FredMcKinnon.Com

Hey Gang,

The blog has been quiet here … VERY QUIET … mainly because I haven’t been posting.  We’ve wrapping up an 8-day whirlwind vacation that stretched the east coast from New York City to Orlando, FL.  I hope to jump back into blogging soon enough but will need a day or so to recover and catch up.  In the meantime, here’s a little recap of our trip for those who may be interested.  (that would be a few friends on Facebook and my family!)

New York City – Andrea Bocelli

I was blessed to receive an opportunity to attend the FREE concert by Andrea Bocelli in Central Park last week in New York City.  I’m a huge fan of Bocelli and thought this would be like a bucket list experience.  One of the world’s greatest singers, with one of the world’s greatest philharmonic orchestras, in one of the world’s greatest cities, in one of the world’s most famous city parks … you know … epic!

Experiencing something like that is even more fun with friends so Joy (my wife) and I flew up to NYC with another couple from St. Simons Island and spent a couple of nights in Times Square.  We left the kids behind and had a few days of “us” time.  Joy had never been to NYC and it was only my second visit.  We did it hard – from Rockefeller Center to the top of the Empire State Building, shopping on 5th Avenue to waving outside the Fox News windows on 6th Ave.  We had Italian one night and some great pizza at Lombardi’s another day.  We did taxis.  We did subways.  We walked a kazillion miles.  The forecast was for rain and the news said that if the concert was rained out, it would be rescheduled for the next night.  This was a big burden for me because we flew out the next morning to meet up with the kids and leave for our family vacation time.

Well, the rain came.  The gates to the Great Lawn at Central Park were to be opened at 3:00 PM.  Because of the rain, people weren’t lining up quite so early so we got there at 3:00 and waited in line for over an hour in the rain.  Thankfully, Joy sported us some $1-store ponchos that we shared with our friends. (Mike/Leisa Dunn)

The rain was nasty and it got pretty chilly with the wind blowing.  The blessing in the rain; however, was that people just didn’t come to get in line.  We were one of the first 50 people in line on the East Side entrance and as a result, when they finally DID open the gates we got the most incredible seats on the Great Lawn possible.  Friends of mine who waited until the rains held off said the lines on both the east and west sides were 30 blocks long and met! We were literally about 30-40 feet away from the stage – and we could’ve gotten even closer but I didn’t want to be so close to the high stage that I couldn’t see the orchestra and choir in the background.

The concert was as magical and epic as I would’ve guessed.  My DroidX camera photos just don’t do it justice.  We were RIGHT THERE center stage.  The people who paid $1,000 for the “VIP” seats didn’t have seats as good as ours.  (Yep, they were there in full force, Donald Trump & Alec Baldwin to name a couple).

Bocelli was joined with the New York Philharmonic and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.  They were amazing.  He was joined with many special guests including Chris Botti (an amazing trumpeter), Bryn Terfel, Andrea Griminelli, Ana Maria Martinez, and Pretty Yende.

Two of my favorite guest moments included Celine Dion singing “The Prayer” and Tony Bennett singing “New York, New York” with Andrea.

(this photo courtesy of BocelliCentralPark.Com)

One incredible moment of worship for me was Andrea’s rendition of “Amazing Grace”.  Lastly, although he did not sing two of my favorite songs I really wanted to hear (“Sogno” and “Besame Mucho”) he did conclude with a finale of my favorite, “Nessun Dorma”.

A quick flight home from NYC and we gathered the kids and took off to Disney World for FIVE days.  Yes, FIVE DAYS.  “The Happiest Place on Earth”.  I will recap that in a separate blog post.

As for Bocelli in Central Park?  It was a whirlwind trip – really crazy to try and fly up there for a concert and back to dump out our suitcase, repack and drive away again for 5 days.  But it was worth it.

As a composer, a  musician, a singer, and a creative person – I was so totally inspired.  It was one of the most awe-inspiring concerts I’ve witnessed and truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event.  I am reminded when I watch some incredible talent and hear such beautiful music how God created us and blessed us with these talents.  Ideally, they are given to us to bring honor and glory to Him.  It inspires me to take my own talents and use them to bring glory to God and inspire others.

Here’s the last few seconds of the grand finale to “Nessun Dorma” – sorry for the jerky camera work, my wife and friends were trying to pack up the blanket we sat on which I was standing on!

Sweet.

That’s the one word I’d use to sum up our 9/11 services at SSCC yesterday.

We opened with the Latin-groove “Glorious” by Martha Munnizzi.  Always a tough one for the band and vocals to pull off (this song has the craziest key changes I’ve ever seen).

Kicking off the congregational singing was “Hosanna” (Baloche/Brown).  After this opening song we were seated and watched a 3:00 minute video reflecting on 9/11 ten years ago.  Afterwards, our pastor spoke briefly about what has changed in our lives since then, and how restless the world has become.  Reading the famous quote by St. Augustine “I am restless until I rest in You – we performed as a special, Audrey Assad’s “Restless“.

This flowed into congregational singing of “Come Thou Fount“.  Our closer was “Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone” as a gospel response song.

That’s a recap of the songs this week.  As always, I’m posting this as a part of the weekly “Sunday Setlists” event hosted over at TheWorshipCommunity.Com.

Hey Gang,

Lord willing and weather permitting, I have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity next week to hear Andrea Bocelli perform with the New York Philharmonic on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York City.  I can’t wait.

I’ve been listening to more of Bocelli’s music so I’m more familiar with his songs and discovered this video.  I’ve watched it (and shared it) countless times.  I seldom finish it without my eyes getting all wet.  Turn it up.

And yes – I do realize this is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  My loving this video and sharing this video is not an endorsement of the Mormon faith at all.  I am a Christian, not a Mormon.  Nevertheless, this is one of the most beautiful, inspiring renditions of the Lord’s Prayer I’ve ever heard in my life.  (and if by chance you feel a bit disappointed towards the end like I did, hang in there … you’ll know what I mean!)

Multi-Generational Worship.

This is a buzz word these days.  We keep discussing this at our church, and how we desire to create it.  I have news for you, it’s not that easy.

We’re in the midst of ongoing, challenging,  yet fulfilling discussions about our worship culture, and we always come back to these questions:

What is “multi-generational worship”?
How do we define a “culture of worship”?

So I’m reaching out to you, my online friends.  I’d love to hear from worship leaders, pastors, and non-church leaders.  Congregants.  Moms.  Dads.  Kids.  Youth.

At the bottom of this post is a “Add a Comment” box.  How would you define “multi-generational worship” or “blended worship”.  I’d suggest checking the box that enables you to get an email reply if someone else comments on your post so that the dialog can keep going for days.

Go for it.  (Facebook friends – I’d be honored and grateful if you’d leave your comments on the blog, and not on Facebook (or both) …. by leaving them on the blog, we keep all of the conversation in one place.)

For the Kingdom,
Fred

Hey Gang,

For all of you worship leaders … when was the last time you got off the platform?  For all you church goers – when was the last time you saw your leader off-stage?

I’ve been off the platform for the past two Sundays at SSCC.

Two Sundays ago my wife and I took the weekend (sans kids, thanks to my mom!) and went away to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary together.  I tuned into our worship services via our SSCCLive.Com internet broadcast and enjoyed seeing my friend Russ Hutto lead the worship.  You could say I was truly “off” that Sunday, except for about 15 minutes of emailing and texting when our scheduled drummer for the youth service was a no-show.

Yesterday I was back at work, but off the stage.  My friend Shannon Lewis led worship for us. (read his recap of the service and the setlist on his blog) It’s so funny to hear how many people come up and say “you’re off today”?

I believe that as leaders, we have a responsibility to raise up and empower other leaders.  As we work to duplicate ourselves and multiply our efforts we have to step aside and let other leaders flourish.

This Sunday, Shannon’s leading in our main sanctuary gave me the ability to do several things:

1.  give him a chance to lead and bless our congregation with his gifts (we all lead differently, and the diversity is good)
2.  gave me a chance to mingle more with our people as they came in and connect with them relationally
3.  gave me a chance to worship in the congregation and get the much-needed perspective of what that’s like
4.  gave me the chance to observe the culture of worship in each of our venues (Tiny Town, Kid Jam Clubhouse, Youth Rooftop)

Being off the stage brings so much perspective.  From the congregation I can see how the audio mix is sounding (great job, Ben!), I can observe how people are engaging, how our lighting feels when it’s adjusted in the room, what other distractions may be occurring that we miss from the stage, etc.

Some of you are in a church where you have nobody else to lead worship.  It’s you, or it’s a CD.  I’d like to encourage you to really pray and ask God to bring in more leaders.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see who on your team may be that next leader.  Begin to mentor them.  Take the “you lead with me, I lead with you, you lead” approach.

My goal is to be completely off-platform 2-3 times per quarter.  I typically adhere to that unless I have a very specific reason for not doing it.

How about you?

(this recap is a part of the “Sunday Setlists” event hosted by TheWorshipCommunity.Com each week)