FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Gang!

Well, it’s officially the start of the SUMMER SEASON for us.  Hope you had a great week of worship.

For more information on the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival and participation rules, click here.
To receive an email each week when “Sunday Setlists” is released, please click here.

1. Blog about your worship service(s) this week.  (If you don’t have a blog, just share your recap as a comment below).
2. In your blog, please mention that you are participating in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.Com and link back to today’s post.  Each week you should link back to the most current post.  Today’s post is:
   http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/05/31/sunday-setlists-45/
3. Leave a link to your recap in the “Mr. Linky” below.  (note:  Mr. Linky has been extremely unreliable lately, so if it doesn’t show up, just come back and try adding your link later)
4. Please comment below and let us know you’re in, and then visit the other links and see what others are doing in their worship services.
5. Spread the word on email, FaceBook, other Worship Community Sites, and via Twitter. (use the #sundaysetlists hashtag on Twitter)

My Worship Recap for St. Simons Community Church

Today marked the first official “Sunday” of the summer season here in the Golden Isles.  All of the schools are out and everyone is taking off to the beach and pools.  In spite of this, we had a good crowd in both our 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM services today.

We continued on the final week of our 2-week “Celebrate Life” series where we are honoring God, our volunteers, ministries, and sharing testimonies of what God has done through the ministry of SSCC over the last year.  Our music reflected this “celebration” theme, as you will see:

Walk In:  “Celebration” (Kool and the Gang)
Opener:  “Again I Say Rejoice” (Israel Houghton)

*we had trumpet and sax again on these songs and it was awesome having live horns!

Worship Set:
Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone (led by Shannon Lewis)
Hosanna (Hillsong) – led by Callie Fendig, returning college student

Sermon:
David’s sermon had multiple live and video testimonies woven throughout showcasing various ministries and celebrations of what God has done at SSCC in the last year.

Closer:  “I Will Never Be” (Hillsong)
This song is an older Hillsong ballad that has become somewhat of a “theme” song for our church as “Never be the same again” is a tagline on our logo and marketing materials.  It’s also our heartfelt desire – that people would be impacted by Christ and “never be the same again”.

That’s a wrap for us. Now it’s time for you to share. Enter your comment and link below. Be sure your link goes DIRECTLY to your “Sunday Setlists” blog post or worship confessional, and not to your blog’s homepage, please.

Hey Gang,

Busy week, so I haven’t been on the blog schedule here. Yesterday we had a great time in prayer and worship with a young lady who has been out at IHOP (no, not the pancake place) for a couple of years. She led our worship and prayer time and talked about contemplative prayer.

She told a cool story about wanting to “know God” and for God to “know her” and how she asks God “where would you like to meet”? She described how God would speak to her via her imagination and she’d see herself in a beautiful garden with Jesus.

We were encouraged to get quiet before the Lord and ask that question. I was afraid I’d have this dumb, blank stare after asking that question in prayer, but immediately got an image in my “mind’s eye” (imagination).

I was with Jesus under a makeshift tent canopy on the beach. It reminded me of the scene in the Bible where Jesus has a fire going on the beach and cries out to Peter and the others to come in from fishing and join him.

It was drizzling, and there was a small campfire blazing just a few feet in front of the opening of this tent. It was just me and Jesus.

At one point, I caught my mind drifting off into the cares of this life … and when I realized I’d lost focus on my ‘conversation’ with Jesus, I saw myself standing outside, pacing the beach in the rain. I leaned over and tucked my head back under the canopy, sat down, and said “I’m back, Jesus – I got distracted there”. He smiled and said “that’s quite alright”.

Weird? Maybe to you. It was a refreshing, real experience for me. I enjoyed His Presence, and my “casual talking” with Christ like I’ve not enjoyed it in a long time.

So, if you’re up to the challenge … pull yourself away … close your door … calm your soul … and say “Jesus, where would you like to meet?” and simply write down the place that comes to mind in your imagination.

If you’re comfortable sharing it – let us know – leave a comment below.

Hey Everybody,

Welcome to the 44th consecutive week of “Sunday Setlists” – a blog carnival where we share our worship service recaps.

For all the details about “Sunday Setlists” – click here.
To receive an email reminder each week to post your “Sunday Setlists” review – click here.

1. Blog  about your worship service(s) that happened this week.  You don’t have to be the pastor or leader, we welcome and encourage worship service recaps from those who were in the congregation.
2. In your blog, please mention that you are participating in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival, and link to today’s blog, which is:
   http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/05/25/sunday-setlists-44/
3. Fill out the Mister Linky below with the full URL to your blog’s “Sunday Setlists” post.
4. Leave a comment below and spread the word.  (Twitter folks, use hashtag #sundaysetlists)
5. Visit the other links and see what others are doing in their churches!

Worship Recap for SSCC – Sunday May 24, 2009

Our worship service was unique today in that it was the first of a 2-week series called “Celebrate Life” which features a celebration of what God has done at our church over the last year, and the volunteers that made it happen.

The purpose is 3-fold:
1 – to celebrate what God has done
2 – to celebrate and honor the several hundred volunteers at SSCC each week
3 – to recruit new volunteers

Instead of having our typical time of musical worship followed by a sermon, the entire service had music, worship, and drama mixed throughout featuring our “Clubhouse Kids” from the “Fam Jam” environment.  An immense amount of work and preparation went into this – I don’t even have time or energy to share the set, the pictures, and videos, etc.  Just suffice it to say it was incredible.  Huge pictures of volunteers were hung all over the stage and all across the building, and were on signs outdoors across the property.  In addition to the drama (which was about thanking our volunteers) we had some incredible video testimonies from folks whose lives have been changed as a result of the ministry at SSCC.  The service ended with a volunteer appeal where we had a tri-fold printed document with all of the “reach out” volunteer opportunities and we encouraged all attenders to check three areas of interest where they’d like to serve.  All existing volunteers checked the boxes, too – so it was a “we” thing … I glanced over the congregation and it seemed like the overwhelming majority of folks there had the brochure in hand, pen open, and were filling it out.  Wow, what we could do with 1500 new volunteeers!

Music:

The moment I heard the name of the series I knew I wanted horns.  I recruited a sax player and a couple of trumpets (from a highschool in the next county, over an hour’s drive!) and we opened and closed with “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang.  It was sweet!

Walk In:  “Celebration” (Kool & The Gang)

Opening Set:
Happy Day (Tim Hughes)
Everlasting God (Todd Fields, Northpoint Live Arr.)

Second Set:
Glorious One (Steve Fee)

Closer:
How Great is Our God (Tomlin and crew)

For the details, see this production sheet from PlanningCenterOnline.

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OK, that’s a wrap for us.  Now time to share links back to your worship service recap.  If you don’t have a blog, just share your worship service recaps below in the comments.  (remember, if you fill out the Mister Linky, be sure your link is the URL to your actual page, and not your blog’s homepage.  Homepage links (ie. myblog.wordpress.com or myblog.blogpost.com, or myblog.com) will be deleted.  To get your actual URL, publish your entry, then come back to your blog and click the blog’s title – copy and paste THAT URL)

Hey Gang,

Here’s my “Fitness Fridays” update, in collaboration with my friend Bryan at PursuingYahweh.net.  Bryan has an awesome post today where he interviews the National Director of Fellowship of Christian Athletes Health & Fitness on “Channeling Stress”.  Be sure to check it out.

Truth be told, ministry is one of the most stressful jobs on the planet.  You’d think “it shouldn’t be”, but ask anyone in full-time ministry, and I guarantee they’ll say it can be very stressful.  I’ve been reading about how stress releases a hormone called “cortisol” into our bodies, and though in small amounts this is a great thing … the inability to relax and de-stress keeps that cortisol pump running.  One of the main things we see from that is “increased abdominal fat”.  So, ongoing stress could really be affecting that gut – just as much (or more than)  your beer!

I am convinced that great, overall fitness has to include emotional and spiritual well-being, and not just physical fitness.  They are all connected, without a doubt.  Since starting my regimen training 4 weeks ago, I feel better, I’m more confident, and I’m sleeping better. So stress management is critical.

Here’s a brief recap of some of the activity from this week’s regimen training.

SHORT TERM GOAL ACCOMPLISHED:

OK, don’t laugh – but one of my short-term goals was to be able to first jog a 1/2 mile without stopping, then a full mile.  It’s pitiful that I couldn’t do that, but I’m telling you … I couldn’t.  This week (Monday afternoon) I went to the gym and jumped on the treadmill and gave it a shot.  It’s a bit easier on the treadmill than running outdoors on the street .. plus, I had my earbuds and “Fox News” to keep me distracted.  I did a brisk 1/2 mile walk (around 3.5 speed on the treadmill) and then kicked it up to 4.8 speed and jogged my first 1/2 mile without stopping.  It felt so good, I kept going and finished 1 full mile.  I then slowed it back down to 3.5 and walked another 1/2 mile, then sped back up to 4.8 and jogged another 1/2 mile, and cooled down with a final 1/2 mile.  So I pulled 3-1/2 miles in around 38 minutes and felt really good about myself.

TUESDAY REGIMEN:

We’ve moved from Epworth by the Sea location to the ballfields at Mallory on St. Simons.  On Tuesday, in addition to our normal warmup routine, we did circuit training that consisted of:

Station 1:  Jump Rope (1 minute, 1 minute fast/different, 1 minute of combo jump rope, pushups, and burpees)
Station 2:  Kettle Bells (various exercises for shoulder and upper body strength)
Station 3:  Hurdles (plyometric jumps)
Station 4:  Ladder Drills (agility training, cardio)

THURSDAY REGIMEN:

Our first “regimen in the rain” for me.  Just after we started warmups on the tennis courts, the rain started pouring.  The trainer said “ya’ll can leave if you want”.  Yeah, who’s gonna be the wimp that decides to leave?  Not me.  We finished our regular warmups and then did the following drill:

#1:  10 pushups, sprint across tennis court and back, count to 10 slowly, start over.  (4 sets)
#2:  10 lunges, spring across and back, count to 10 slowly, start over (4 sets)
#3:  10 plyometric jumps, sprint across and back, count to 10 slowly, start over (4 sets)
#4:  combo:  3 pushups, 4 lunges, 3 plyometric jumps, sprint, count to 10, start over (4 sets)

Stretch and cool down.

At this point, I’m 4 weeks into it, and have 4 weeks remaining.  I need to figure out how to earn the extra $ to re-up, because this is so good for me.  I’m learning a lot about myself, but more importantly, I’m seeing some spiritual benefits as well.  I’m hearing things that apply to me as a leader, and lessons and encouragement that can be applied during fitness training, but also as a father, husband, and worship leader.

As for weigh-in?  It various a lot.  I started well over 230, and I’m consistently down around the mid 220′s now, so I’m down around 8-10 pounds lost.  That’s not a lot of weight for 4 weeks, but I’m also adding muscle (I hope!), and unlike the fad diets where I’d melt off 10-15 pounds in a week (been there, done that several times), this weight is coming off the RIGHT WAY.  (so says my wife, the best fitness instructor and trainer in the world).

That’s a wrap.  How ’bout you?

Hey Gang,

I’ve just published my first written contribution to the “OurCreativeCommunity.Com” site.  This is an incredible group of creative folks who are holding each other accountable and inspiring one another.

My post is called “It’s Worth It When You Finish”, and is inspired by some recent physical regimen training I’ve been doing.

So check it out, and spread the word.