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.