Creativity can be Beautiful....and Bizarre!

Have you ever written a song or created a project where you were trying to expand and stretch your creative walls? Then months later listening and realizing how incredibly weird and bizarre it was? Yeah....here's mine.

http://soundcloud.com/mckendreeaugustas/ocean-is-for-divers

You gotta love the process...:)

~Mckendree

Incredible new worship

my sister and brother-in-law have a worship band under the name "Saint Lewis". They are releasing a new ep within the next several months. Their first single "Your mighty hand" is awesome! Check it out at saintlewis.com
I am so very excited about the worship coming from them in the near future.
God, may your Kingdom come down on this expression of worship and may new and old hearts come closer to your Glory!

so, don't forget the name Saint Lewis

Click or NO Click?

I have had many conversations recently and over the past few years on whether or not using a click during recording has dumbed down the "true" vibe of creativity. Like so many others I have my preferences but I've really enjoyed hearing others thoughts and opinions on this. A friend of mine told me the other day that for true creative music...."to really FEEL the music from the soul, you really need that natural shift in the tempo to experience the raw energy and chemistry from a band".

Do you agree?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this...

Free Music!

Trying out these tunecore.com mp3 players...and it allows for me to give away some free music! So, it's a win, win...win situation! (-:

You can download "Grow, grow", "Philippians ch. 2" or "Colossians ch. 1"...or all three!

so, if you're interested...just click on the "Free song" button on the mp3 players to the left here.

God Bless!

~Mckendree Augustas

History behind the "Paul's Letters" project

In 2007 I was living in the beautifully underrated southern part of Nashville called Antioch. I was struggling with truly getting into the Word of God and meditating on scripture on more of a daily basis. I was busy with a full time job and trying to continue creating music. Like many, I was having a hard time juggling all of this on top of trying to be faithful at reading the Word of God.

I became frustrated because I was not able to dig deeper into the knowledge of God. Maybe I was committing to too much, maybe I was having a hard time saying NO, or maybe I was just becoming lazy. Whatever it was I began to cry out to God. I was sick of making time for everything else but not making time for growing in the knowledge and understanding of God's Word. I asked the Lord to show me how I could become more diligent in this area.

I will never forget waking up on one of my few days off and having this hunger to read the word and record. So, I asked my spirit...should I focus on reading the word today or focus on recording, creating, doing what God gifted me to do. The only answer I remember hearing is..."Yes". I asked again...and again. All I heard in reply was "Yes".

In that short momentas morning I received an incredibly beautiful idea that resonated with my passions, my creative intentions, and my utmost desire to learn more from my loving Father God.
The Lord guided me to the studio where I felt specific instructions to get before the Lord and allow His Spirit to speak to me. Then I drew up a click-track in Logic (my software recording program) and recorded my voice reading what I felt led to read first- The book of Phillipians. In that day I read all four chapters. Days later I created what would be a soundtrack to one of many letters written by the apostle Paul.

I feel this way was revealed to me so that the spirit behind this project would always start and begin with The Word of God. Before any kind of creative talent or ability that God has given me...The foundation is and will always be on God's Holy Word.

The book of Colossians project came just a month and a half before I married the woman of my dreams, Rachel. She assisted in the project by reading two of the chapters which evened the short, powerful, four-chaptered book.
We initially gave the project away at our wedding reception as 'party favors'...and now I have decided to release it on itunes.
I will say that since the release of "Phillipians" many others have spoken out and have connected with this form of reading and allowing the words of our heavenly Father God being spoken over our lives in a daily routine.

Paul's Letters Book of Collosians is now available on itunes.

Review on "Colossians" by www.theworshipcommunity.com

Also, Paul's Letters Book of Phillipians is on itunes

A season of change

“Change” it seems is the hope...the desire that America has embraced. Change is good. Change is needed...and change is contagious. Some may feel that this word “change” has been loosely thrown around and/or overused with a stale foundation or state of mind. Some are still holding on with every last-standing ounce of hope and strength. Holding on for the better days...for the simpler days...and ultimately for peace. I personally believe that change is a phenomenon that spreads itself from a universally galactic state spiraling straight down to even the molecular level and demanding attention. Change is beautifully illustrated in the cycle of adaption that this planet evolves and spins within. This illustration is what we call the “Seasons”. A season is clearly defined by the shift in color, in weather, in the response of the planet, and the nostalgic emotions that spring forth from the soul of a human being. Of course, my friends....this change is conducted and produced by God the father...the ONE, true GOD!

Coffee shops

I moderately watch T.V. and I occasionally read the newspaper. I see how America tends to fall into routines just like the assembly of the seasons that cycle for our needs and pleasures. I honestly hate this...and I don't even really know why. I always play the scene over in my mind from the Matrix where Neo wakes up at his computer and begins to have this conversation with someone who seems to finally have answers to his many questions. Everyday i watch and see people that repeatedly live a life that is ran and controlled by a simple routine....I then constantly tell myself "I will never be like that" (as I'm sitting in a coffee shop with an americano and a scone while getting work done on the local WIFI and thinking that I'm so different from the rest of the world cause I get away from home to do my work!!). I then humbly realize that I fall directly into the same category that I am currently loathing. Well, I guess routines can be good. They are good in certain circles. I just long to be different....that I soon find myself in a group of people just like me repeating our own routine. Let it be...Let it be. So I sign off by sending a shout out to my fellow buddies practicing a similar routine....I'll see you at the next Rendezvous....