Catalyst 2007 - Atlanta GA - the music!

Since the crowd was so young - the music was very intense!! Here are a few samples of the songs that really clicked among us...these are youtube clips you can watch if you have broadband!

Imagine this one happening in an arena of 11,000 lovers of Jesus!
Steve Fee - WE SHINE

(If that is not your thing, that's OK...actually "Glorious One" is not quite as raucous as "We Shine!")

Steve Fee - GLORIOUS ONE

This is an amazing setting of an old gospel hymn:

Kristian Stanfill - JESUS PAID IT ALL

This one really went over great and became a crowd favorite:

MIGHTY TO SAVE

You cannot begin to capture the intensity of these songs - 11,000 people really worshipping!

Finally, on my Day 3 notes, I mentioned this presentation - Wintley Phipps - AMAZING GRACE

Check it out!

Day 3 - Catalyst 2007 - Atlanta GA

I hope you know by now that you can click on the links on this page - any of the type that is in a different color - just move your mouse around and you'll figure it out!

Today is the last day - another power packed day. We are supposed to be through by 5 pm. My flight out of ATL is at 9:25 p.m. so I shouldn't have to miss anything!

Oh - in yesterday's post I talked about helping people by buying coffee. We learned today about another of the businesses with a display - Tom's Shoes - apparently for every pair you buy - you make it possible for someone in a developing country to have a pair of shoes - well I will have to read more about it! Here's the link!


Today we are hearing...

CRAIG GROESCHEL - he is a pastor in Oklahoma - check out his blog here - the heart of his message was very personal - "Too often I am a practical atheist...because even though I believe that God exists, I behave as if he does not." He challenged us all to pray this prayer - "Lord, disturb me."


JOHN MAXWELL is the guru of leadership, and he helped start the Catalyst event 10 years ago. Read about him here.

There was a special tribute to him - they decided they wanted to give him something he didn't have - so they brought in a live camel for him - the look on his face was something else. He challenged us with this:

"The one thing I want to tell you is this. Intentionally add value to people every day. The greatest way to do this is to find your strength zone and stay focused on what you do very well. You are either adding value to people or subtracting value from them - sucking the life out of them. Which is it?"


We heard Jud Wilhite (the Las Vegas guy) tell us about the Deadly Viper Project:

What would radical integrity and grace look like for leaders? I only heard the last part of this presentation. Check out the link above.


Dave Ramsey - the Financial Peace University guy - was here to speak on making money make Kingdom waves. If you've heard his stuff, his presentation was pretty familiar, but he took it to the next level.

What could the people of God do for the Kingdom of God if they were debt free? He shared a real-life example that was quite amazing - I won't post about it here because I might be sharing the story soon in another context!

His teaching outline was this - It is not my money; I am just a manager for the Lord of Hosts. To make your money make Kingdom waves:

• have a written plan (Luke 14:28)
• get out of debt (Proverbs 22:7)
• act your wage (Proverbs 21:20)
• save and invest (Proverbs 21:20)
• give - invest in heaven (Malachi 3:10)

Well I have been resisting the temptation to buy everything in sight, but I have picked up a couple of things, namely the CD of Leonard Sweet's talk (see day 1 post) and the book UnChristian (mentioned on day 1 and day 2).


ERWIN McMANUS was the next speaker - lead pastor of a community of faith in L.A. called Mosaic. Here's some of his message:

"Too often we are taught that if something good happened, it was God. If something bad happened, it was us. The point seems to be...do nothing! But God actively works through those who are the most courageous! See Isaiah 43:18-19.

"Could it be that we have trained ourselves to miss that which is most beautiful? We need fewer teachers and more poets!"


We heard speaker and singer WINTLEY PHIPPS. He sang a rousing rendition of "Amazing Grace" and you can actually experience that one for yourself if your computer will accommodate video/audio....click here!


For our final presentation, we heard ANDY STANLEY again. This one was dynamite - wow he packed a lot into this presentation. It was all on the power of systems. "Your current system has the potential to crush your enthusiasm and your inspiration."

He said too often people look at a dynamic church and then say, "Well our people just won't do that!" Any time you hear that, beware....you may not be understanding the power of systems.

"There are organizational systems that are conducive to ministry and those that impede ministry. There are organization systems that free leaders to lead and those that obstruct workers."

The reason good ideas don't seem to stick is that they are not addressed at the sytem level. If not addressed at the system level, nothing changes.

Mission statements are important - but systems have a much greater impact on organizational culture than mission statements. They trump mission statements 100% of the time! "Your mission statement is hanging on the wall; your systems are happening down the hall!"

Your system should:
allow you to involve and hire the best person for the job
provide you with the flexibility to get the right people to the table
allow you to make complex decisions within the context of a small group of empowered individuals

"Congregational rule" never seems to work. It is not biblical. When the congregation "ruled" in the Bible these things happened:

• they voted to build a golden calf
• they voted to throw their brother (Joseph) in the pit
• they voted to follow a king (Saul) rather than God's prophet (Samuel)

Oh man there was much more, but I'll stop here. Andy gave us some helpful tips for putting it into practice as well!

If you have read this far, pat yourself on the head. You have done well!

Day 2 - Catalyst 2007 - Atlanta GA

There are 11,000 people here - at the Gwinnett Center - it is an arena setup like Toyota Center (a bit smaller) - with the floor covered with seating as well.

Music is...well...way out there! We began the day with all kinds of instruments....orchestra, Chinese drummers, bagpipes, rock band. When we all joined in on "How Great Is Our God," it was a slice of heaven.

Some interesting speakers!


We began the day with ANDY STANLEY - one of my favorite speakers - I have heard him several times. Check out his church here.

He suggests we prefer to talk about influence rather than power. Don't be afraid of power. If you are the most powerful person in the room, you have an opportunity to make a huge difference. Look at what Jesus did when he was the most powerful person in the room (John 13:1-17).

PATRICK LENCIONI is the author of the book Five Dysfunctions of a Team. His new book is on jobs that are miserable. There are three signs of a miserable job - in such jobs you have

• anonymity
• irrelevance
• immeasurement

If you are a manager, and your workers experience these things, you ought not be a manager!


We also heard some more of the panel discussion on the book UnChristian. (See yesterday's blog for more on that.)

CHRIS SEAY spoke more about where the church has messed up. "Too often the right answers have produced the wrong character."

He talked about youth ministry at his church in the Montrose area. "We could have raised $100,000 to do cool things for the kids. Instead we raised $100,000 and asked them to give it away and change the world." WOW!


TRI ROBINSON is a pastor, and author of the book Saving God's Green Earth. He talked about how he began (despite his conservative political background) to integrate creation care into his theological teaching and preaching. A great story.


SHANE CLAIBORNE is something else! You should have seen him - wearing dreadlocks, a kerchief, and a t-shirt that read "God Loves Women Preachers." (Which, by the way, reminds that this conference is definitely lacking in the female perspective.)

Read about his ministry here. He interned under Mother Teresa, and is dedicated to Christian ministry in the poorest parts of Philadelphia (after being brought up in east Tennessee).

He shared the greatest quote of the day (which came from someone else, but I didn't get the name): "Church is a lot like Noah's Ark. It stinks sometimes, but if you get out, you'll drown!"


There have also been some amazing interviews of people.

We met 12-year-old Noah McCullough, one of the nation's leading experts on the Presidency. He is a committed Christian who wants to run for President in 2032 (his first available opportunity)!


There was an amazing interview with Catherine Rohr, founder of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, an incredible thing happening in our prisons right up the road in Bryan, Texas!! You gotta click the link above and read about it!


Among our worship leaders have been Steve Fee and Kristian Stanfill, as well as Mia Fieldes of Hillsongs in Australia. We even had the rockabilly version of the old song "I Saw the Light," with full rock band along with accordion, banjo and fiddle mixed in!


Wonderful free coffee from a place that suggests that the coffee you drink can help make a difference in a needy person's life. "Drink a cup and do good" is their slogan. Read more about that here!


FRANCIS CHAN - a pastor from Southern California, he is also president of a Bible college. Read more here. Here's a good quote: "I love 95% of my church members. But there's always that other 5%! I wonder - if the church is a body, what part of the body are you anyway? Maybe an appendix?? You don't do anything, but you might explode and kill us!!"


SUNDAY ADELAJA - I had never heard of him - but what a story - he is a pastor in (of all places) Kiev, Ukraine. Not exactly known as being a hotspot for fervent faith, it is now the largest evangelical church in the Ukraine. They have 30 weekly services at the main location! The church has the unusual name - Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations. That's a mouthful huh! To top it off, he is a native of Nigeria. If you're thinking - "How does a man from Nigeria blend in to Ukraine culture?" - the simple answer is "You don't!"

He suggested that churches should not limit their sphere of influence. Every society has seven spheres of influence:

• spiritual
• politics/government
• economic/business
• media
• education
• arts/entertainment
• sports

Churches should make an impact in all of these areas!


Last but not least.....though we were all tired - we paid complete attention to our last speaker:
RICK WARREN - pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life.

He kept the entire group in rapt attention as he described his journey and gave some excellent words of wisdom. I just may have to buy the DVD of this message.

Some tidbits...

God never promised to bless your agenda. You need to get with God's agenda. Stop praying "God bless me." Don't say that any more. Pray - "God, help me to do what you are blessing."

Saying "I like Jesus but I don't like the church" is like saying - "I like you but I hate your wife." Or "I like you but I can't stand your body." (Since the church is described as the "bride of Christ" and the "body of Christ.") You need to learn to love the church. Just think about it this way - Hopefully someone loves YOU despite YOUR faults!!

He told of his wife's passion for AIDS orphans in Africa. They visited a small remote village church of 50 people in Africa. They were caring for 25 orphans. Rick thought - "This poor congregation is doing more to help the poor than my megachurch back in California!" That helped spur the next step in Rick's ministry.

By the way, the pastor of this village church came up to him and said "I know you - you're Pastor Rick. I watch your sermons on the Internet every week. That's the only training I have!" Turns out the pastor walks 90 minutes one-way each week to a public Internet terminal at the nearest post office to view this message.

Rick is focusing the next phase of his ministry on what he calls the five Global Goliaths - major issues that affect billions of people around the world:

• spiritual emptiness
• corrupt, egocentric leadership
• extreme poverty
• pandemic disease
• illiteracy/poor education

His PEACE PLAN is still being developed and he didn't have time to go into the details, but this article gives a little more info!


Well I really was trying to keep this short - but there was a lot to share! I finally saw someone I know today - a Methodist pastor from Houston! This is a VERY young crowd. The average age is about half of my age...quite a change from most gatherings I go to! It is exciting to see - literally - the future leaders of the church in our land.

Day 1 - Catalyst 2007 - Atlanta GA

Live from Atlanta GA - today is my first of three days at a major leadership conference in Atlanta called Catalyst.

I will let you "listen in" by sharing some of the interesting things from my notes. Today consists of "pre-sessions" called Labs. Tomorrow (Thursday) begins the main event - and I am told there may be as many as 10,000 people here to hear some nationally known presenters!!

Okay - here goes...


Mark Batterson is a pastor in Washington D.C. The church has three locations, plus it operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. He was asked why a church would get into the coffeehouse business. His reply? "Because Jesus hung out at wells." (That is where people came to get water! So Jesus might well be at a coffeehouse in our day and time!)


Chris Seay is a pastor in Houston TX of all places! Here is info about his church. I have heard about him for a long time but this is my first chance to hear him. His presentation was on "The Cost of Consumerism," and he suggests that consumerism may be the primary threat to true Christianity in our day and time.


Jud Wilhite is a pastor in, of all places, Las Vegas! Read here about his church. He suggests that too often in church we try to get people to 1) behave, 2) believe and then 3) belong. He uses a different model - 1) belong, 2) believe and finally 3) become - become who God would have us to be! Too often our churches are gated communities. It is time to tear down the gates. He shared some amazing stories about life transformations in Las Begas.


Leonard Sweet is one of my favorite speakers. I have heard him many times, and couldn't resist hearing him again. It was good to hear a Methodist speaking out here!! (By the way - he will be at The Woodlands at a workshop some of us are attending later this month!)

He said there are five forces we must take seriously:

1 - Size does matter, but "do little large." The power of "one" has never been greater.

2 - The well curve has replaced the bell curve. The bell curve targets the middle - the center. The well curve focuses on the edges. (Not necessarily good news for "middle of the road" Methodists.

3 - "EPIC" rules - in anything. Anything that works in our culture is E.P.I.C. which stands for
E - experiential
P - participatory
I - image driven
C - connective
(What does this mean for worship??)

4 - Coming to terms with Islamic realities will be huge. Communism used to be our "sparring partner." No more.

5 - The decline of our once great nation - America has become "America the ugly." We don't realize how far behind we are. Our country used to take the high road.

He also mentioned the "four galloping horsemen" of our time that we are not speaking effectively to...

1 - Genetics
2 - Robotics
3 - Information Technology
4 - Nanotechnology

(He covered a lot in a short time - I need to read more on this!)


Finally after a time of worship we had a roundtable discussion tonight on a new book that has just been published - called "UnChristian - What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity." Read about it here.

In surveying the 16-29 age group, there are six huge negative opinions about Christians, that they are:

• anti-homosexual
• judgmental
• hypocritical
• sheltered
• political
• proselytizing

There was some great discussion about how to bring the Christian message into a culture that basically has a negative view of Christians (though not necessarily a negative view of Jesus!).

Well enough for now. I will try to post more tomorrow evening!