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Greenville, SC :: Day Two

02/21/2009 / Blake

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.

downtown-greenville 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.

And …. we’re back … in Greenville, SC

02/20/2009 / Blake

Seems Carlos is taking a blogatical these days. So since he left I’m back. There wasn’t a planned reason for me to be gone. I thought many times “today I should definitely blog again” but didn’t. Not sure why. But I’m back in the saddle. And I could throw out a few more cliches, but sufice to say I intend to tear it up.

Right now I’m sitting at Spill The Beans in Greenville, SC. Flew up here today for a weekend of meeting with the staff of Grace Church and seeing how their staff is structured. We’d met Matt Williams, the Teaching Pastor and planter of Grace Church a few months ago. He was intriguing as was his story about his church. So @willrambo and @rickpike and I are going to be experiencing their weekend worship service, their “new member” class, and some one on one time with various staff members to look behind the curtain and ask some probing questions.

I’m looking forward to seeing how their church leadership strategy is structured and also how their small group ministry is structured. And a peek at their youth ministry events is going to happen too.

So…Greenville, SC. Here we are.

The New Baby

02/04/2009 / Blake

Sunday night while I was at a Super Bowl party with some folks from church, Sarah was getting ready to have her daughter over in Tupelo. And before we knew it, Sawyer Belle Ward was born. A huge congratulations to Pat and Sarah. I think they’re actually returning home right now after a couple of nights in the hospital.

But my daughters were staying with my mom for a few days. And they were asking lots of questions about the baby and if she’d be born yet. My mom was looking on Pat’s blog to see if there was any update there. Alas, he’d not updated there yet eschewing for the other technologies of Twitter and Facebook. But my mom did find this picture on Pat’s TwitPic page. My mom called the girls over and said, “Look, this must be Pat & Sarah’s new baby…”

sawyer

Ella, my four year old, stared at it for about two minutes. Looking hard at the picture. Then she said, “It doesn’t look much like Sarah, but it’s a cute baby I guess.”

Sunday Hodge Podge

02/01/2009 / Blake

Sunday is the end of the week. End of new thoughts, right? We’ll see. But here are a few things on my mind.

The last two days the girls have been out of town. This means the family dymanic is much different around the house. I actually slept later yesterday that I have in years: 9:00am!
Got to go see a movie last night too. I hope it earned me some good “husband points”. Because I took my wife to see Bride Wars.
We almost saw Rachel Getting Married instead. We’ll see it sometime, if not on DVD. Anne Hathaway seems to play a wide variety of characters these days.
MSU lost to UM yesterday in basketball. I can’t explain how much that stinks. And I got to go to church with a lot of UM fans today. Lucky me.
Friends are having babies left and right around us it seems. But I don’t think we’re feeling the itch for a 4th just yet.
The Super Bowl is less than an hour away. And this might be the first year I am not really into it. But it will be the first time in many, many years I’m able to watch it and not feel I’m “in charge” of anything at all.
If I ever watch a movie set in a foreign country of even a big domestic city…it makes me want to experience that place. I think I might want to live internationally sometime. Live. Not just visit.
I think it’d be cool if my wife were from London or Sydney or Johannesburg. I’d like her to talk that way all the time. But maybe we can move to Auckland or something and then our children can talk like that.
I’m reading a book. I’m just over 1/3 of the way through it. Around 300 pages. A few friends said it was one of the best books they’d read. So I checked it out. Almost bought it for my grandmother for Christmas (before I’d started reading it). My friend seemed to think it might not be a good book to give to a grandmother. Now…he might be right.
Yesterday I made my first solo hospital visit as a pastor.
I’ve been tagged about 5 times to write one of those “25 random facts about me” things on facebook. I’ll write one soon.

Look at all these [church] rumors…

01/28/2009 / Blake

Rumors about churches…

rumors 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.

This week in Tweets

01/25/2009 / Blake

You could make a pencil with erasers at both ends but honestly… what would be the point? #
I just saw Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave from LOST turn up on 24 – Day 4. #
@ylimewitt @aepolsgrove Batman and Clint Eastwood sound alike. Agree? in reply to ylimewitt #
@tapdraw Didn’t she play the voice of the Squirrel in Doctor Doolittle 2? in reply to tapdraw #
@JeffRodgers I had to switch to foxnews.com. cnn.com wouldn’t load the live stream for me. in reply to JeffRodgers #
I’m wondering the crowd reaction to George and Laura… Any predictions? #
Dick Cheney is in a lowrider. #
Still snowing in Oxford. If it keeps up like this it might actually stick. Right now melts as it hits the ground. #
JT and Dave just said the George handed POTUS the football. A 24 reference. #
I think @tapdraw got cable today just to watch #LOST #
My luck that LOST is on the same night as my small group. Oh well, it was a great meeting. #
Why did Jack shoot hurley? WHY!? #
I think JT and Dave hate the new traffic cams. They call them traffic scamras. #
@jcchurch So do you have a race on the calendar you’re training for? I need to get consistent with running again. Keep it going, man! in reply to jcchurch #
@GodsMac How do I get a pair of those glasses? #
@chandeleur Bryan K Trochessett! welcome to twitter . Like Aladin said….there’s a whole new world! #
@tapdraw Because of frozen yogurt? http://tinyurl.com/djhwu9 in reply to tapdraw #
@shaunking My watch band broke. I keep thinking I need a new watch. But it broke back in October. I’ve been without since. in reply to shaunking #
The UM Disc Golf Course is hopping today. Lots of students out. #
@cameronstrang What software do you use to edit your podcasts? in reply to cameronstrang #
Saturday morning came earlier than expected. But started easier too. Is that possible? #
Twittering about technology talks at leadership team meeting. #
Twitter seems to be getting a lot of shout outs here at the leadership team meeting. Wonder if it will catch on w/ The Orchard. #

Sunday Hodge Podge

01/25/2009 / Blake

More random thoughts to finish out the week.

This week was a big one because of the innaugration. I streamed it on my computer while sitting in my office. I could have gone to watch it with Pat on campus at Ole Miss. But I had a lunch meeting instead that would complicate the schedule. But I did watch. I liked seeing the former presidents and their families. And Obama seemed quite confident. Though I didn’t vote for him or the nations 2nd choice either, I hope the best for this presidency.
Pat wrote a little something on his blog about watching the festivities of Tuesday from Ole Miss on his blog. It made it into the Oxford Eagle as well. I encourage you to read it if you get the chance. Justin also wrote about his feelings watching it from Starkville. Both are great reads.
But the real event of the week happened the next day when LOST began again on ABC. I watched it online the next day. But I didn’t watch the recap episode. I should have. LOST has to be careful. They are close to stretching the plot a little too far, even by their standards. For now, FNL is the best tvshow in the world.
I hate situps. But I’m realize more and more how they will help me grow older more effectively. Total body fitness would help as well.
We’ve entered into our first (and prayerfully hopeful last) situation in dealing with a lying child. But it seems we’re on the upswing. But sometimes it’s absolutely baffling what you experience with your own children.
I love online communities. They can be a chore, they can be a pain, and they can be a joy.
A little over a year ago my family and I began a transition to a new city and a new ministry. There were a lot of unknowns with it. There still are. But God has continued to impress upon me the importance of what we’re doing here in Oxford with The Orchard. And He continues to reveal to me the type of leader and man that my pastor is. And with all those things combined….I’m glad I’m where I am.
Having said that, being a Bulldog here amongst the Rebs isn’t as bad as some might think. But it doesn’t mean it’s the easiest thing in the world either. Maybe I can expound upon that later.
Music can truly transport your mind to different times and places through memories. Sometimes it’s almost a tease the nearly tangible glimpse you get with a remembered song.
Small Group started back last week for us. We’re going through Andy Stanley‘s book It Came From Within. Looking forward to the book, but the time with the people too.
One of our toilets is messed up. Won’t flush right. Won’t overflow either. So that’s good. Even ran a 3′ snake down that sucker.

From the Bush twins to the Obama girls

01/25/2009 / Blake

For all the conflict and tension that seems to occur in politics. For all the finger pointing and name calling. And of course the blame game and mud slinging. It makes me sigh a gentle breath when I see two young women writing such a letter to two young girls whose lives have just radically changed. This is cool.

Andy Stanley praying for the new POTUS

01/23/2009 / Blake

How did I miss this? But Andy Stanley was the guy who prayed at the Inaugural Prayer Service. He took some of Prez Washington’s service from 1789. Pretty interesting.

andy-stanley-prayer

And of course we know that Rick Warren prayed just before the swearing in. What’s your take on “famous” preachers being called upon to pray like this. I would think it an honor probably, whether you line up parallel with the POTUS or not. But I know that some people think it’s on the lame side. What’s your take?

Sunday Hodge Podge

01/18/2009 / Blake

It’s the weekend. And it’s almost over. But why not throw up some random thoughts?

MSU football recruiting is making me a happy man. Four big announcements this weekend. Hopefully a few more to go. Scout.com has them with the #15 recruiting class in the nation right now with a few more weeks to go. We’ll see what happens.
MSU basketball is making me happy too. After a good start to the season, then a bit of a stumble it seems they’re back on their feet. I thought the season was going to stink. Now we’re 3-0 in the SEC. Even beat Arkansas @ Bud Walton Arena.
LOST starts back this week. I’ve been ready. It’s tied for my favorite tv show ever (maybe.)
Friday Night Lights finished season three on DirecTV this week and then started season 3 on NBC Friday night. I know that seems strange. But rest assured that I think FNL is maybe the best tv show ever. Amazing. Now we gotta see if it gets renewed for a new season or not.
Now since I’ve been thinking of making videos I have been researching good video cameras. I’ve realized that “good” to some people means “astronomical” to me. I’ve had cameras recommened to me that are about the same amount of money as what I made my first year working at a church. Wow. But I know there are some good ones out there.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to try to sell my Canon camera and buy a Nikon. As in the D90.
I want a new theme for my blog here. Might it make me post more?
A friend of mine just started a blog. He also just went back to MSU after working in Jackson for a couple of years as an engineer. Give him a look when you can. Head First.
We don’t have cable. And the rabbit ears don’t pick up much of anything. That’s why we love Netflix and Hulu.com. But my mom thinks since we don’t have cable we can’t figure out what the weather is. So she goes to a weather website to email me the forecast if it’s going to be cold or rain or something. I guess she doesn’t think computers in Oxford can get that info w/o her finding it first. But she’s just looking out for me.
Do any of you ever visit Pandora or Last.fm‘s sites? You can discover some cool music through them. Give them a shot. That’s where I found Owl City. [and if you’ve not found Owl City….then you should.]
Spring semester starts back for Ole Miss on Wednesday. So that means the busy roads and crowded restaurants and hopping night life are all about to return. But to be honest, I do like the buzz of the place when school is in session. I like it when it’s calm too. I think you can find a good rhythm there.

That’s all for now…