24 October 2008 ~ 0 Comments

Catalyst – Day 2 (cont.)

Man…I still haven’t posted this?  My bad.  Really busy week.  Here’s the rest of it!

Andy Crouch
Andy_crouch_is_smiling
Just picked up his new book Culture Making a few months ago.  He had some good stuff to share on the topic of culture.

  • We tend to condemn, critique, copy, or consume culture
  • We need to be cultivating and creating culture
  • The only time culture changes is when human beings decide to create more culture
  • Culture is always created together
  • All cultural good begins with small groups, usually 3.  Then moves up to 40, then 120.
  • When you get home, don’t just tell people about your time at Catalyst with your 3…ask them what they have created this week, cause they have been.
  • What have you cultivated?  What have you created?  Who is in your inner creative circle?

Matt Chandler
Matt-chandler
I had never heard of this guy before, but I am telling you, he brought it!!  Awesome speaker.  I thought it was interesting when I read on Ben Arment’s blog that their only regret was not giving Matt Chandler more time.  Great Bible teacher with some great insights and I now am subscribed to his podcast.  Wasn’t a fan of his following on twitter who seem to be a bit arrogant and kept posting about not knowing why he would be at this conference and they’re glad somebody was there to bring the Bible to all those evangelicals, but whatever.  Felt like I had stepped back into my C.C. Bible College days for a moment.

He taught from 1 Tim. 4.  He opened by sharing about baptizing some people with dramatic life change stories at their church, a witch, a drug addict, and then also baptizing a baptist kid who had grown up in the church.  The baptist kid hit him the hardest.  The idea that this kid could grow up all his life in church, go to Sunday School, VBS, etc., but just now understand Jesus because religion had gotten in the way of understanding a true relationship with Christ.  And so his point was, we need to and can even reach the kid growing up in our church.  Here are some good snippets from his sharing.

  • Somehow doctrine has become synonymous with historical fundamentalism.
  • If you’re after Jesus because he’ll gove you a better marriage or a happier life, you are after those things.  You are not after Jesus.
  • Truth and depth is what young people want today.
  • The greatest revealer of our heart is how we spend our money and how we treat people.

Andy Stanley
Andy Stanley of course came out to close out the conference.  In doing so, he shared the five quotes/leadership principles that are hanging in his office and have been bothering him lately.  Here they are:

  • “To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doin.” -Craig Groeschel
  • “The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.” -Al Reis
  • “What do I believe is impossible to do in my field…but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?” -Joel Barker
  • “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?” -Andy Grove
  • “When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.” -Michael Hammer

So many great things and quotes that Andy had to add to all those, but that really is plenty to chew on right there.  I do love the idea of hanging some quotes/thoughts that really hit home in the office.  I am the type of person who is very inspired by them.

So it was a great several days at Catalyst.  There were tons of little things, interviews, games, meals, etc. that I can’t post all of here.  However, I will say the best part, as is always the case with conferences I go to, was the relationship building and networking.  It was fun to not only hang with Ed and Brandon, but also to see a bunch of friends and family from SoCal and learn together with good friends I don’t really see very often.  Here is a pic of all of us in the preferred seating section before the last session.  And yeah, I was behind the camera, so I decided to do a real quick and horrible Photoshop job to be there with the crew!  Different resolution, different lighting, but hey, whatever!

Catalystsocalers

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