Back to Gwinnett Arena for Catalyst Day Two.
Opening Speaker Tim Sanders built on the theme from his book Love is the Killer App. Sanders said that "good" is the new "great." He explained that by "good," he means the morally correct thing to do. He strongly encouraged Christ-followers to take Jesus' values to work. The result: "What you learn on Sunday makes you a rock star on Monday."
Sanders gave the example of Timberland employees doing post-Katrina relief work in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. When residents said what they needed most were shoes, a busload of Timberland sales people literally gave the shoes on their feet, right then and there.
Syndicated radio host Dave Ramsey shared his views of leadership and team unity. He explained that the 5 Main Enemies of Unity are...
1. Poor Communication
2. Gossip
3. Unresolved Disagreements
4. Lack of Shared Purpose
5. Sanctioned Incompetence
Ramsey closed his session with a discussion of the current financial crisis. He strongly encouraged us to relax and not be victims of fear-mongering.
Franklin Graham was on hand to accept the Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award for his father, Billy Graham. The younger Graham passionately pleaded with the crowd to preach the Gospel. "When you preach the Gospel," he said, "there is Holy Spirit-filled power that penetrates the hearts of people." As president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, Graham boldly stated that this ministry is a means to inject itself into the crises of the world and plant the flag of Jesus.
Author and thinker Ed Stetzer gave a brief but powerful demonstration of statistics regarding unchurched adults in America. First, he said that evangelical Christians often do a great disservice to polls and stats. It's been described as Christians behaving badly...with statistics. Stetzer shared a number of stats that point to the fact that unchurched adults between the ages of 20-29 are consistently more open to biblical Christianity than we realize.
Author Andy Crouch expounded on the theme of his book Culture Making. He said that for years Christians have...
-Condemned culture
-Critiqued culture
-Copied culture
-Consumed culture
None of this has any real impact on changing culture. He said what Christ-followers should do is...
-Cultivate culture (take something good and keep it good)
-Create culture (we are made in the image of THE Creator)
Pastor Matt Chandler was an incredible breath of fresh air. I've never really heard anybody quite like him before. Chandler is the lead pastor of the Village Church in the Dallas area. In his very brief time on stage, he told the story of a young man that accepted Jesus at his church who grew up in the Baptist church. It broke this pastor's heart to think that someone could spend their life in church and miss the Gospel of amazing grace.
Catalyst closed with North Point's Andy Stanley sharing what he called "Recent Random Thoughts on Leadership." He walked through five quotes that have made him stop in his tracks and re-think how he leads his church. They were...
1. "To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing." -Craig Groeschel
2. "The Next Generation product almost never comes from the previous generation." -Focus, Al Reis
3. "What do I believe is impossible to do in my field...but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business." -Future Edge/Paradigm Book, Joel Barker
4. "If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do? Why shouldn't we walk out the door, come back in, and do it ourselves?" -Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove
5. "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near." -Michael Hammer
Once again, Catalyst blew me away. With its speakers. With worship. With creativity.
In Christ,
Jay
Showing posts with label Catalyst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catalyst. Show all posts
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Catalyst Day One
Well, a big "howdy" from the ATL (OK, actually it's Duluth, GA in Gwinnett County, but that's not nearly as hip and cool).
I'm here with 12-thousand of my closest friends for Catalyst, a two-day event for young leaders and fresh thinkers serving in ministry. Day One was AMAZING! Thought I would take a minute to give you a snap shot of what's going on.
Andy Stanley kicked things off with a powerful message on Moral Authority. Using Nehemiah 5:6-18, he said that there must be alignment between our creed and our deed. He emphasized that we must have Moral Authority in three areas...
Sportscaster Ernie Johnson, Jr. interviewed William Paul Young, the author of the best-selling book The Shack. Young describes himself as the "accidental author." This book has been the target of a ton of criticism, especially from conservative Christian leaders and scholars. I must admit that I have my own doctrinal concerns and criticism about some of the things that Young said in the interview. But I probably ought to read it before saying more.
Next up was Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last. Collins is one of the most respected men in the area of leadership, in business or in the church. It's easy to see why. He said that the most important question a leader can ask is not "what" but "who." A leader must have the right people in place before moving forward.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to hear Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in the Charlotte, NC area. What an energizing and passionate speaker! He said that between God's Promise on our life and the Payoff, there's a very painful Process. Furtick urged us to stay faithful in the small things.
Brenda Salter McNeill is the author of A Credible Witness. She came in to shake things up. She said that God is all about Revolution. He's shaking us out of our comfort zone. Using Acts 1:8 and 2:1-12, she spoke about how the Holy Spirit rocked the disciples world. She urged us to pray, "Lord, shake upo my world by shaking me up."
I was very excited to hear Seth Godin, the top business and marketing blogger in the world. He's the author of The Dip, The Purple Cow and Tribes. This was his first presentation to a Christian group. He talked about Tribes, people gathered together with a common goal. He believes Tribes are the new key to reaching people.
Craig Groeschel of lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma City closed the first day with an extremely powerful message (that's two years in a row that God has used Groeschel to slam me in face with a spiritual 2x4). He talked about "finding It when you've lost It." "It" is that almost indescribable something of God. "It" is NOT a model or a system. To be an effective leader in the church, you must be overcome with "It." He said that to regain "It," a person must ask the Lord to "ruin me, heal me and stretch me."
Coming here on the heels of the closing of FRCC, I was in a very interesting place to hear this message. I feel that He used the last couple of months to break me...in a good way. Coming to Catalyst was part of that healing process.
Day Two on tap. Stay tuned!
In Christ,
Jay
I'm here with 12-thousand of my closest friends for Catalyst, a two-day event for young leaders and fresh thinkers serving in ministry. Day One was AMAZING! Thought I would take a minute to give you a snap shot of what's going on.
Andy Stanley kicked things off with a powerful message on Moral Authority. Using Nehemiah 5:6-18, he said that there must be alignment between our creed and our deed. He emphasized that we must have Moral Authority in three areas...
- Forgiveness
- Family
- Finances
Sportscaster Ernie Johnson, Jr. interviewed William Paul Young, the author of the best-selling book The Shack. Young describes himself as the "accidental author." This book has been the target of a ton of criticism, especially from conservative Christian leaders and scholars. I must admit that I have my own doctrinal concerns and criticism about some of the things that Young said in the interview. But I probably ought to read it before saying more.
Next up was Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last. Collins is one of the most respected men in the area of leadership, in business or in the church. It's easy to see why. He said that the most important question a leader can ask is not "what" but "who." A leader must have the right people in place before moving forward.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to hear Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in the Charlotte, NC area. What an energizing and passionate speaker! He said that between God's Promise on our life and the Payoff, there's a very painful Process. Furtick urged us to stay faithful in the small things.
Brenda Salter McNeill is the author of A Credible Witness. She came in to shake things up. She said that God is all about Revolution. He's shaking us out of our comfort zone. Using Acts 1:8 and 2:1-12, she spoke about how the Holy Spirit rocked the disciples world. She urged us to pray, "Lord, shake upo my world by shaking me up."
I was very excited to hear Seth Godin, the top business and marketing blogger in the world. He's the author of The Dip, The Purple Cow and Tribes. This was his first presentation to a Christian group. He talked about Tribes, people gathered together with a common goal. He believes Tribes are the new key to reaching people.
Craig Groeschel of lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma City closed the first day with an extremely powerful message (that's two years in a row that God has used Groeschel to slam me in face with a spiritual 2x4). He talked about "finding It when you've lost It." "It" is that almost indescribable something of God. "It" is NOT a model or a system. To be an effective leader in the church, you must be overcome with "It." He said that to regain "It," a person must ask the Lord to "ruin me, heal me and stretch me."
Coming here on the heels of the closing of FRCC, I was in a very interesting place to hear this message. I feel that He used the last couple of months to break me...in a good way. Coming to Catalyst was part of that healing process.
Day Two on tap. Stay tuned!
In Christ,
Jay
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