Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Back in January I posted a video from the first work night The Orchard had in the new building. That work night was on January 20th. And we’ve come a long way since then.

Last weekend Pat made the call to call it a 95% chance that we’d have church today (March 7th) in the new building. And I think that pushed us to get as much done as we could in the next six days. And there were lots of folks in and out of the doors. There was still painting, carpeting, putting together 200 chairs, hanging televisions, putting together children’s ministry furniture, setting lights, running sound system cable, building a stage, changing light fixtures, replacing facia board, getting the Fire Marshall to approve us, getting fire extinguishers, hanging posters, and probably a dozen other things. And all fo that was just this past week.

But there have been many, many people who have put in many hours to get the building to where we are. And today felt good. And one of the coolest things is that now we don’t need to spend near as much time before and after a service setting up things and then taking them right back down. We have had some great volunteers give their time and strength to that. We have been blessed. But now we get to reorient their efforts/focus to other ministry areas.

The new building still needs some more attention. There’s a punch list we’ll still need to knock out (did you see the bathrooms?). But it’s great to be in a building of our own. But we have to be careful that we don’t allow a building to define us. Sure, it opens up many opportunities and should also make other things easier. But it’s not an end all solution. Our heart, as a church, still needs to be focused on Jesus. And our passions need to be the same as His passions.

So while we’re quite excited about the building, we’re more excited about the opportunities it provides for The Orchard to impact Oxford for God’s Kingdom.

[I wish I had a few photos from this morning. Maybe next week.]

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I’ve now been working here with The Orchard in Oxford for two years. And in those two years we’ve never had our own space. We started out meeting at The Powerhouse which is the Community Arts Council building. The building is used. A lot….A WHOLE lot. So it’s not uncommon for us to show up early on a Sunday morning to set up for church and there was HUUUUGE party the night before, or wedding reception, or gala, or “She got a donk” contest (whatever that is) with some crazy DJ and all of the stuff from the night before is still up. Or a play is set up for a few weeks for rehearsal and performance, and we’re have to work around each other.

Last May we moved into one of the local movie theaters to have church. We got in early on Sunday morning, set up, and then took everything down before the Sunday matinees started. But in September the theater closed down. Oxford wasn’t big enough to support two movie theaters it seemed. So we returned to The Powerhouse. And I’ll say up front that the folks with the Arts Council/Powerhouse have been very gracious.

BUT…we’ve found our own place. We don’t “own” it, but we have a two year lease. And we’re tearing out walls and building walls. Ripping out old carpet. Painting things afresh. Making it “ours”. Etc. The building has been a number of things. A night club. A restaurant. And most recently…a funeral home. But our goal is to make it as “un-funeral homey” as possible.

But we look forward to the stability having our that having own place will provide us as a church. And we look forward to being able to use the building as a way to impact the local community for Christ in ways that extend far beyond just a weekly church service.

But below is a video from one of our workdays. We’ve had a few since, and it is already looking way different.

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This weekend we had originally planned to go to Clinton for a wedding and spending some time with friends. But then the time of the wedding ended up being later than we thought, so it complicated things. We ended up rethinking the trip. But…our two oldest still “went away” for the weekend. So now we’re just left w/ the 14 month old!

That means things might be on the calm side for various and sundry reasons around the house. I should get a little more sleep, that’s for sure. But it is also a great time for them to be with family a little bit. And it gives us a little space and we start to miss them too. Plus Sunday is Father’s Day, so of course they’ll need to be back around then.

Today I went up to campus at UM. They are having a basketball camp, and one of the guys from my old youth group was here with his team. So I was going to go watch him for a bit. But as I was going in there was a man blocking the stairwell. I had to say, “Excuse me coach,” because it was Houston Nutt. Nice guy though. So I go up the stairs, enter the room with all the basketball courts, and didn’t know which one was court four. So I asked the first person I saw. It was a tall, slim, bald guy.Turns out it was Andy Kennedy. He pointed me in the right direction. As I was saying thanks, someone came in the door behind me and bumped into me. There he was again, Houston Nutt. Oh, well. Both guys seemed nice enough. But they didn’t ask my SEC affiliation.

Turns out Kennedy was watching two of his basketball signees. One a smooth guard from Jackson, MS, and then big guy from south Alabama. Both were impressive. There were TONS of kids in there. Some teams were better than others, of course. And then there were tons of those kids in the cafferteria as well.

Anyway, after having our church’s VBS site switched again for the 2nd time in a week, going to Tupelo to pick up some tents for VBS, taking down old posters from around The Square, and making fliers, it’s time to go grocery shopping with my wife and son (who started walking last night! I’ll have some video soon)

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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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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 after a tumultuous season of Fantasy Football things are now over. And I would congratulate whoever won, but I can’t do it now. Because how self centered would it be if I were to congratulate MYSELF for winning the the whole thing? I mean, I won the Orchard Oxford 2008 Fantasy Football League.

And it would be like tooting my own horn or something if I were to say, “Congratulations, Blake!” Plus it would also seem weird if I started talking to myself in 3rd person. My wife would give me a sideways glance but the people I work with might start questioning my sanity. And how lame would it be on top of all that? I mean, it’s just fantasy football, right?

So, since I am not able to congratulate the winner of the 2008 Fantasy Football season here with The Orchard, I’ll just post a small screen cap of the winners.

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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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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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This NFL season we at The Orchard here in Oxford decided to form a Fantasy Football League. The draft was lots of fun and the first week was surprising. Here’s a picture of part of the first weeks standings.

Now the thing is, both of those guys, the top two ranked teams, are the PASTORS of The Orchard. Yep, funny how that happened. That’s Pat and me atop the week one standings. Of course you can’t go on just one week. I know that. Heck, the Patriots won every game but their final one last season. And all people talk about are the Giants.

Week Two is almost in the books. And as fate would have it Pat and I are matched up. We still have Monday Night football to go. He’s got Brian Westbrook playing and I have Jason Whitten. But here’s the score total heading into tonight.

Truth be known, which ever of us loses will probably have the 2nd or 3rd highest point total for the league, but be 1-1. I plan to be 2-0!

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I’m pumped.

Next week I’m heading out to Indiana. I’ll fly into South Bend and then hitch a ride over to Granger, IN. I’ll be attending the Innovate 08 conference at Granger Community Church.

I had a friend that went last year and raved about it. And I read a few blogs of folks who had attended, and they said it was exceptional. My friend actually said, “It’s better than anything I’ve been to at Northpoint…” Those were some big words there.

So what am I looking forward to?

• I’m looking forward to hearing Mark Beeson teach. He’s a gifted communicator and has pushed his church in so many creative ways. [I still find it interesting that he's in a very "innovative" church, yet still preaches with a coat and tie each week. But hey, seems to be working for him!]
• I’m looking forward to hearing Shawn Wood talk of their creative process of finding the sweet spot of who God created his church to be and who they are not. That way they are not trying to be a huge buffet of ministries, but being dang good at what they’re created to do.
• Getting to hear Tim Stevens speak about recognizing and using culture to communicate the life changing truths of Jesus.
• Maybe meeting Kem Meyer and Tim Stevens both.
• Attending the Granger Film Festival where churches bring their best vids from the last year or so for a competition.
• Hearing Rob Wegner speak his heart about missions and how to impact the local community for The Kingdom.
• To be able to hear Kathy Guy speak on the small group strategies of GCC and how it makes a difference in their people. Might even get to grab lunch w/ her at some point.
• Steven Furtick will tell the stories of how his church has had a wild growth as it’s barely 2 years old. And the struggles and processes they’ve gone trough. And I want to see his weird hair in person.
• Plus, I hope to be able to walk around the campus of Notre Dame while I’m there too.
• And there will be some good companions from The Orchard in Tupelo to be with.

I will have frequent updates and maybe some pics/video of stuff while I’m there. I’ll “take you along” so to speak.

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