Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

A year or so ago I heard of the Verge conference while perusing twitter. I started paying attention and heard some new things. Things about being “missional” and “missional communities” and some really good speakers. I listened to some of it live stream while I was painting the bonus room.

But this coming February, Verge 2012 is back in Austin and I’m really wanting to go. For the past few months I’ve been chewing on and digesting what it means to live “on mission”. The Verge Network‘s website has been a steady stream of information from some of the top thinkers in this field. You may remember the video from Soma Communities I posted about recently. I’m continually intrigued by this way of life. It seems so fresh, yet is not really anything new.

A couple of months back there was a GCM Conference (The Gospel/Community/Mission Collective) in Huntsville. I was hoping to be a part until a wedding conflicted with the timing. Now I hope to be able to make it to Austin this Spring again. When I read this following description, it makes me wonder what is possible within my own church:

VERGE is a four-day experience for anyone pursuing the mission of God, in community, whatever the context, for the sake of the Gospel – everyday leaders, students, entrepreneurs, artists, urban innovators, business leaders, community development specialists, non-profit leaders, church planters and church leaders.

Verge will resource you to make disciples who make disciples in every sphere and domain of society, advocate for the poor and oppressed, mobilize urban and global mission leaders, and champion movements of gospel-centered missional communities.

I want to be able to know more, to experience more, and to be able to cast the vision of what it means to live on mission in all areas of our lives. I want to see The Orchard be infused with the gospel and the realization that each of us is a missionary, each of us is called to bear witness to greatness of who God is. And I know that I need help in figuring out how to practically lead our current community group ministries into understanding the heart of Missional Communities. I think I get the end goal, but how to get from where we are to where we end up isn’t always that clear.

Here is a short video that fills you in just a little bit more:

Is anyone else going? Has anyone else been before?

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This video moves me in many ways. First of all, it’s beautifully filmed. It makes me think living in Tacoma, WA is desirable. Maybe it is. I don’t know. But the subject is Soma Communities in Tacoma.

But the subject of the video is beautiful as well. It moves me. Now this sort of missional community really IS desirable. Sure, it takes effort and intention and vulnerability. But hearing about it. Watching it. Something deep within me resonates with it as well. Is it just me?

Take a watch and then answer me two questions:
1. Would you be willing to engage life with others in this sort of community?
2. What would be your biggest hesitations about being a part of a missional community like Soma?

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These are sometimes cheesy. But I thought it was well done.

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Well the first of the year started off with a flurry. My alarm didn’t go off because of a software glitch. But my wife’s did and I hit the ground moving to get my shower and things in the van before leaving for Atlanta and Passion 2011. I’d been looking forward to it for a while. And I was again blown away. So good.

It was four days of deep teaching, powerful worship, meaningful conversations, relationship building, and lots of walking. It wasn’t much in the way of getting much sleep though. Our hotel rooms were pretty suite too (pun intended) but it was a hassle to check in and check out of them. I saw lots of people I knew from different times in my life. I even saw people that were in my youth group as middle schoolers now actually leading college groups. Maybe that should make me feel old, but it doesn’t!

It was a fantastic experience to hear teaching from Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. But it was almost too much to ingest in a short four day period. I plan to spend some time over the next week or so digesting it all. And in the mean time I’ll post some thoughts and reflections on them. But it seems that after I got back I got a little head cold that has zapped me of any/all energy. I’m almost over it now and on the upswing. So all is (almost) well.

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Back in 1996 my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to go to a college conference with her campus ministry. It was over in Austin, TX and was called Passion. Some guy named Louie Giglio had put it together and Dave Busby was going to be speaking. So was John Piper. I had no idea who these guys were. But I did see that a band named Caedmon’s Call was going to be playing. So I said, “Sure, why not.” and signed up.

Those four days really shaped my life. I was just starting my first full time ministry job in January of 1997 and this trip was January 1-4. And I’ve been a huge respecter of Louie Giglio and his ministries ever since. Beverly and I went to the first three Passion conferences (97, 98, 99) and to OneDay 2000. While in Clinton I carried a group to Nashville for Passion 2006 and tomorrow we leave with a group of college students headed to Atlanta for Passion 2011.

If you’re not that familiar with Passion or Louie Giglio, then you should be. Louie is one of my favorite communicators of God’s truths. He does it in a casual way, but will sometimes punch you right in the gut (or face) with exactly what you needed to hear. His heart beats most for college aged people to see how much they mean to God and the ways He can move through them to make a difference in the world.

I plan to tweet and blog a little while in Atlanta about Passion and our time there. We’ll get to listen to Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Davie Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Redmon, Charlie Hall, Christie Nockles, and more. But I hope that our group really catches fire for seeing God’s glory made known back here in Oxford and beyond. Pray for us while we’re away.

Anyone else going to be at Passion?

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My life in general is needing some organizing. I’ve been hearing a little about Backpack. First heard about it from Brian Bailey. He said he loves it and I’ve found a lot of other people who love it as well. It’s basically a way to keep lists, pages, info, reminders, calendars, memos, files, pictures and just about anything else together in once place so you can get at it from any internet connection.

I’m thinking of creating a page for Work (Church), Side Projects (MST), and then Home. I’ll try that and see how it smooths things out. The company that makes Backpack, 37Signals, also has Basecamp that might be worth checking in on. It’s more of a project management application, but looks like it could be useful as well.

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Well, I have to admit that our Sunday nights here at the church have been pretty low as far as attendance. Seems we like to ebb and flow with numbers, and we’ve definitely been on an ebb lately. The summer is a time for people to be in and out of town a lot, and it has shown. But with Sunday night being the first weekend since schools started, we had a hamburger supper before hand. People showed up. And kept showing up.

We ended up having over 100 kids here (not including adults and the band). And the band was rocking quite well too. Josh Brister and his merry band led us in 4 or 5 songs and did a great job. I could tell Josh fed off the crowd’s energy too. Then I spoke on “Whatever” for a bit. Basically taking Phil 4:8-9 and Col 3:17 and saying that God doesn’t always care what you do, but how you do what you do and why you do it and who you do it for.

I have to admit that I was a little surprised w/ the crowd. And very pleased. VERY pleased. But we had a nice crowed when school started last year too, and I learned w/o proper “investment” into them, that it can dwindle easily.

So my prayer is to pour into them. POUR into them and see them grow in Him.

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Crap! I typed all this stuff out and then Firefox blanked out on me! So I’ll hope to be able to retype it all as good as before.

So now everyone is back from Costa Rica and the kids are back in school. It feels weird to think that just earlier this week we were down in Central America working, sweating, painting, mixing concrete, and dancing to a rap group from Honduras.

I think about a third of our group got sick down there. Most of those even got shots. I’d have to be pretty bad off to get a shot down there I think. But I thought some were maybe over reacting. But after not feeling bad while down there, I come home and start feeling puny. I ran a fever one night (had chills and everything) and a cough that didn’t want me to talk. Now I’m good except for a runny nose.

It was awesome to have The Wife down there w/ me. She’d heard a lot about C.Rica from me, but wanted to be able to experience it herself. She misses it now. Wants to go back…and I mean before next summer. Sure, it’s a cool place. And it’s beautiful and breathtaking some of the things you get to see. But it’s the people themselves you really fall in love with. To be able to go to church w/ them, eat w/ them, work and sweat along side of them, and see the genuine care and love in their eyes when they talk with you (whether you understand them or not). You really want to take some of them home with you…or go live with them!

Bomitada Fest happened again. When I get all the pictures from it I’ll give a more detailed description. But it was Utah, Becca, and me again this year and we more than doubled our fund raising from last year! And there was some more drama and excitement w/ the contest as well. More to come later (I promise!)

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I’m supposed to be at teh church in 90 minutes. We meet at 3:30am. Load up in the bus. I’ll drive everyone to the airport and we’ll get situated there. We’ll wait for a while. The Wife will ask why we had to get there so early when we’re just standing in a line that isn’t even open.

But then we’ll go to ATL, wait there for a while, eat a brunch of sorts and see people flying to all parts of the country/world. Then the last flight of the day takes us straight into Liberia!

I’m looking forward to many things.

• I’m looking forward to seeing old friends that I made last year on the same trip.
• I’m looking forward to eating some of the fantastic food the senoritas make there at the church.
• I’m looking forward to brushing up on my spanish on the plane to make me bi-lingual.
• I’m looking forward to going on the trip with my wife and sharing the experience with her. Should be quite awesome.
• But I’m looking forward to seeing God move through our team and through me.

So as sit at the computer with no sleep and none in sight, I ask for your prayers as we embark on the journey!

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Twelve days til we make the trek to Costa Rica.  We’re going back to the little Methodist church, Fountain of Grace in Liberia. If you look at the link, you’ll see an older picture. Here are some newer pictures of the church and our trip last summer. We’ll be doing more construction on the new sanctuary and putting on a Bible School as well. (For some interesting thoughts on VBS, check out Tally Wiligis’ post)
Exciting thing is that The Wife is coming this year! How cool is that? But we’ll be leaving the kiddies behind, so that might be a slight stress point for The Wife. But she’s never been out of the country before, and she’s an incredible worker. I am afraid she might work everyone else into the ground.

My back has been troubling me just a bit. I’ve realized my “core” or trunk of my body is lacking in strength and flexibility, so I took Pilates for the first time today. Wasn’t too bad. But I will be a bit sore tomorrow. But I need to do something now or be in a bad way years from now.

So pray for our trip to Costa Rica, pray for my core, and pray for my wife as we leave the girls in the States while we travel to Costa Rica.

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