RussHutto[dot]com

I mentioned this briefly in a previous post but thought I’d post a bit more tonight now that I have time to chill and think through what I want to write.

I grew up taking long car rides to and from my grandparents house, on family vacations, and cross country church job moves. One thing that was a constant during those many years was the music we listened to as a family.

I’ll never forget the early Integrity Music from the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, one could say, that as a budding worship leader, I cut my musical teeth on Don Moen, Ron Kenoly, Marty Nystrom, and Lenny LeBlanc. I know you’re probably thinking not the “coolest” education in music, but honestly, I’m proud of my beginnings in worship music and I’m equally proud that my parents had high standards and “let” us listen to only Christian music growing up. Although, I’m sure I “missed” out on some other stuff, I know that a lot of my perspective in worship and worship leading was shaped during those years.

Today, I got to participate in a conversation that included one of my heroes from that time period, Ron Kenoly. I loved his hosanna albums, I mean I absolutely loved ‘em! Songs like Lift Him Up, Jesus Is Alive, Ancient of Days, used to be staples in our worship sets. I’m sure that we must’ve done Jesus Is Alive every Easter for most of my teen years!

It was a pleasant surprise to see Ron sitting in the green room this afternoon. I’m at the National Worship Leader Conference with Fred McKinnon (a fellow blogger and friend) and he’s a speaker, so I kind of get to ride around on his “speaker” privileges as a “speaker guest” - which doesn’t really get me much other than access to the green room but hey I got to meet Ron Kenoly today!

Also in the room was Laura Story, you might not have ever heard her name but her work is very well-known. Chris Tomlin recorded a little song of hers called Indescribable that every church in the Western Hemisphere has probably added to their permanent worship repertoire alongside regulars like Shout to the Lord and Amazing Grace.

Steve Berger and Jonathan Allen from Grace Chapel (Franklin, TN) were there. Nia Allen and Calvin Nowell were also there. Dwayne Moore was there for a bit.

My buddy Fred Mckinnon was there blogging, twittering, and talking.

And lastly there was me. Little ol me. I felt out of place. A guest of a speaker sitting in a green room with a room full of national conference speakers, pastors, and Nashville artists. And 2 of them are world reknown songwriters and artists. Well, to get the picture, imagine a really nice room with nice sofas and couches. Everyone’s kind of circled around chatting and having a good time…and then there’s me.

Oh, I’m enjoying it alright, but there are not enough seats and I’m sitting at the edge of the circle on a cooler. Yep. A plastic cooler. But it was worth it. Every word in our discussion was golden. Nuggets of truth.

Let me tell you (and Fred will verify this), Ron Kenoly is a fount of Godly wisdom. I felt like I had nothing to offer the conversation at all, but because he engaged me and others when speaking, looking me directly in my eyes, and speaking to me like only fathers and grandfathers can, I felt included, like he really cared about what he was saying and who he was saying it to.

I don’t know if Ron will ever see or read this but if so, I am extremely grateful that you take the time to share your experiences with folks like me. It blessed my heart and inspired me to greatness. Hopefully, one day I’ll pass on insight to the next generation as you have me.

Back to the story.

Oh, I eventually added a nervous comment here and there to the conversation and even joked with Ron about facebook* so don’t think of me as the pitiful outsider standing alone at the edge of the cool crowd hoping someone will have mercy on them.

So, basically the entire conversation revolved around accountability and biblical accuracy for songwriters. It was an intriguing discussion. Some questions that we were chewing on together:

• Can a worship leader that wouldn’t do a great song because of one line of “gray” inaccuracy change a word or two to make it singable in their congregation?
• Do we sing great songs just because they’re catchy, but not check them for Biblical accuracy?
• Is it the songwriter or the worship leader’s responsibility to filter for accuracy? What if the songwriter is at early stages of their belief journey and just “doesn’t know” yet?
• Is worship music a vehicle for teaching theology?

Like I said, we had some great thoughts flying back and forth, and then we’d listen to Ron. The man is a goldmine of wisdom. He talked about discipline and accountability. As songwriters we should write a song and then be in submission to a mature Believer (or two) to check for consistency, accuracy, and grammar. We need to be disciplined in our approach to songwriting. Why do we hold so tight to our “art” that we’ve created? Can’t we let God shape it?

Shaun Groves (who wasn’t in on the conversation but is a really, really smart guy) added this insight by way of me. He said a great song isn’t written, it’s re-written. Meaning that it’s shaped and reshaped and shaped some more before it becomes a great song. I passed on that insight. Ron drop kicked me with his awesomeness and said “He’s the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last is He…”

Just kidding.

Anyways, it was a great conversation. I hope some of it continues tomorrow. I feel like I’ve gleaned a whole lot of insight by just being around some of these speakers, maybe even more so than being in some of the workshops (don’t tell anyone)!

* At one point Ron asked if any of us were on facebook. You should have seen the room light up with hopes of Ron Kenoly becoming our facebook friend. But, alas, he wanted to know if we could help him delete his account because his email inbox was getting flooded with friend requests. HAHA!