Earlier this week my back was killing me. Like to the point I felt like an old man when I tried to get out of bed or out of my truck. Like I’d have to use my hands to swing my legs out of truck and basically “fall” out of the truck instead of stepping out like normal. It got bad enough that I decided to do something I’d only thought about earlier in life. I went to a chiropractor.

The first visit on Wednesday he took a couple of X-rays and hooked me up to a machine that gave me “electrical pulses”. I don’t know if it worked or not, but my back did feel better the next few house. Maybe it was the pulses, maybe it was the ibuprofen. Or the planks I did earlier that day. But my back did feel better. And also yesterday.

Today it was still feeling better, but I could tell it was still a bit stiff. But it wasn’t hurting like it was before. But he showed me my crooked back on the X-rays and my lumbar bones. Then he “adjusted” me. I laid on my side and he shove/twisted me to where sounded like someone was eating peanut brittle. And I’m all good. Or better.

He still told me to hold off on running til our next visit. But I should be back running next week. Which needs to happen fast because I have to get ready for the Double Decker. But I also knew I’d be getting ready for a Men’s Retreat with The Orchard  this weekend. And if I was going to be out in the woods with a bunch of dudes doing whatever dudes do, I didn’t need to be saying, “Yall go ahead. I’m going to hang out here and tend the fire and make sure no one carries these rocking chairs away.”

But I’m really looking forward to the retreat. We’ll have quite a few guys from our church and their friends together for some great hang out time and some great discussions about God’s work in our lives. And it will be a unique setting as there will be no kids or wives around either. We love or wives and kids. But this will be a good night/morning.

Plus, we’re meeting at Camp Lake Stephens which is one of my favorite places on earth. And interesting note is that we’ll have the retreat in the woods. At a camp. By a lake. On FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH. I really think that’s quite awesome as well.

So now I have to go pack and make sure I can find a decent flashlight for the weekend.

Today was the Missional Community Labs here at the Verge Conference. It was from 8:30am – 5:00pm. The day had six different time slots with about five options per time slot. Sometimes it was an easy decision of which to attend, but other times I had to make a tough choice and expect to get an audio download later of a few I missed.

I won’t type out my entire notes from each session but some key points from each.

A – The Future Of The Church: Panel of Mike Stewart (director of the Verge Conference), Jeff Vanderstelt, Hugh Halter, Neil Cole, Alan Hirsch, Felicity Dale: It was a time for Stew to ask a few questions of the panel and they gave some insight and observations about the church. This was meant to prime the pump for the rest of the day.

• FD: In the first reformation the Bible was placed in the people’s hands. In the second reformation we’re seeing the church being placed into their hands.
• JV: We can’t accomplish what God has called us to without the power of the Holy Spirit.
• NC: Is the Holy Spirit evident in our lives? It’s not the gifts of the Spirit that should be so important, but the fruit. We need the spirit filled life that bears the fruit.
• AH: What type of church do you hope your children are one day a part of? How are you helping to build that church?
• HH: The Kingdom will always be good news. Our task is to make it tangible.

Break Out 1 – How Missional Communities Make and Multiply Disciples: Jeff Vanderstelt & Caesar Kalinowski

• Everything we do is a form of discipleship. Everything we do counts. We’re showing the world what life in submission to Christ looks like.
• The goal is never discipline, but discipleship. Discipline w/o Christ can lead to self-righteousness.
• Discipleship happens through Life on Life, Life in Community, and Life on Mission.
• Those three parallel with knowing, believing, and doing.
• Most groups seem to focus on knowing but need to work on the being/doing.
• Life on Life – How is your life being exposed to those in your community? Where is your life visible/vulnerable? Access points into our lives for others to witness.
• Life in Community – We are in a context of living the life together.
• Life on Mission – The mission God calls us on will reveal our deep need for God in our lives.

BO 2 – Practical Tools for Moving Small Group sot Missional Communities – Hugh Halter

• Hugh basically laid out the differences between traditional small groups and the “next level” that missional communities are taken too. They take more buy in, more time/life investment, and more transparancy. He likened them to be a part of the Navy (anyone can join) to being a Navy Seal (specialized calling).
• He explained the differences between the “modalic” structure and the “sodalic”.
• To make the transition he recommends starting a pilot group that you do not go public with. He recommends 10% of congregation to begin to grow MC’s.

BO 3 – Gospel on Mission – Jonathan Dodson

• What is the gospel? The good/true story that Jesus has defeated sin/death/evil through his own death/resurrection to make all things new.
• How do we go on mission w/ the gospel? Know people, love people, speak the gospel.
• Non Christians know when you see them as a project. They should be objects of love instead of projects of evangelism.
• Discipleship isn’t inviting people to an event but into your life.

BO 4 – Discipling Children in Gospel Communities – Jeff Vanderstelt

• If you can teach something to kids then you can probably teach it to anyone
• You can’t effectively make disciples w/ Sunday only church. MC’s are the primary vehicle for disciple making.
• Mom/Dad are primary ministers to kids. And we should equip them.
• Shift from being a director to an equipper.
• The family is the greatest influencer of kids’ lives. Or lack there of.
• Where/how do you want your kids to end up as an adult? Then train for tha tnow. Is ther ean expectation for that’s what htey’ll become? And make sure they have experiential time.
• All kids go through The Story of God at least once a year.
• If we don’t take seriously the discipleship of kids, then the parents won’t either.

BO 5 – How To Use The Story Of God in Making Disciples – Ceasar Kalinowski

• We live in story. We are born aural leaners. Most people are good story tellers.
• More and more of society is functionally illiterate.
• Will one more good sermon save our land? No.
• People engage more and retain more w/ a story narrative.
• We have to help people find their story in the story of God. What does it mean for them to live w/in God’s story?
• God is always the hero in Biblical narratives.
• You can’t teach the NT w/o first knowing the OT.

It was a full day of sessions. But they kept us supplied w/ snacks, water, sweet tea, and lunch. It was a great way to kick off the Verge Conference. And I walked around the city some and enjoy Austin. I hope to get me a UT shirt this week. And maybe a BU shirt as well.

And here is my friend Logan’s take on his first day at Verge Conference.

Well we made it to Austin last night for The Verge. Remember when I posted about it a few months ago? Well I won a free ticket!  And now my first day is done. And I don’t know how to effectively get things out of my head in a way that will make perfect sense. I guess I could wait until we’re back and take a day to sit and process it all, or I can do a brain dump and then go back through it later to polish things up. So here are a few observations:

From the 700+ drive here:

• My sixth month old was a freaking champ during the ride. He didn’t get that upset much.
• When he did get upset he really let us know.
• Shreveport, LA is bigger than I remember.
• Driving across LA and TX into the setting sun is horrible w/o sunglasses.
• In Texas there are two lane rural roads where the speed limit is 70mph. I shudder to think of people living alongside that road having to pull out of their driveways into 70mph traffic.
• So that means on some Texas interstates the speed limit is 75mph.
• I like the Texas custom of people moving over into a wide shoulder so I can pass on the left.
• After the sun went down and I wasn’t looking into the sun the drive was much more pleasant.
• Driving through Waco I saw a lot of nice looking buildings next to the interstate. That was Baylor University. Looked nice during the drive by.

My impression of Austin so far:

• I came to the first two Passion conference in the late 90′s. But I remember nothing of Austin except for going to REI once with some friends.
• Austin is a big city with lots going on. I don’t know how much of the city I’ll get to see, but I hope to take as much in as possible.
• More tattoo’s in Austin than in Oxford.
• Lots of construction going on downtown in Austin.
• I think I like this place.
• I’m hoping to see the famous Austin bats. I am close to the bridge.
• But the free wifi at the hotel isn’t the best.

And the Pre-Conference Labs:

• I went to the Missional Community pre-lab today at St. Davids.
• It was informative and the speakers were approachable
• I’ll give a few bullet points of each breakout in the next post.

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?

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?

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.

]]> http://blakethompson.net/2011/01/07/back-to-life-back-to-reality/feed/ 0 http://blakethompson.net/2010/12/31/passion-2011/ http://blakethompson.net/2010/12/31/passion-2011/#comments Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:33:03 +0000 Blake http://blakethompson.net/?p=1519

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?

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.

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.

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!)

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!

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.

One even went so far as to say that any success they had during their mission trip would be partly because of our service to them.  Wow. How amazing was that? And the last morning, when we were leaving, the Kenya team actual asked us to sit in a circle while they washed our feet as an act of service to us. Very humbling.

I think a lot of the Clinton students were semi envious. Not jealous, but when they’re seeing these guys and girls, young men and women not any different from them getting the opportunity to travel abroad to serve God’s people in a special way…there is a “Man, I wish I was going” feeling that wells up. But the truth is that there is just as much need and hurt and emptiness in our own neighborhoods and communities. And that fact hit hard today.

After being gone to BigStuf for 5 days and then being home for about 3 before heading to the Training Camp for 6, I was ready to kick back and not worry about too much today. So I cleaned the UHaul trailer out, sprayed it off and returned it. But I also found out that a 15 year old girl took her own life last night here in town. That makes the 2nd student from that grade to take their own life in the last 6 or 7 months. It’s obvious that there are hurts and pain and confusion even in our own little suburbia.

So although it wasn’t a plane ride to the other side of the world. It was a drive back to Mississippi w/ a stop off at Six Flags. But there is much, much ministry to be done right here in our own back yard.

So if you think of it, please pray for the Mosley family. And also pray for Clinton, MS as a whole. It, and we, need lots and lots of prayer.

We arrived here in Gainseville Thursday afternoon. After seeing where we sleep, I was amazed. It’s like a huge green Army tent that was about 189 degrees inside. Wood chips on the ground w/ a bit of a tarp to rest our heads on. Good stuff. So we get situated and then throw the frisbee for a while. The actual mission teams aren’t supposed to come til the next day, so we were able to kick back a bit.

Then we took a trip to CiCi’s Pizza. Arguably one of the best pizza buffets around, IMHO. Then a Target run for another frisbee and other necessities (the other one had already broken). Worship that night w/ the team leaders was different but good. But there were some experiential worship stations and some accoustic worship.

Following that was bed time. And we guys were in the big tent that was now cooled off a bit. There actually was a big fan in there, but it seemed to move hot air around. But it was night and cooler so it was bearable. But we had some fun. We call it…Shadow Puppett Theater. We made shadow puppets on the ceiling of the tent for at least 45 minutes. Classic. Then we went to sleep. And we woke up FREEZING. Don’t know why it was so cold. But it was. I mean unbearablly freezing.

Most of the Mississippi team goes to the airport while 3 guys stay behind w/ me and we mow/weedeat/patch tents/shuck corn/fill Tiki torches, fill water, wash dishes, etc. Then missionaries start to arrive. Again,  this is a training camp for them before they go out to Kenya, Russia, or Peru. So they’re being trained, we’re serving them a bit and being trained a bit. But it’s a good mix of folks. Basically aged 15-22.

I’ll try to get some pics of where we’re staying and how everything is laid out soon. Camera was out of batteries, but got some new ones.  It’s hot. There’s no AC, and I’m going minimal on the showers. Life is good!

I should pull out of town tomorrow morning to go to Gainesville, GA to participate in an Adventures in Mission training camp. When AIM sends missionaries to diff parts of the country and world, they come for training first. Well, we’re going to be serving the missionaries. Serving food and cleaning after them and various stuff like that. But out group will get to participate in the Mission Trainging as well. So it’s a good deal for us. We get to give AND get!

One thing about Gainesville is that it is 37 miles from Northpoint Community Church. I’ve always wanted to check it out. Never been to a mega church before. And I really dig Andy Stanley. Not saying a megachurch is my thing. But dunno. Never been there.

But we’ll be sleeping in tents, using “home made” showers, and roughing it. Probably a contrast from BigStuf last week. But I should have net access of some sort, so I hope to have some updates and photos!

The trip started off w/ a bang…literally. It was only about 30 miles down the road before we had a blowout. But after a fairly quick tire change at a local tire store along the way, we were back on track.

Louie Giglio, Stuart Hall, and Jared Herd were the speakers for the week. Stuart was good, but had a few things in his talk that some of my kids thought were distracting. Some little jokes that probably keep middle school students on track were bumping some of my high school students off track it seemed. And a comment or two was taken wrong. In no way do I think that Stuart’s heart or intent was anything but pure, but it was something worth mentioning.

Jared Herd I’d heard before. In that time I thought he was almost a “Louie-lite” meaning he gave a message very similar to one I’d heard Louie give before and seemed to have a lot of the same mannerism and all. Not that that was a bad thing, but it seemed to be not his own stuff. This time I came away really enjoying Jared’s messages.

And of course Louie was speaking w/ impact again. Talked about being Wired for Worship and being Wired for This World. Pretty convicting stuff when he talked about how we all have responisibilities as Christians to minister to and support and help those in our world who seem hopeless.

Worship was as great as always. Started a little slower for some reason, but as the week went on, it seemed to grab me more. It deff was a production. More on that later, but they can really create an environment that is packed w/ the “Wow factor”.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. There were no squabbles or fights that I know of between our students. And some funny stories as well. Maybe I’ll get the volleyball tourney story in or the motorcycle gang story up soon. Some are funny at the time, some are funny to look back on.

So as the Buzz gets going this weekend, I hope to be able to keep up w/ it through blogs and maybe, just maybe get some cd’s or mp3′s after the conference.

But a couple of days ago Tony Morgan had this post where he was talking about DRIVE THE CAR. He likened our lives to a car and someone who loves his car and tinkers with it and puts time into trying to get it just right, but never taking it out of the garage. Never getting it on the open road. Sometimes I think that’s me.

So now that I’ve been slapped around in the face with it a little lately…what am I going to do with it?

Looking forward to the hot days, hard work, hot nights, great fellowship, interesting church services, and feeling exhausted knowing you did some work for God.

This is me and Pastor Carlos of the church where we work, eat, and sleep pretty much all day. Outstanding man of God.

For more pictures of our trip last year to Costa Rica you can check out this Flickr Set.