Catalyst 2010 Recap

Catalyst is a leadership conference put on every year in the Atlanta area. 13,000 people descend on an arena to hear from some of the best leaders in business and the church. This year's theme was "Tension is good." Each talk had to do with the tension leaders face in many different aspects of leading. It was a really great theme. My goal for this blog post is to give you the twitterized version of each speaker - 140 characters or less. In the following days I'll probably follow this post up with some more depth on one or two of the things God showed me during these few days. So here goes:

Andy Stanley (@andystanley) - Pastor of Northpoint in Atlanta

You have no idea what God wants to accomplish through your life. Don't trade that legacy in for something as temporary as a bowl of stew.

Daniel Pink (@danielpink) - Author "Drive"

What motivates people? We need to get beyond carrots and sticks and give people autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Christine Caine (@christinecaine) - A21 campaign dealing with human trafficking

Compassion is never compassion until you cross the street and get involved.

Seth Godin - author, blogger, bald guy with cool glasses

Those who change the world aren't the compliant. They are the risk takers, the ones that connect people using their art to give away ideas.

Beth Moore (@bethmoorelpm) - Author, speaker

The tension of insecurity as a leader. Can we be dead enough to ourselves to welcome wherever God is moving and whoever he is leading through?

Francis Chan - pastor, author, speaker

Doing "weird" stuff like selling your house and moving to Asia is completely normal biblically. Caring for the poor and choosing to live with less is the way of Jesus.

Perry Noble (@perrynoble) - Pastor of Newspring church in Anderson, South Carolina

It's easy to follow God when you're by a brook and ravens are bringing you food. When the brook dries up, God isn't punishing you - he's preparing you.

Gabe Lyons (@nextchristians) - author, researcher

The next Christians aren't leaving the church because they don't want to be Christians. They are leaving because they are longing to be part of a restorative movement.

Craig Groeschel (@craig_groeschel) - pastor Lifechurch.tv

Generational tension is necessary for the church to move forward. Older generation needs to invest in the younger. Younger generation needs to honor the older and learn to be under authority well.

T.D. Jakes (@bishopjakes) - pastor of Potter's House church

We must get off the corner (a place of comfort) and into places outside of our comfort zone. We need diversity. God doesn't allow sameness to procreate.

Andy Stanley (@andystanley) - Pastor, author

Every organization has problems that shouldn't be solved and tensions that shouldn't be resolved. The role of the leader is to leverage the tension for the benefit of the organization.

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On the other side

Have you ever experienced one of those situations where you are suddenly reliving something you've done before - but this time you have a completely different perspective? Last week I got to be part of a church planter's assessment in the Philadelphia area with Converge. About two and a half years ago, Kimi and I went through this process as we began to explore whether or not God was calling us to plant a church. It's an intense week to say the least. Long days, high stress. We were there with a handful of other potential church planters. The days are filled with personality profiles, psychiatric evaluations, group based problem solving, projects, preaching, interviews, presentations, and more. There's pretty much never a moment when you aren't being assessed by a group of people with clipboards.

So this last week - there I was, sitting on the outside of the circle, clipboard in hand. Haha. It's funny how that happens isn't it? It was a really great experience for me though as I was able to recall the thoughts and feelings that I had during that time. There was so much uncertainty, so much fear, so much anticipation of what might be. When we left the assessment center, we felt we had a very clear direction from God about our next steps. It ultimately led to a resignation, a cross country move, and the birth of a new church community.

Anyway, I loved the process. As brutal as being assessed was, being an assessor was maybe even more brutal. While the stress isn't there, the hours are much longer, and the weight of what we were doing in trying to determine God's call on people was pretty heavy. I'm thankful for the opportunity to affirm people and to be a small part of their journey into what I know is going to be a life changing endeavor. I value opportunities like this one and I'm committed to helping other church planters as much as I can.

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I know you are, but what am I?

My daughter loves to dress up as a princess. In fact, when she dresses up, she assumes the identity of whatever princess dress she is wearing. So when I say "Joy, you look so beautiful!", her response is a matter-of-fact "I'm not Joy, I'm Sleeping Beauty." It's really quite cute. But what if when Joy turns 20 she's still dressing up as a princess and assuming that identity. What if she never embraces her true identity as my daughter? I'd be crushed.

This Sunday we talked about our true identity. Too many of us have continued to play dress up. We have refused to accept our identity as "Child of God". The Bible is quite clear that this is how God sees us - as his children (see 1 John 3:1, Ephesians 1:4-8). The truth is though, that it's much easier to believe that about someone else than it is to believe it about ourselves. They may be a child of God, but certainly not me. They are loved, but not me. They are forgiven, but not me. It's like that childhood phrase we all used to say - "I know you are, but what am I?"

May you and I live in the reality that we are children of the King. And may we begin to say to each other "I know you are, and so am I."

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