thinking that detector must’ve gone bad or something and set off a chain reaction.  We’ll see.

Speaking of Twitter, Facebook, Life … I was blessed by Joel’s post today.  He’s being real, authentic, and raw.  He asks for our prayers, and we should rally up and give them to him.  Drop him a comment of encouragement today.

That’s a wrap for FreePlay Friday.  Joy’s parents are coming down from G’ville today so we’ll have a great time of family gathering this weekend on the island.

I’d love to get your comments – let me know what’s happening with you!

Hey Everybody -

So don’t worry … “FreePlay Friday” is coming … (I think), but I wanted to journal a bit about something I read this morning.  First, I’d like to thank everyone who commented a few days ago when I asked if I should put these “From the Word” snippets on a different blog or just keep it here.  All along, my initial desire was to keep it here, and for now … that’s what I’m going to do.  I think Ben summed it up best in his comment:

If your blog is intended to help shape the heart of worship folks like myself, what better way than to hear what God is teaching you as a worship leader thru the Word. Bring it!

Thanks, Ben!

That being said … if you want to skip over these, I’m trying to title them “From the Word” so they’ll stand out.

Now – on to what I wanted to share … and my hope is that I share a snippet, and you, the readers, jump in and we develop this thought together.

I’m reading in Gensis 8 – the story of the flood, and how the waters subsided.  This jumped out at me:

(20) Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  (21) And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never …” (ESV)

It seems from the text that the Lord was moved into action as a result of the sacrifice.  He smelled it (the aroma was pleasing) and WHEN HE DID, He made a gracious comment to mankind – a covenant that would last for eternity.

God is moved by sacrifice.  He sent His Son to be the ultimate sacrifice.  Clearly, we don’t offer literal “burnt animal sacrifices” to God anymore, so what kind of sacrifice would He notice … what would be “pleasing” to Him … that would cause Him to respond like this today?

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17, @ YouVersion.Com)

What do you think?

Hey Everyone,

I’d like to invite you to checkout a new blog-carnival hosted by Dorothy Holland.  It’s called “Creative FuZion“, and is similar to the old “Creative Chaos” blog that Carlos did.

Today, Dorothy kicked it off talking about “packaged elements” – or creative elements in services.  In her example, she’s using bread … check it out.

I’d like to share something we did back during our “Night of Worship” (and have done since) … and I must confess, I got this idea from the Willow Creek Arts Conference last year.

We do the song “Everlasting God” … and rather than just play through the song, we’ve added the actual Scripture reading from where that song is taken.  If you’re familiar with that song, you’ll know there is the Verse (Strength will rise …) the Pre-Chorus (our God, You reign forever), and the Chorus (You are the Everlasting God …).

We have integrated Scripture Reading into the song – the arrangement goes like this:
Intro:
Verse:
Pre-Chorus:
Chorus:
Verse:
Pre-Chorus:
Chorus:
Instrumental Break (Guitar Solo, over the chords of the Chorus)

Then .. here’s where the creative element of Scripture reading comes in … after that solo, we end on the “I” chord (for us, that’s A), and just keep the groove going – the band brings the volume down, and we have this steady, pulsing bass line, and just lay back on that (I) chord.  During this, someone will read the Scripture from Isaiah 40:

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

(YouVersion.Com)

As soon as the  reading is completed, we move into the Pre-Chorus of the song – but not with full rhythm … we do a stop on “our God” … and just let the drummer keep time on the hi-hat.  The musicians strum only the major chord changes (ie. God – forever – hope – Deliverer), and by the time we get to the Chorus, we lay out and it’s acapella – only the voices.  You step back and just hear the people sing this song – and I’ve found that by reinfocing the song with the Scripture reading, people “get it” all that much more.

We’ll bring the band back in half way through that Chorus, and fill it up big to wrap it up.

This is a powerful but simple way to integrate something new in a song, and I’d encourage you to check it out.

Thanks!
Fred

(Note:  Just discovered shortly after posting that this is a joke article from LarkNews.Com … phew, thank God!)

Just received this press release (or an email about it, rather) from a good friend of mine up in Atlanta.  See below, then share your thoughts:

ANAHEIM — The latest Vineyard Music worship CD, “Intimacy, vol. 2,” has raced to the top of the Christian sales charts, but Wal-Mart is refusing to stock the album without slapping on a parental warning sticker. The ground-breaking — some say risqué — album includes edgy worship songs such as “My Lover, My God,” “Touch Me All Over,” “Naked Before You,” “I’ll Do Anything You Want,” “Deeper” and “You Make Me Hot with Desire.”

“We’ve had concerns about previous Vineyard CD’s, but this time they went overboard in their suggestive imagery depicting the church’s love affair with Christ,” said a Wal-Mart spokesman. “It would be irresponsible to sell this to 13-year-old kids.” A Vineyard Music Group (VMG) spokesman defended the album.

“We felt this was the next logical step in furthering people’s intimacy with the Lord, as the title implies,” said Sam Haverley, director of VMG public relations. “People aren’t content with yesterday’s level of closeness. They want something more. We feel this album gives them that.”
Wal-Mart represents a third of all CD sales, which has forced VMG to try to negotiate a deal. VMG proposed adding a heart-shaped warning sticker rather than the black-and-white label more often seen on raunchy rap albums, but Wal-Mart refused. VMG is considering issuing a censored version of the album.

“If Christians want to make R- or X-rated music, that’s up to them,” said a Wal-Mart spokesman, “but we don’t have to carry it.” •

*** end quote ***

OK – so, I’ve not:
* SEEN this album
* HEARD this album
* READ any of these lyrics

But … my initial impression is that my wonderful friends in the Vineyard have crossed the line here.  My guess is that their defense would quickly come and state that Song of Solomon is a representation of Christ’s love for His Church, which is depicted in a graphic, sensual way.

What say you?  Leave a comment below!

Hey Everybody – Happy Monday …

I’d like your feedback … after all, if you’re reading this – YOU are the people who actually come to my blog, or read via RSS.

From time to time, I write little “snippets” or short insights called “From the Word” – they are basically reflections from my time studying the Bible.  I want to be more active in doing that.  Just yesterday, our Pastor talked about God’s Word, and really encouraged us on how to study, journaling, taking notes, etc.

As a result, I’d like to take my Bible Study time and my passion for blogging, and put them together.

Example:

Today, I was reading Matthew 4, and in both verses 20 and 22, the word “immediately” jumped out at me.  Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John … and when he asked them to come follow him, it says “immediately, they left …”

That’s the type of thing I’d post – just my “reflections” from my own personal time in the Word.

Here’s the question … this would likely increase my blog posting count to more than one post per day.  Would that be OK?
Would you prefer to see these “From the Word” blog entries right here on FredMcKinnon.Com, mixed in with all the other stuff (I already have a category setup for it that I’ve used in the past), or would it make more sense to have a totally separate blog, just for that?

I’m leaning a certain way … but want your feedback.

So let’s hear it.