Friday Update - O Holy Night, Podcast, Amazon, Blog, Christmas

Hey Ya’ll -

How ’bout that title … basically, this is a quick update to let you know what’s going on with several things I’ve mentioned (or meant to mention!) ….

1. O Holy Night - the saga continues. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with the REAL “O Holy Night” singer yesterday. I’ll post the interview here this weekend. Plenty of people “claim” to be the real “O Holy Night” singer … and the fact that more than 15 YouTube vidoes alone have people “claiming” to be the real person and the dozens of “urban legends” surrounding it … well, that fact is what made the real person decide to break his silence and step forward.

As far as the big question - “was the singer for real, or just cutting up” ….

… you’ll have to wait.

2. Highest Praise Worship Podcast:
I released a new Highest Praise Worship Podcast last week but was too busy to announce it here. It features 3 cool songs for corporate worship by Barry and Terri Collecutt, Will and Crystal Yates, and Mark Condon, so check it out:
web | iTunes

3. Amazon.Com Saga:
Thanks to everyone who contributed their input regarding the Amazon.Com situation. For now, I’ve decided to run BOTH accounts simultaneously. You CANNOT list the same products in both accounts, so the products that are automated by my inventory source provider are in the original Marketplace account, and the products that I physically ship and sell are in the new “ProMerchant” area. The “new seller” logo is gone, I have my first official 100% positive feedback (thanks, Chris), and have sold 31 items already - so I think it’s moving along nicely.

4. New Blog Alert:
Thinking Out Loud“, a new blog by the Technical Director of SSCC, Travis Paulding (known on TheWorshipCommunity.Com as dtpuga). Travis and I share an office and he’s always talking about how he has too much work to do for “blogging”. Well, he’s eating crow. Travis is now Blog Boy #2. And it’s a good thing - he’ll talk about life, his baby girl (eta about 3 mos), technical stuff, ministry, and whatever else he feels like discussing. So go over and leave a comment on his first post, and give him some link love. I’ve added him to my blogroll.

5. Christmas - Be Still
I’m very blessed by the strong encouragement I’ve gotten from everyone about recording the “Be Still” album. After publishing this blog, I hope to finish up the final version of “Away In A Manger” and start on Silent Night.

Speaking of Christmas and music - stay tuned, because we’re about to do a CD/DVD blowout on Worship Under the Stars that you won’t believe. (Can you say Abe Lincoln?). Seriously, watch the blog for a package sale that will be an incredible deal.

OK - so regarding, “Be Still” … It’s your turn to contribute - what peaceful, (slower) Christmas songs would you like to see “make the cut” and get on the album?

Have a great day - I may be back over the weekend, but will be at soccer tomorrow AM and the UGA/FL game tomorrow afternoon!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Happy October, Monday AM Greeting

Posted on October 1st, 2007 in Church Life, Life and Family, Music, Podcasts & Updates by Fred

Hey Everyone -

October 1 - it’s here! The last quarter of 2007 - I can hardly believe it.

Just a quick peek at the week ahead:

1: PRAYER ANSWERED - I’m back online with Amazon.Com - thanks for all the prayers from this previous prayer request last week.
2: MileStoneWorship.Com blogged about the recent Worship Interludes podcast with McKendree Tucker - Thanks!
3: Worship Confessional: hope to get it out today - we had Church in the Park - it was awesome.
4: Staff Retreat: I, along with the rest of the SSCC staff will be MIA on a staff retreat Tues-Thursday … no internet, no cell phones. A time to sloooowwww down. Pray for us.
5: Divine Romance: the title of a new instrumental I’ve almost completed - it’s a piano solo that I’m very excited about, and will be released on the IH FanFave Chart very soon … so stay tuned.

Finally - thanks to those who have answered the “Why Blog” entry over the weekend. If you didn’t catch it, please check it out and leave your response.

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Worship Interludes - McKendree Tucker

Posted on September 29th, 2007 in Worship Interludes by Fred

Hey Everybody -

Just a quick plug to announce the release of Worship Interludes Podcast, Episode #7. It features one of my favorite guys on the planet, McKendree Tucker (website). McKendree sent me this track earlier this week … a creative way to meditate on God’s Word … and I knew it was a perfect fit for the Worship Interludes podcast.

WorshipInterludes.Com Site: www.worshipinterludes.com
1-Click Subscribe on iTunes:

If you listen, please leave a comment here or @ WorshipInterludes so we can encourage McKendree to keep creating!

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Highest Praise Worship Podcast, Episode #20

Posted on September 1st, 2007 in HighestPraise.Com Updates, Music by Fred

Hey Everybody!

Just released the Highest Praise Worship Podcast, Episode #20 … so fire up your iTunes or Podcast app and check it out!

iTunes Subscribe

(iTunes Link | Web Link | RSS Feed)

Episode 20 features new music from:
Calvary Chapel, Jupiter FL
New Life Worship
Jon Shabaglian

plus, some resource plugs for this blog, TheWorshipCommunity.Com, WorshipSpice.Com, and more!

Can you hear it now?
Fred

Thanks for Praying … I’ve Got an Announcement

Hey Everyone!

Thanks a million again for everyone that prayed this week for me. It’s been a long week, but a successful one. I’m sorry that I had to be so vague, but that’s how it goes sometimes …

I’ve got an announcement to make … and it will probably deflate a bunch of you who expected something spectacular or flashy … but the truth is, I think this is pretty spectacular and is a huge “God thing” for me.

If you paid attention to the “Categories” I clicked for the “pray for me” posts … I was giving a little hint … one of the categories was:
“The Entrepreneur In Me” …

As of the stroke of midnight this past Wednesday, August 30 … HPP Christian Web Hosting Solutions, my web hosting business for the last 10+ years, was acquired by Advanced Online Solutions of Tulsa, OK.

You see, life has been spread way too thin for me … I embraced a new full-time position as the Worship Director at my church back in March … all the while, continuing to service and support my full-time web company, not to mention some of the additional ventures I have in online e-commerce and the worship-related side of my main company, Highest Praise Productions.

I have to confess, reading “Good to Great” did me in .. if you’ve not read it, I highly recommend it. As much as I fought it, “web hosting” just wasn’t in my “Hedgehog Concept”. I began to pray that God would either bring me “self-disciplined” people to hire to run this business, or that He would provide a buyer for it.

Long story short … a Christian company in Tulsa was very interested in purchasing the company - not just my customers, but the name “HPP Christian Hosting”, the site, the identity, the vision … all to take it from “good” to “great”. I actually spent a couple of days with the President of the company who flew here from Tulsa. After spending our time together, I knew God had provided the right person to pass the baton to.

So, what does this mean for me?

More time to focus on the things I’m passionate about!

… more focus for my role as Worship Director at SSCC
… more focus on my passion to equip the Kingdom of God in worship …

How does that look? Well, for starters - I hope to finally have time to write and record. I’ve got some incredibly exciting stuff happening in the “culture of worship” at church … more on that soon. I hope to be more intentional about blogging and podcasting. Starting this weekend, I hope to finally release a new “Highest Praise” podcast.

I’ve unloaded a major responsibility … one that has been rewarding, but at times was immensely stressful, especially the past few weeks leading up to this transition.

So, as “non-wow” as this announcement may be to you … it’s a big deal for the McKinnon Family. I feel 10 years younger and 100 pounds lighter.

Now, I’m curious … all this vague “pray, something’s up” talk surely got some of your minds wandering …

What did you THINK this was all about?

For the Kingdom,
Fred