Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

The time change isnt’ a big deal when you don’t change your watch at first. But I guess I should now.

We went back downtown today for lunch today to meet with an Orchard student that goes to Furman. Ate at Sticky Fingers. That is an aptly named restaurant. But then we went to the Discover Class. It is structured for people wanting more info on Grace Church. It was a two hour meeting. But was interesting.During this meeting there was the Saturday night service going on in the next building.

Afterward we got to go to the “debrief” meeting with the pastors after their service. Then a trip to supper with the teaching pastor and worship pastor. Both were really down to earth. Easy to talk with. Funny. But pretty straight on as far as talking Biblical stuff too.

Tomorrow will be a full day. Probably three or four church services. Might even squeeze in a service with Newspring Church too that recently opened up a Greenville campus.

The downtown area of Greenville is interesting. It was revitalized a few years ago, but is full of shops, restaurants, parks, plazas, and landscaping. Lots of unique lighting at night too. There is even a “Mice on Main” scavenger hunt.

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Rumors about churches…

Man, I guess they’re to be expected. And especially about “higher profile” churches. But rumors can be damaging. The sad thing is when rumors are spread not as rumors (like where Pat Patterson will sign to play college football) but told as truth and matter of fact. Like the email I got yesterday.

But first a little background. The church where I serve/attend is a plant of a church in Tupelo. We are still deeply connected to them and are thankful for that. The church in Tupelo just celebrated their ten year birthday. They’ve done tons of good in the community and reached many people. But I can’t think of anyone on the staff who would say that they are perfect or there is not still room to mature and grow in effectiveness as the Body of Christ.

But I got an email yesterday from a friend asking me if something was true of our church in Oxford like it is our sister church in Tupelo. “Is is true that, in order to become a member of The Orchard – Oxford, one must present copies of one’s W-2 for tithing purposes?  Someone told me that it is a requirement for membership at the Tupelo Orchard and asked if y’all have the same requirement.” Seriously? I mean….seriously?

Truth is, this “fact” had been spoken about as just a matter of fact for years I’m told. Now I don’t think my friend was making that accusation. But seems to have taken the statement about the Tupelo church as at least possible fact. I simply responded by asking that they find that “someone” and ask them to stop by The Orchard in Tupelo to appologize for spreading lies about them. Or to at least check facts before regurgitating them.

I mean, how damaging can that be to a church’s reputation? How hurtful could it be to ministries and ministers? How lame of a rumor is that in the first place? And to think that it was even heard more than once in a different church’s office? That’s super-extra-lame.

So…if you hear something negative about a church that surprises you, make sure you know your facts before trying to surprise someone else.

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Yesterday I came across a video that inspired me. You know of course that I made the Small Group Promo video thing last weekend. It was fun to make, and after editing it and showing it I felt a stirring to make more. But of what? There were a few ideas for the “next” video we could do for small groups at The Orchard. But what else going on at our church?

I remembered being at Innovate08 back in September. They had a film festival where churches brought some of their best videos and showed them. I was pretty surprised. Some were sermon illustrations, some were promos for upcoming events, some were just highlights and innovative announcements. But lots were really good. I’ll try to find a few and put up here soon.

But the video I saw yesterday was a promo video for a Young Life camp out in Arizona. Camp videos can be fun. I remember helping some with the video we showed each session the summer I worked at Camp Ozark (like 12 years ago. wow). They could be intense the last night of editing, and it wasn’t even my job to do it! And BreakThru made a video each year that literally finished rendering minutes before it was shown on the last night. And I made a few highlight videos here and there back in the deck to deck days.

So I know the thrill of seeing lots of different things happening and then having it all come together for something that makes a grand impression. Well, this video below blew me away. Like I said, it’s of Young Life camp. But the guy who made it and the equipment used was exceptional. But to be able to make a video like this would be a dream of mine. Enjoy.

Young Life Lost Canyon from W. Ashley Maddox on Vimeo.

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My wife is always wanting to be helpful. She wants me to be “successful” too. So sometimes she realizes I need a little bit of a boost to get rolling. So we talked about different ideas for a video to make for the church about small groups. But she went ahead and and started calling people setting up interviews to get feedback about why people at The Orchard here in Oxford, MS enjoy small groups.

She kept telling me she was “helping me” when really she was nudging me to help myself. But I appreciate her a ton for it. It turned out to be fun and makes me ready to do the next one…what ever it happens to be. But with a few interview appointments spread out over a few days and some friends in town over the weekend too, I pushed back the editing of the video til last night. Like really got started at about 11:30pm. And then the re-edits and tweaks that no one else would probably notice kept me going back over it. So I finished around 3am [aided by the fact this was my first time to use iMovie08] so we could show it in church today. But I’m all good.

Anyhow, here it is. It’s not perfect. But it was fun and a learning experience. I hope for more to come soon. Tell me what you think in the comment.

Small Groups (@ The Orchard) Promo from Blake Thompson on Vimeo.

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A year ago today I started my work at The Orchard in Oxford. It was a pretty large change for the life of my family. We’d spent just over three years in Clinton working in the youth ministry of FUMC. We liked it there. Wasn’t looking for any reason at all to move. But when Pat spoke to me one day about possibly coming to help plant the church in Oxford…it just seemed right.

Yes, even Oxford felt right. Not the red and blue aspects of it. But what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with. And at the time I didn’t realize that I’d be living in my dad’s basement for five months or that gas prices would get so crazy. Nor did I anticipate the chore of finding a house in Oxford. But after looking back on that first day here in Oxford lots has happened. 

As I said in the last post, I’m going to put together a few ”

I think I’ve learned quite a bit the last 12 months. But I realize how much more I need to learn, study, and apply myself. I see where God has worked, but I see lots of opportunities to partner even more deeply with God in serving Oxford and Lafayette County.

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So I’m sitting in my living room listening to the carrots boil on the stove. Everything else in here is quiet. But I can hear the pandemonium that is coming from the back of the house. My brave wife decided to take all three kids to try to get cleaned off at once. Even she got a bath out of the time back there. But it’s been loud and crazy. I’m sure there’s a lot of water on the floor too. And the carrots continue to roll around in the boiling water (we’re going to mash them up to feed to Rowan… not eat our selves).

Last night was Art With Santa for our church. It’s our 2nd annual event that happens right before the Oxford Christmas parade. Kids come in and make Christmas art projects and get to sit on Santa’s lap if they’d like to. I don’t know exactly how many showed up. But it was pretty full in The Powerhouse for about two hours. And Pat said it was at least three or four times as many people who came last year. [a few pice below].

Then afterward we walked the parade route handing out signs for kids to hold up that said “SANTA, I’VE BEEN GOOD THIS YEAR!!!” The cool thing was that on the back side was our church name and info. So hopefully we’ll have a few more people hearing of us and maybe coming by.

We’re about to eat a little supper, and then decorate the tree. We were afraid it might not fit in our house because the house in Clinton had higher ceilings. The tree is a 9 footer. But it made it barely.

Now for some ART WITH SANTA PICS:

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We should all look at doing this. And not just at Christmas.

The Advent Conspiracy Promo Video from theadvance on Vimeo.

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My wife told me I needed to post something “personal” next on the blog. And she’s right. I’ve had a lot of ideas of whta’s next, but ran across this video this morning and simply had to share. It is one that I laughed at multiple times. Make sure you wait for the last song too.

[ht to Josh Griffin]

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This past weekend was quite full for the family. Friday was an adventure, then we left to go back to Clinton for a couple of days for Ella’s birthday. We even got to go to the morning service of our old church. But was glad to be back home Sunday night for church here at The Orchard. [More on the weekend to come.]

And Pat brought it. He’s been going through a series called Enough. This past weekend’s sermon was on Beauty. It’s probably the “toughest” sermon he’s preached in a long while ever. So if you have a spare 37 minutes during a commute or waiting in the car line or while you take your morning 4 mile jog…give it a listen. You can find it here or on iTunes here.

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I have been a subscriber of Relevant Magazine for about the last five or so years. It is a magazine aimed at Christian 20/30 somethings, but is not overly cheesy or cliche. I really like it. And I like their website a lot too. There’s new stuff up every day and they have great new music to find too (along with some older favorites). But the editor/publisher, Cameron Strang, has been sort of in the public light recently because of his acceptence and then decline of an invitation to pray at the DNC. He covers that quite effectively here.

But his First Word column in the magazine is usually a well thought out perspective on some important issues. The column in the Sept/Oct issue is a real thought provoker I believe. You can read the entire article here, but I’ll include a few quotes below as well. Let me know what you think.

I’m someone who tries to think independently and objectively, rather than simply follow what the pundits tell me to think. Because of that, I’ve realized I cannot fully embrace either political party. Both sides of the aisle have some great ideas and goals. But both also have areas where they simply get it wrong…

<snip>

The problem is, many Christians vote these convictions, but that’s largely where their personal involvement in the issues stops. Are the government leaders we vote for meant to do our job for us?

<snip>

I’ve heard that only 5 percent of people who attend church regularly actually serve in any way. I’ve read that if every Christian in America actually tithed 10 percent of their income, we would have enough financial resources to wipe out global poverty.

There’s more power lying dormant in pews around the nation than any government could hope to provide, and that’s where our focus should be.

<snip>

If you have a passion for an issue, rather than judging someone who doesn’t share that passion or viewpoint, just go do something about it. Give your life to it. Be the change you want to see.

It’s not up to Washington, it’s up to us—and I say it’s time we step up and lead the charge. But that means with our lives, our finances and our actions every day. Not just Nov. 4.

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Last night The Orchard was a host for a screening of the new Invisible Children Video, GO. You probably remember me talking a bit about it last week.

Suffice to say it was pretty amazing. The turnout was less than we expected and hoped for, but the event itself was a blast. The roadies from the IC were great. Very helpful, knowledgeable, and genuine. The movie was inspiring. It told the stories of three out of 15 high school students who were allowed to go to Africa and see the effects of the money they raised. 

In turn it inspired some of them to make an even deeper commitment to helping the cause of children in northern Uganda.

And The Lyric Theater….it’s freaking amazing [or freakhog amazing]. It’s a great venue for a movie for sure. And I look forward to seeing some bands in there soon. But even the Roadies said that normally while the movie is showing they hang out at the merch table because they’ve seen/heard it so many times. But they said that The Lyric Theater in Oxford was by far the best venue they’ve been to in terms of video quality and sound quality. They said it was like watching the movie almost for the first time again.

All in all it was great night. Hope to have a better attended event next time. I think we learned a few things about getting the word out too.

Lastly, here is an older video from Invisible Children. It shows a bit about their Displace Me Campaign from a couple of years back. The more I see from these guys, the more I’m amazed with their video production skills. Plus, this video has one of my favorite songs in it too.

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I first learned of The Invisible Children while at Passion 06 in Nashville. But in a nutshell, they’re an movement began by three young men after travelling to Africa and seeing the horrid atrocities occurring as unwanted children have fled Sudan in to Northern Uganda. There they have often been kidnapped and forced into war as child soldiers. Those three guys made a movie about what they say. It impacted a lot of people.

Invisible Children has made and is making a big difference in the lives of those children. And this weekend The Orchard in Oxford is partnering with them to bring their latest movie, GO, to The Lyric Theater on The Square in Oxford.

We set up a website for it today: InvisibleChildrenOxford.com.
Go visit it. Find out more. And attend the screening.
October 12. The Lyric. 6pm.
Two videos below you should watch…

The trailer for the movie GO:

Part of what led to the movie:

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