FredMcKinnon.Com

Worship leaders: you don’t need crazy-good luck to win!

Have you ever entered a contest to then discover that only one in a million will win?  Proclaim Church Presentation Software is breaking all the rules with the Great Worship Resource Giveaway. To celebrate its coming launch into the church presentation market, Proclaim has partnered with today’s top worship resource companies to give away over $25,000 in prizes to more than 100 winners.
And because worship leaders belong to such a specific group, the chances of winning are huge!

“We put together a giveaway that will help worship leaders everywhere,” said New Media Executive Director Matt Peterson. “Proclaim is all about creating better worship services. Shouldn’t the giveaway do the same thing?”

The prizes all center around one thing—creating powerful worship services. Prizes include things like  a new and professionally church created website, hosted free for a year, a year of expert video and audio podcasting, $100s in gift cards for worship music, subscriptions to the top worship planning site, membership to top worship media sites, downloadable music lessons, an acoustic guitar, tickets to some of the premier worship leader and music conference, and much more!

To enter watch the video at http://proclaimonline.com and at the end there is a list of ways to enter the giveaway. There are several one-time ways to enter and a couple ways to enter every day!

From Page 10:
“A husband will bear good fruit in his character and work only when the thoughts and intentions of his heart seek God, love God, and desire to glorify God. Such a man will leave behind a legacy that will continue to be an example long after he is gone.”

What do you say ladies? men?

Complete this sentence with your own comment:

“I am most fulfilled when I __________”

Don’t give a blanket answer like “am doing God’s will”.  If that’s your answer, then tell us specifically, what that is.

I’ll go first:

“I am most fulfilled when I … lead people through a musical and artistic expression of worship, singing, and encounter with the Presence of God”.

Don’t feel pressured to have a “churchy” answer, please!  And do me a favor, and press the share buttons to share on Facebook and Twitter!

The flashing cursor on the blank note page of my Evernote app tells it all.  Everyone in the room seems to be typing their answer.  Or writing it in their moleskin.  And all I can do is stare.  Stare at this flashing cursor.  There is nothing in my mind but the sense of frustration in the reality that I can’t seem to think of the word to type.  I think that every person in the room is peering over my shoulder trying to peek at my response; yet, I doubt anyone would even glance.

“What one, single word describes who you are”?

It was a classic, strategic move by Randy Elrod to get things moving in his keynote address to us attendees of the re:create conference.  I’ve spent time being mentored by Randy – and I’ve come to expect him to fire off a question or two that opens my mind, strips my defenses, and leaves me in a helpless, vulnerable state of mind. That’s why I love being around this man of mystery.

To make it worse, we progress through a series of “yes/no” questions – something I always hate because I tend to be a guy who runs from “absolutes”.  Nearly every question left me thinking “well, maybe yes … but in this case, no … um, I’m really not sure”.

Woe is me.  I have no clue who I am.

As the room began to be energized by all the “aha” moments – people breathing deep, healing sighs of relief that they finally “got it”, that they “understand” why they are how they are … I seemed to sink deeper into my chair.

The truth?

I should know better.  If I have been told once, I’ve been told a thousand times.  I’m a mixed up blend of a creative artist who somehow got fused with the DNA of an entrepreneurial mind.  I exhibit cognitive empathy as an executive yet can be moved to tears through a beautiful film score or oratorio.  I command a work force, build, buy, and sell a businesses – yet, the sting of disapproval or even worse, lack of affirmation, can push me into an abyss of withdrawal for days at a time.

I am a walking dichotomy.  I either need serious counseling or I need to embrace the reality that God made me that way.  Deep down where truth rings and affirms with a peace that is matchless to anything else, I know the latter is where my reasoning must rest.

As for my time at re:create and specifically, Randy’s talk?
As uncomfortable as it made me – I can’t say “thank you” enough.  Once again, you cracked open my hard head and gave me another year’s worth of questions to ponder and prayers to pray.  (you can pickup the DVD of his talk along with all the others at the re:create website)

So where does that leave me?

I am God’s creation. But that doesn’t make it easy to figure things out.  The truth is, it can be quite lonely.  After all, just who is this guy anyway?

OK – well, maybe not “live” … but close.  I’m headed out to Franklin, TN for the annual “re:create” conference.  There’s a great tribe from the Golden Isles at re:create there including Russ & Lydia Hutto, Mandy Thompson, Erik Fletcher, and Shannon Lewis.  Then there’s me and my lovely wife, Joy … oh wait … she’s not making the trip.

There will be PLENTY of folks blogging and tweeting like crazy from the event so my plan is to put the phone down and tweet less, blog less, listen more, and engage directly.  But I want you great folks to come along for the ride so I’m embedding the live “twitter/media” feed from Twubs.Com below.

So this is possibly the only blog post you’ll see this week – but come back often, as the content in the embedded frame below will update “on the fly”.

The Twitter/Media Feed from Re:Create 2001