FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Everybody -

Today I’d like to discuss songwriting in the church.  Bobby Gilles of Sojourn Music has been writing an incredible series on Developing Songwriting over at TheWorshipCommunity.Com.  I’d encourage anyone who is interested to check those articles out:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I’m ashamed to admit that it’s been a few years since I was writing songs.  I’ve written some songs that I’ve been blessed to see used throughout the world in churches.  I could throw out a laundry list of excuses of why I’m not writing or recording any more these days, but when the dust settles – it’s still just a long list of excuses and choices that I’m making to do certain things instead of other things.

I believe there are many new songs to be written.  There are some incredible songwriters out there who bless us immensely with their material. Then there are the thousands of songs that are undiscovered by the mainstream worshiping community, or worse – that aren’t written at all.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  My site, HighestPraise.Com, was once a forerunner in publishing and promoting original worship material online.  It’s been around for nearly 15 years in one “form” or another.  It’s been pretty static lately.  But the sleeping giant is restless and I’m working on some ideas that will revive the site, the purpose, and it will be an incredible opportunity for those of you who are writing corporate worship material.  So stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’d like to hear about your songwriting.  Do you do it?  What’s your take on using original material in the local church.  What inspires you to write?  What distracts you from writing?

Let’s discuss!

Hey Everyone,

Don’t often “double post” on a Saturday … but this is great news and I just had to share it.  We have begun syndication of some of our content from “TheWorshipCommunity.Com“.  Some of our articles are now being featured quite prominently over at ChristianPost.Com in the Entertainment and new “Worship” section.  ChristianPost.Com gets over 1.3 million visits per month.  We’re honored that they have partnered with us in providing worship-related content.  If you’re willing, please consider leaving a comment at the ChristianPost.Com.  Articles with the most comments will appear on the entire site!

Also – you may notice if you scroll down on the right sidebar of my blog you can see some of the most recent @TWC Articles.  That was done easily with the “RSS” widget now available in most WordPress installs.  You may not have even known that widget/plugin is there for you!  I’m sure Blogger, Typepad, and other blogging platforms have a similar RSS widget.  Would you consider syndicating the content on your blog as well?  There are two RSS feeds to choose from:

Articles:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/theworshipcomm

Forum Threads:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TWC

For more information on this news and more specific instructions on how to syndicate, visit the “Publisher’s Press” article over at TheWorshipCommunity.Com.

Thanks!
Fred

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Friends and Family:

It’s with great excitement and pleasure that I announce the launch of v2 of TheWorshipCommunity.Com. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes with the help of some incredible people (such as Chris, Travis, Joel, and others) to release the 2nd phase of what is becoming a launching pad of community for worshipers.

TheWorshipCommunity.Com (TWC) is a grass-roots community of worship leaders, artists, singers, musicians, and technicians from all over the world.

“Version 1″ of TWC launched with public forums for discussions about worship, technology, songs, and planning. “Version 2″ of TWC launched in July 2008 with the new “e-zine” format including articles, how-to, reviews, featured videos, and interactive discussions.

One of the things that sets TheWorshipCommunity.Com apart is the grass-roots nature of the content. Our articles are written by contributors all over the world who are “in the trenches” …. leading worship in small, medium, and large churches. We combine exclusive content with re-published articles from what we discover as “the best of” from worship and ministry-related blogs, discussion forums, and resources.

v2 of TWC is like an interactive blog … complete with it’s own RSS feed that you can subscribe to, Twitter account that “tweets” new posts and forum threads, and open commenting on all the articles. Our launch has featured articles such as “Interactive Worship, Part 1″ by John Voelz, “Worship Is A Risk” by Jeremy Killian, “Introduction to Loops” by Matt Huber (TheMonoBox), and “Google: A Free Solution for Small Budgets” by Russ Hutto, along with a review of Gateway Worship’s new CD by Ben Harrell.

Would you go checkout the Featured Articles this week and leave your comments?
Would you blog about this and share it with others?
Would you consider subscribing to the RSS and/or Twitter feed to stay updated on new articles and discussions?

Finally – would you please add a link to TheWorshipCommunity.Com on your blogroll?

For the Kingdom,

Fred McKinnon

Hey Everyone,

Just sent this update out to members of TheWorshipCommunity.Com:

Hope you are looking forward to a great weekend. I wanted to send a quick update about a few cool things happening with TheWorshipCommunity.Com:

1. We now have a “twitter” account. If you are on “twitter” and would like to follow TheWorshipCommunity.Com, it will send a “tweet” with the new topics in the main forums area! Follow at:
http://www.twitter.com/theworshipcomm

2. There are some *GREAT* topics being discussed right now at TheWorshipCommunity.com. Some of the more active ones lately are:

The Average Tenure of a Worship Leader:
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1776

How to Handle Lateness to Rehearsals:
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694

No More Lead Sheets (ditching music stands!)
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1535

Choir or No Choir?
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1753

Cool Projection Ideas:
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8841

Where to go for Audio/Video/Tech Consults:
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1755

Also, there are a number of us meeting regularly, praying, and discussing some BIG additions and exciting enhancements to TheWorshipCommunity.Com, so stay tuned, and excited.

Lastly, keep in mind – there are a NUMBER of ways you can stay connected to the topics at TWC:
1 – visit the site, login, and click “New Posts”
2 – use “Email Subscription” to entire forums, or certain threads
3 – subscribe to the RSS feeds of the main front page, or subforums, or threads.

Look forward to seeing you on the forums.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon, Founder
TheWorshipCommunity.Com