FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Friends,

I was reading through Psalm 49 a few weeks ago and was inspired by these verses:

7 Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
8 for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.

(Psalm 49: 7-9, ESV)

From that passage came this new song.  So glad to finally be writing again.  Below is a rough-recording/mix of the debut at our services at SSCC.  Feel free to use in your own personal worship or corporate worship services.

“He Ransomed Me”
Words and Music by:  Fred McKinnon
©2011, HPP Publishing Company/BMI (a division of Highest Praise Productions, Inc)
CCLI# pending

Download .PDF Chord Chart

Lyrics:

Verse 1:
Deep in sin.  No hope within.
Captured by the grave.
A cost so high to set me free
No man could ever pay.

PreChorus:
Only One could e’er suffice
To pay so great a price
A life for liberty ….
He ransomed me.

Chorus:
What a price He paid.
Sacrificed, I’m saved.
By His blood, I’m free.
He ransomed me.

Verse 2:
Now I am His, and He is mine.
Received in His great Name.
Embraced by faith, His love divine
Forever I’ll proclaim.

Bridge:
No greater love has ever been shown
No greater friend has ever been known
He gave His life on Calvary’s tree
He died.  He rose to ransom me.

A while back I read a blog post from Randy Elrod where he asked people to define him in “one word”.  My initial reaction was “wow, someone needs some attention” … but I trusted his purpose in asking for people to fill his mind with a page full of 1-word descriptions of who he was.  I later saw his purpose clearly.

He went deeper into this experiment this year at re:create, which was a frightening experience for me, as I’ve blogged about in the past.

There is some value in allowing other people to define what “they see”.  This is not an exercise to fill my head with compliments – as a matter of fact, if you feel the need to use a word that is … well, let’s say “less than admirable”, please be honest.  Comment anonymously if you want.

I’m doing some soul-searching.  This isn’t altogether uncommon for me, but I’m curious to see what answers may pop in.

So … would you be so gracious to indulge me in this experiment?  Define Fred McKinnon in ONE WORD.

Hey Gang,

Today is the last post of the “Survey Says” series.  If you’ve not chimed in with answers on the previous two posts of the series, we’d love to hear your voice:

Survey Says:  What Are the Top 5 Blogs You Read?
Survey Says:  If I Could Change 1 Thing About My Church, It Would Be …

Today, it gets a bit more personal.

If you could change ONE THING about YOURSELF, what would it be?

It’s almost impossible for me to list one thing.  One of the ongoing things that keeps coming to mind, other than a better discipline of taking care of my physical body, is becoming a better listener – talking less, listening more.

How about you?

We’re in this series called “Survey Says” where we’re asking and answering some interesting questions.  The last post was about the top blogs you read. (jump over and answer it if you haven’t already!)

Today’s question is a lot riskier.  Some of you may need to answer anonymously.  Just put “nobody@nobody.com” as your email address if you feel that’s necessary.

Whether you are on staff or not … if you could change ONE THING about the way your church operates (be it in service, leadership, doctrine, philosophy of ministry, etc) … what would it be?

This isn’t meant to be a church-bashing party … but all of us have probably thought to ourselves “if I were the one who made the final decision, I would have us do this ____________________”.

And thinking those thoughts is not necessarily bad, friends – especially if they are done with respect.  Sometimes, that’s where a vision is born.

So … go for it.  And like I said earlier, if you feel the need to comment anonymously, that’s quite OK.

Hey Folks,

For the next few days, I’m gonna run a little series here on the blog called “Survey Says”.

I’ll ask a question … I may (or may not) share some of my own answers, but the real point is for you, the gang in the community here at FredMcKinnon.Com, to respond.

So today:

Blogs:  what are you reading these days?  What are your top 5 blogs?

I have to admin I struggle to keep up with the blogs in my blogroll – so I’ll just mention a couple of newer, noteworthy ones I’ve stumbled upon in the last few months:

DavidSantistevan.Com – great blog on worship leadership and church, and enjoy following him on Twitter as well @dsantistevan
GoinsWriter.Com – inspiring blog on creativity and writing by Jeff Goins.  I had the privilege of meeting Jeff at re:create this year.  Follow him on Twitter @JeffGoins
RandyElrod.Com – I try to catch every post, but I miss more than I catch.  Randy is a mentor, fellow dreamer, and inspiring guy.  He founded re:create. Follow him on Twitter @RandyElrod
MichaelHyatt.Com – Michael is an inspiring leader, speaker, publisher, and all-around-good-guy.  Met him at re:create as well.  Follow him @MichaelHyatt
TheWorshipCommunity.Com – both a blog and lively forums community, always good content … I’m biased, since I founded and publish the site, but seriously – if you’re into worship/tech/ministry leadership, this is a great resource.   I have to subscribe via RSS to both articles and forums to keep up.  On twitter @theworshipcomm

So what about you?  What’s your Top 5 blogs?